Visit to site of Nathaniel Olney's grist mill!

On Sunday, Wyatt and I visited the site of my great great great grandfather's grist mill! (Wyatt's 4th great grandfather!) Wyatt was not as impressed as I was, but I thought it was very cool to be right there where Nathaniel and Mary lived. I don't know the whole history of their lives. I do know Nathaniel and Mary owned this site between 1871 and 1883. I know Henry was born in Avoca, NY, - I think in 1838. Nathaniel died in 1883, or at least his estate is listed as owing the taxes in 1883.

Side note to those who care - Nathaniel Olney (possibly this is Nathaniel Olney's father?) lived in Nunda, NY in 1870. The 1870 census lists him as living with Recinson (sp?) Olney (age 39), his wife Launes (sp?) (age 26), daughter May (age 4) , a domestic servant - Kate Holeran (age 45), and L.L. Bogart (age 60)

Above - top - picture of the site of the mill, and current structures there. Above - middle - a view of the Cohocton River at the site. Below - an ariel view of the area - black arrow points to the site at the end of Cross Road, Avoca, NY

Latitude and Longitude reading from my GPS below - they differ from the latitude and longitude readings listed by Google maps for this location???? Modern day address is 4815 Cross Road, Avoca, NY 14809
+42.25540
-77.26214

Guest Artist - Maya Louise Sams

Granddaughter Maya seems to have a pretty good ability to balance and pile things!

Detail below.

Can't wait to see the sand castles from Rehoboth Beach!

Traveling Art Show Booth!

This guy at Wedgestock in our neighborhood last weekend travels quite green! I missed getting a shot of that trailer fully loaded after the show. His rig is totally created by him, so there is no place to order one!

Stuff we made!

Three of our figures on the wall at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Yep - I asked the same question, and the original hospital did float! Established in 1894 by Rev. Rufus Tobey, at a time when many believed in the therapeutic value of sea air, The Floating Hospital for Children was located on a ship! The original ship was replaced later, and in 1933 when the second ship burned, the hospital was moved to land where it remains to this day!

Sports

This African Violet is one I grew from a leaf of a "Rebel Splatter Kake" violet from The Violet Barn. A sport is a violet that does not grow "true" to the original. The flower on the right is what the flowers on a "Rebel's Splatter Kake " is supposed to look like. The one on the left is quite a bit different! Both are on the same plant - I think that is pretty cool! It may be common, but I never saw such a thing. While taking the picture, I discovered that the petal on the right side of that bloom (about 3 o'clock) is actually is half one color pattern and half the other with an almost perfectly straight line between the two halves! (click on the picture to embiggen it for a better view) The actual flowers are more purple than these pictures show up on my computer.

A plant with two different patterns in the flowers, and two different patterns within one flower!

Interesting

The woman carrying this bag at Wedgestock yesterday was quite excited that I asked about her bag. She actually didn't know anything about the copy on the bag, but just said she saw it while on a trip to China, and just had to have it! Minutemen, Meatpuppets, Descendents, and Angst are Punk Rock bands who often have performed together. She didn't seem like the Punk type?

If you know Chinese you might be able to order one of several styles here. Not sure if the little punk rock teddy bear comes with it?

Olney Road, Italy Valley, NY

Beer Delivery

Just in case you thought your local pharmacy was there for your health, and in case you missed the junk food department twice the size of the pharmacy department and over the counter department combined, here is a picture of the beer delivery coming in the back door. Three guys with trucks rolling cases of beer in the back --- I only managed to get two in the picture - the third one is inside. Well over 100 cases stacked outside, and several hand carts of 8 cases each rolling inside in the couple of minutes I was there. Just trying to maintain the customer base for the pharmacy department?

25 years!

Just about 25 years ago, I made some very special whistles. Chery and Casey and I were going to become a family officially soon, and for our invitations we sent out wooden whistles made by Don's business - The Toycrafter.

I have always kept one on my key chain. Little did I know that 25 years later I'd have a granddaughter who would love blowing on one of those whistles!

Another mini mechanical!

Another mini-mechanical / automata / kinetic business card. See video below - rotate gear on left end of this piece, and both spirals rotate! I'm having way too much fun with this!

Go here to buy one of these or one of our other mechanical pieces!

Hill Family Reunion 2010

Why is it a Hill Family Reunion rather than an Olney Family Reunion? Actually we are all related to Sarah Hill Olney and Henry Cadmus Olney. More specifically we are all descendants of just two of their 11 children. About half trace ourselves back to Edward Barton Olney - second oldest son of Sarah and Henry, and about half trace ourselves back to Omar Addison Olney - oldest son of Sarah and Henry. Since Sarah started the reunion way back when, it is still known as the Hill Family Reunion! Click on the link to the right for more info on Henry and Sarah!

Dad couldn't make it to the reunion, so we set up my laptop and a Skype connection so Dad could say hi to a bunch of family. That's Brian Olney below, his wife in the background, and Dad on the computer screen!

First Tomato of the season

This spring I planted a total of 17 vintage variety tomato plants in containers around the yard on our small city lot. The plants grew quite large with faithful watering and staking. Below is a picture of my favorite and "first" tomato hiding down in the foliage.

This particular "Vintage Wine" specimen was the first to ripen, and while I didn't know exactly what this variety would look like when fully ripe, I went ahead and picked it yesterday, and with great hesitance I sliced it open, and was rewarded

with bright red meat and absolutely perfect four minutes off the plant fresh taste. Cheryl and I would have eaten it sooner, but I needed pictures!

Dad and Mom - I'll have one for you this weekend, with a lot more developing! I'm especially looking forward to the "Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifters"!

I think this might be my favorite song -- Home Grown Tomatoes by Guy Clark

Their, There, They're

A birthday present for Maeve, with a nod to Wyatt, Anne, Jes, Richard, Kristel and all my other friends who find grammar, spelling, thinking, and other intellectual exercises worthwhile!

Told You!

If this isn't about the best Mom picture ever, I don't know what is! Taken on our Saturday drive while Dad did the grocery shopping! By the way, Mom is recovering from the dental surgery work, and is doing a lot better after a couple of very rough days!

35 good years!

We were asked to create a special piece for a 35th anniversary! We worked from an old photo.... came out rather well I think!

Sherrie and Cheryl

For some strange reason, people often confuse these two beautiful women with each other! At shows people will ask Cheryl for her wonderful sauces, mustards, etc. and they will also ask Sherrie where her colorful wooden figures are! Not sure why the confusion? All they have in common is unbelievable creativity, room warming smiles, joyous beauty, and they both hang out a lot with ugly old white guys - Hugh and Don! Sherrie and Hugh were here to visit the other day, and Cheryl and Don got a quick refill of wonderful friendship!

Avon Bargin Outlet!

My niece Maeve and I drove by this place a while back, but I did not get a picture of it at the time. Friday I went through Avon agin ;-) and stopped to record this for posterity!

This one is for Maeve, Wyatt, Anne, Jes, Salena, Richard, and all my other friends who think spelling is important! Grammar too!