Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
trips

forest county 2013

This afternoon, we returned from our (now) annual trip to Forest County. And, what a relaxing trip it was! This year, we stayed at River Forest Lodge, along the Allegheny River in East Hickory, PA. There were some things I liked better about our location last year, and some things I liked better about our location this year. But, overall, it was a positive change.

Alice has been slowing down quite a bit this year, but she looked every bit the energetic dog last week. I have a feeling that she’s going to be sleeping a lot in the coming days, though.

The lodge had canoes available, and we used them every day. Fishing was pretty good on the Allegheny (we even brought one home to eat). Jake and I both got our “one that got away” stories while fishing on the river. Brian and Jake did a ton of fishing. I did my fair share as well (while once a day was more than enough for me, it wasn’t for the guys).

We spent most of our time at the lodge (where I spent some quality time reading in my hammock), but we did manage to get out a few times. Forest County is one of our clients, so we stopped in the Visitors Bureau to say “hi” to our contact there. I also picked up a nice piece of pottery from the artists exhibit they have there. While in Tionesta, we also checked out the new Market Village. Unfortunately, it was not open during the week, but it looks like a neat idea.

We also went to the State Fish Hatchery in Tionesta. There was a talkative employee there who gave us the scoop on the place. And we hiked a couple trails at Cornplanter State Forest. And we took a trip to Tall Oaks Store for some window shopping.

We also had a horseshoes tournament, in which I scored exactly 0 points. And, of course, we fired up the campfire nightly and had cherry pie and pizza mountain pies and s’mores.

Much like last year, we did not have cell service at the cabin, so we were only able to check our phones once a day when we were out and about. We did have satellite television this year, though. Jake enjoyed that, but I tried to stay away from it. And, I was happy to leave my computer at home again this year.

All in all, another great trip to Forest County. I plan on returning again next year!

food & drink, gardening & landscaping, motorcycles

priorities

I don’t know where the summer has gone. It’s going to be August in a few days and I feel like I’ve been missing out. I guess the month of rain has a lot to do with that–you can’t garden in the rain. But, it seems like there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that I’d like to accomplish.

I guess not having a motorcycle all summer isn’t helping anything, seeing that riding is one of our regular activities. Brian finally got his bike fixed last week, and I’m hoping to get mine back soon, too. So, maybe things will feel like they’re back to normal once that happens.

I’ve been slacking on the canning, too. So far I’ve only done strawberry jam and sweet pickle relish. I have frozen a few veggies, though, so at least I’m not completely slacking off on the food preservation front.

books

the devil in silver

This book was about a guy who was sent to a mental institution due to a glitch within the criminal justice system. At a first glance, the book seemed to be about a monster that roamed the halls of the institution. At a second glance, it seemed to be a social commentary. It was kind of all over the place. Also, I wasn’t a huge fan of the author’s writing style. For one thing he used a lot of parenthetical expressions (while I am a huge fan of the parenthetical expression in casual writing, I don’t care for it in my literature). Brian, on the other hand, really liked this book. So, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

celebrations

twenty-five years

That’s how long it has been since I graduated from high school. As such, my class reunion was last night. I was kind of on the fence about going, but I went. The majority of the people I hung out with in high school were not there, so that was a bummer. Overall, it was a pleasant evening. But one thing’s for sure–I’m not sentimental.

motorcycles

sidecar saga

You might recall that I’ve been looking for another mechanic to look over my sidecar setup. I contacted this place the week after I got my bike back and they sounded like they knew what they were talking about, but I was hoping to find someone in the area to take a look at it. That wish did not materialize, so Brian trailered my bike to Middleburg, PA this week. We attempted to take it there a few weeks ago, but the trailer we rented was not quite wide enough to handle my new getup and this was the first opportunity to go there since that time.
They say it’s going to be a couple of weeks. I’m hoping that is accurate because I’d really like to get some riding in before winter (and winter’s going to be here before you know it). The plus side to taking the bike to this place is that they teach sidecar classes. While I am not going to be able to take a class, the owner of the company is going to give me some instruction when we pick the bike up, so I’m sure that will be helpful.

I figure that if I get it back in mid-August, I’ll still have two months of riding left, so that’s better than nothing, I guess.