Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Park Avenue and Severn School


My walks used to last thirty to forty-five minutes. Walk quickly, stop briefly for quick clicks, then move on. Nowadays, it seems to be taking a lot longer. No, not just “seems”; it is taking longer, much longer.

Today’s walk started at 9:15 A.M and ended at 1:15 P.M. No, I did not walk the entire time: stood around a lot taking photos, sat on busses and sat/stood in stores.

To begin, I walked across the river (via a bridge, of course) for a stop at Wegmans. Not my usual order of things, but I wanted to catch a bus. Ten minute bus ride--they never go in a straight line to my destination--and I disembarked on Park Avenue next to one of the cemeteries featured in the previous blog.

My actual destination was Severn Elementary School, the only access being behind the cemetery ‘cause that’s where the school is.

Just to give you, my readers/viewers an idea of what the walks are like, here’s today’s route. You can surely find a map online and follow along if you’d like.

Off Park Avenue, take Lower Delevan Avenue just a block along the cemetery.


CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO SEE AN ENLARGED VERSION.





Turned left on McMahon Avenue which I had never heard of and I’m now in unfamiliar territory. Well, years back I did drive one time to the school for a brief visit. Shortly after turning onto McMahon, you’ll see Severn up the hill on the right. The cemetery is on the left.





I continued straight and found Severn’s access drive coming back down to the road. And, shortly after that, it was a choice of continuing straight on a path into a woody area or turning left and heading back out to Park Avenue...



I chose the narrow path through the woods, thinking bears, snakes, bad guys, whatever. Luckily, it was a very short path with great opportunities on the left for pictures of back yards and on the right of woody stuff...



The length of the walk from Delevan to the cross street as I exited the woods was probably less than one-quarter of a mile (not that I’m that good a judge of distance, but it seemed no more than 2-3 blocks).




I was tempted to go right, up the hill but had that decision taken out of my hands by paving machines that had taken over the higher levels of the road. So, I turned left and headed back down to Park Avenue.




One block back on Park and I turned left on Evergreen Drive which edged the cemetery. At the back of the cemetery I turned right and entered the cemetery itself and took photos until I exited at the opposite end, back on Delevan Avenue, then the hop, skip and a jump to McMahon, this time turning right. Less than a block later, McMahon turns into Cohocton.


Severn School, looking uphill from the cemetery...






I continued several blocks to First Street and eventually turned left on Columbia. Skipping a couple of steps in this description, I’ll only tell you that I ended up back on the east end of Market Street. Hungry and still a long ways from home, I stopped at Subway for a salad. Not my norm, but I’m testing life without wheat for the week. This Subway store will be moving, a block or so, to the other side of the street.




In spite of the fact that I’d already ridden a bus once today, I rode one home. That bus, too, has the inability to go in a straight line. After twenty minutes zigging and zagging, here and there, I was deposited practically on my doorstep.

Seventy-nine photos later, I was home.


All these words aren’t typical for this blog, I know. I promise not to make it a habit. Just for today, I couldn’t resist.

If you live in Corning, try out today’s route. If not, come visit and walk with me.


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Monday, August 29, 2011

Remembering those who came before us



Some cemeteries aren't as obvious as others. For instance, I was exiting Denison Park recently and tried a little pathway which led to a small, very old, cemetery on Park Avenue, right across the street from a bigger, more noticeable one.


The older of the two, Gorton Cemetery, claimed its last resident in 1889...



Mary D. Owen died 1838 at age 31...



Time wears away body and soul, and old stone...



Polly was the wife of Moses Gorton Jr. She died in 1879 and lived to the very old (at least for those days) age of almost 76 years...



CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO SEE AN ENLARGED VERSION.





Most interesting names: Enos and Perthe...




Jane, wife of Wm., died in 1840. Was she age 15 or 45 or something else? ...



Across the street, dozens of trees which have probably shaded these resting places for many, many years...



Have you ever wondered what's behind the words? ...



The angel still stands...



My favorite. A wonderful tribute...



Three wars/conflicts and a fireman. Still relatively young when he died...






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Saturday, August 27, 2011

ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY AND ANOTHER CONTEST


August 28, 2010... that’s when this blog began. So, here we are, one year and fifty-three blog entries later!


Thanks to several Market Street merchants, we're going to have another Identify-The-Photo Contest!

Be the first to reply telling WHAT is in the photo above and WHERE it is located (please be specific).


Congratulations to Elizabeth Zambrano who correctly guessed that our mystery building is next door to the West William Street car wash (which is next door to Hokey Pokey)!


Today's gift certificates have been provided by Beyond Baskets and Pip’s Boutique.


CLICK ON THE PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE AN ENLARGED VERSION.


There are two ways to enter...

1) at the end of this blog, you can enter your guess in the Comments. That’s the BLOG COMMENT SECTION.

2) Tomorrow morning I will post the blog entry containing the contest photos on our Facebook page. “Like” the Facebook page, find the post where I mention the contest and enter your guess as a comment under that post.

The contest will end two weeks after I post the photo on my blog. If there is no winner, the prizes go back in the pool and we’ll try again later with another photo.

Each reader will be eligible to win one contest per calendar year.

Out of town residents, out of state residents and out of country residents... all are invited to enter. However, family and employees of the merchants supplying the gift certificates are not. Same goes for my family!

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Happy anniversary! Glad to have you with us. Hope you’ll go to the Comment section below and tell us what you like, or not, about this blog. And let us know what you’d like to see more of.

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Friday, August 19, 2011

Photography group at Denison Park


Sometimes I like to experiment with black and white. Easy to do with iPhoto. Just go into Edit and 1-2-3, it's done. Black and white makes me want to dig through my old photos for those from my childhood -- most in black and white.




Our Senior Center photography group met at Denison Park yesterday for a picnic lunch and, of course, a picture taking session. I followed along for a bit, but like some of the others soon found myself wandering in my own direction.





CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT.











Notice the light coming through the branches and the green moss on the tree trunk...



A Rotary Club project...






A mother crawls under the dragon slide to join her preschooler in simple fun. Notice the baby feet...


Like the pond and some tree trunks, this bench was dotted with mosses...






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Tuesday, August 9, 2011