I guess few people would bother with taking a picture of this old delapadated shed, but I liked the green moss on the roof and the way the yellow and brown weeds played against the green ones.  I took this while we were walking around the grounds at the house that Norman Rockwell had lived in for 11 years.  This was not on that property, but directly across the back fence along with some horses and lamas. 

Well, you can't go to Saratoga Springs, NY without visiting the race track.  Some of us ladies took the tour of the Saratoga Springs Race Track, the Paddocks, the training barns and the racing museum.  Even though the racing season was officially over, there were still plenty of horses stabled there for us to view.  They were doing some training runs, and the horses looked magnificent.

I wonder if it's possible to spoil a horse rotten?  Each horse had several people waiting on it hoof and foot.  There were jockeys, hot walkers, groomers, trainers . . . and all so these beautiful creatures can run so the humans can see who runs fastest.

Anybody that's read my blogs for any length of time knows that I have a "thing" about old grave yards, and believe me, New York had them in spades.  I will not get around to showing you anywhere near all of the 86 pictures I took of just grave stones.  I know that's a relief to a great many of you, since your average person isn't a weirdo like me about graveyards, but I picked out a few of my favorites.  

As promised . . close ups of the beautiful statuary that face the rose garden at Yaddo House.  Aren't they gorgeous! They are insulated from the highways and outside world by a dense stand of tall pine trees on all sides.  You really feel like you're in a different world.  Our hotel concierge said that the gardens were a birthday gift from the man of the house to his wife back in 1897.  Nice birthday present!

 
The fountain and entrance gate to the YADDO rose garden.

As promised, Ill tell you about a place that my friend and I just happened upon while we were driving around in Saratoga Springs.  It's called YADDO.  It used to be a private home with lush formal and informal gardens, but now is a retreat for artists, musicians and writers.  The public is welcome to view the gardens, but the house was off limits. 

There were lovely statuary adorning the rose garden and an elevated section of the garden which provided a nice overview of the gardens. 

 
Looking up to the elevated section of the garden and the trellis which is situated atop that section.

We were there in late September, and I can only imagine how much more spectatular it must look in the spring time.  But it was beautiful nonetheless.  It was an overcast day and we'd already gotten caught in one rain storm and we foolishly roamed around the gardens without taking an umbrella.  We got caught in an even bigger rain storm here and tried to wait it out under the large canopy of trees around the perimiter of the gardens. . . but we got soaked anyway. 

Tomorrow I'll show you some close ups of the georgous statuary.

Covered Bridge near Norman Rockwell's home

My husband and I were recently in upstate New York for his board meeting and one of the other wives and I borrowed the rental car and headed out to see what we could see.  I think this was actually in Vermont rather than New York, but at any rate it's very near where Norman Rockwell lived for several years.  I think it's now like a B&B.  We had such a good time, just toodleing around, and she didn't seem to mind a bit the constant stopping for photo ops.  My kind of lady. 

One of the most fun things was that we happened upon a store called The Vermont Country Store.  It had a little bit of everything!!  Hardware, food, clothes, cosmetics, kitchen parafanilia, soaps, nostalgic stuff . . . you name it, they probably had it.  And browsing through the food section was WONDERFUL.  They had samples of everything.  We didn't even have to stop for lunch, because we sampled our way through the cheeses, cold cuts, cookies, crackers, jellies, jams and carmel corn.  I think it might have been cheaper to stop for lunch, because it cost me $44 to get out the door because of all the stuff I bought.  Oh, well.  It was a lot of fun.

Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you about a place called Yaddo that we visited in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Tooth Fairy Update

Well, I was partially correct and partially wrong at the same time.  The part I was correct about was when I assumed that the roots would have to come out during oral surgery, but I was incorrect when I assumed that the dentist would want to put in another tooth implant where this tooth broke off.  He said of all the teeth in my mouth, that was the one he'd choose for me to loose if I HAD to loose one.  Evidently I would gain less than 1/4 inch of chewing surface by replacing that tooth with an implant. . . certainly not worth $4K for 1/4 inch.   Also that far back in the jaw is not that good for implants.  There are too many complications with other things around that part of the jaw.  He'd much rather I spend my money on the OTHER side of my jaw, but even that is not absolutely necessary.  But if I did, then I'd have both sides of my mouth for chewing.  Unfortunately that side is missing 3 teeth and that would get really expensive putting in 3 implants.  You know, it dawns on me that this is far more information than anyone really wants to hear about my teeth. . . . so, let me sum it all up by saying I think for now we'll just dig out the roots and see how well I do on the existing teeth I have.

Well, if it isn't one thing, it's another. 

While I was eating lunch today . . . well, actually dessert . . . one of my molars broke.  At first I thought it was just the crown that came off, because that has happened to me once before on another tooth.  But NO . . . such was not the case.  My tooth actually broke off at the root line along with the crown.  I called the dentist right away and he said I could come in tomorrow morning and he'd take a look at what the situation is.  I already know the answer.  First he'll have to dig out the roots of this molar and then we'll have to wait for that to heal and then we start the process of a tooth implant.  I really don't look forward to that.  First of all, it's pretty expensive, and secondly it left me with a massive headache that lasted about a month the other time I had to do one of these.  You see, I don't have any molars to spare.  As it is, I can only chew on one side so I really need this molar. 

But I can't complain . . . I COULD live in New Orleans.