a fun and productive weekend

It's getting towards the end of summer and I'm finding myself with quite a bit of vacation time remaining, so I decided to take Friday off and make it a three day weekend. The weekend got off to a bit of a disappointing start, though, as I received a phone message from Kenya at Clear Channel Hudson Valley that they made a last minute decision to not run our PSA for the walk because the actual location of the walk (Bedford Hills) is not within their listening area. I'm guessing this was a decision made not by Kenya, but rather by one of her superiors, as Kenya was well aware of the location of the event, even going so far as to plan which radio stations would best reach those who might be commuting into and out of Westchester County from up here in Dutchess County. I guess the fact that my goal in running the PSAs was to try to draw more people from Dutchess, Putnam and Orange Counties down to the walk wasn't of primary concern to whomever made the decision.

Friday afternoon, I took the boys to the Dutchess County Fair, leaving Jeanne home to rest and relax in a quiet house for a change. The boys all had a good time checking out the animals:



watching the street performers:



and going on the rides:







Saturday was painting day. I'm finally getting around to trying to finish up the painting in what will become Brian and Jason's new room. I think it was April or May when I first started in there, then my "tennis elbow" (which I think I got from power-sanding the glue off of the wall after removing the paneling) delayed me for a couple of months, and then the last month or so has been really busy. So, with a much-improved elbow and a relatively free weekend, I was determined to make some good progress on painting, and indeed I did - all of the priming is done and the blue top coat is well underway!

Saturday night, I took a break from painting and the family went over to Sky Acres Airport, where they recently have opened an ice cream parlor. In addition to enjoying the ice cream, and watching a few planes take off and land, Brian and Jason got to play in an actual working phone booth.




We stuck around long enough to enjoy a beautiful sunset: