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June 8-14 Sheldrake House

By on June 21, 2024 in The Pearl
“There is only one success…to be able to spend your life in your own way.” -Christopher Morley
We love the Sheldrake area of Cayuga Lake. It’s the perfect place for a little vacation or just an afternoon picnic. The area provides houses with lots of open yards and easy access to the lake. For these reasons we decided to go back to a house we stayed in last summer for our first family vacation of 2024. Kyle and his family decided to come for a week this time…more time to play, relax and enjoy life. We really don’t do anything very exciting when we’re together on the lake. We just spend time making wonderful memories, eating good food and taking it easy. 

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June 8-14 Sheldrake House

By on June 21, 2024 in The Pearl
“There is only one success…to be able to spend your life in your own way.” -Christopher Morley
We love the Sheldrake area of Cayuga Lake. It’s the perfect place for a little vacation or just an afternoon picnic. The area provides houses with lots of open yards and easy access to the lake. For these reasons we decided to go back to a house we stayed in last summer for our first family vacation of 2024. Kyle and his family decided to come for a week this time…more time to play, relax and enjoy life. We really don’t do anything very exciting when we’re together on the lake. We just spend time making wonderful memories, eating good food and taking it easy. 

The weather could have been a bit warmer for swimming and boating, but we did have a few days to take in those activities. This week the temperatures are in the high 90s throughout the Finger Lake, so last week’s cooler weather was much better. We had time to hike, eat, paint, eat, play games, eat, ride bikes, eat, explore, eat and enjoy each other’s company. We even had one very fun day on the runabout.

We always have time to kill the first day before we can check in…this time we had lunch at the Ithaca Beer Co. and then rode bikes around the marina.
This house is perfect for us.

The boathouse, dock and beach are a lot of fun.
The best part of this house is all the outside space. Lots of room for the kids to play, ride bikes and use their scooters.

The living spaces.

Where all the great food is created.

The bedrooms.

Enjoying the yard.

Cora gave up her training wheels on this vacation. The best place to learn to ride without them is a grassy hill. She did amazing.

The kids had a great time riding their scooter and bikes.

Even the rain couldn’t dampen the fun.

Just a bit of the wonderful food we enjoyed this week.

Kyle is the head chef, Brytanie, the kids and I are the sous chefs and Stan is the lead dishwasher….we do help him a bit.

We spent a lot of time creating art. When the weather was nice we painted outside. The view was amazing.

Some of the beautiful rocks that were painted this week.

One morning we hiked to Taughannock Falls. Everyone but Brytanie had been here before, but it is a favorite of ours.

It’s an easy hike with a great payoff at the end.

Playing in and along the water was a lot of fun. Water temperature is about 63º so the wetsuits felt good.

We went to lunch at the Finger Lake Cider House one day. Good cider, good food, things for the kids to play with and we even got to pick fresh strawberries from the field.

One of the highlights of our time together in the summer is a campfire. How could we find a better place to enjoy our time together?

But a lake vacation is about the lake…right? So we love when we can get out on the water. Everyone enjoyed riding on the inner tube.

Especially Graham

The view from this house is wonderful…day or night.

May Updates

By on June 2, 2024 in The Pearl
“Not every lake dreams to be an ocean. Blessed are the ones who are happy with whom they are.” -Mehmet Murat ildan

Another month has come to an end. We began the month by heading up to Cayuga and launching The Pearl. It was a bit startling that spring was a little slower to arrive on the lake. It’s only 120 miles north, but the trees were nowhere near as green. 

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May Updates

By on May 31, 2024 in The Pearl
“Not every lake dreams to be an ocean. Blessed are the ones who are happy with whom they are.” -Mehmet Murat ildan

Another month has come to an end. We began the month by heading up to Cayuga and launching The Pearl. It was a bit startling that spring was a little slower to arrive on the lake. It’s only 120 miles north, but the trees were nowhere near as green. 
I think this is the warmest it’s been for us to prepare the boat. Not that we do a lot to get her ready. In fact less than 24 hours after arriving at Beacon Bay Marina and removing her winter covering, The Pearl was securely tied to her summer home. Let the season begin. 

It didn’t take long to get the cover off the boat and our things loaded on the boat. Luckily this year we have the house to store a lot of our stuff.
After our work we went out to eat at 84 Fall in Seneca Falls. Seafood Risotto and Pan Seared Salmon

We were welcomed back to the boat with a beautiful sunset. 

Launch day was beautiful.

Off to Allan Treman State Marina.

While Stan moves the boat to the south end of the lake I like to drive up to Lake Ontario to pick up rocks that I turn into art.

I picked up three large bags of rocks.

A few of the rocks I’ve painted on the rocks I picked up.

We’ve had a mix of beautiful spring weather and what we consider winter weather. One day is warm in the 70 to low 80s and the next the high was in the 50s. But summer is slowly arriving and we do love it up here.  

The sunsets aren’t quite as pretty here as they are in Texas, but every once in a while they are beautiful.

Stan messed up his foot a little so we haven’t been able to go hiking…instead we’ve had picnics at our favorite winery. Sheldrake is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon.

We spent Mother’s Day at Kyle’s. It was a fun day with good food and lots of laughs.

These kids always bring us smiles.

My beautiful Mother’s Day flowers.

Our yard seems to change by the day. The flower beds look like a jungle now full of all sorts of beautiful flowers.
Ornamental Onion, Purple Clematis, Rhododendron, European Columbine, Cinqquefoil, Greater Burdock, Geranium and a pink European Columbine.
This is the very first time we’ve seen a Golden Tortoise Beetle. There were three but by the time I got my phone one had flown away.

The new addition to the house is a basketball goal for Graham. He was very good and we had a wonderful time playing with him.

The weekend after Mother’s Day the girls had their dance recital. They hold it at a winery not too far from Lewisburg. The girls did great and we loved seeing them dance. After the recital practice we had dinner…Graham loves hamburgers.

Another place we like to go to on a beautiful day is the Ithaca Beer Co. A great place too relax, have a beer and enjoy a good pizza.

We do enjoy sitting on the flybridge…in the mornings and evenings. The marina seems to be slow filling up this summer.

We also like taking our little runabout up the inlet to the Ithaca Farmers Market. It’s a good place to watch people and their food offerings are very international, but we seldom buy fresh vegetables here because they are very pricey.

May 20-22 Hattie’s Visit

By on May 27, 2024 in The Pearl

“Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation.” – Lois Wyse


This will be Hattie’s last May visit…she starts kindergarten in the fall. She’s so excited and so ready. We love these one on one visits with the Grands. We have a chance to really get to know them. Hattie has grown up so much in the last three years, she’s smart, energetic and she says the funniest things. We were entertained the whole visit.

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May 20-22 Hattie’s Visit

By on May 27, 2024 in The Pearl

“Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation.” – Lois Wyse


This will be Hattie’s last May visit…she starts kindergarten in the fall. She’s so excited and so ready. We love these one on one visits with the Grands. We have a chance to really get to know them. Hattie has grown up so much in the last three years, she’s smart, energetic and she says the funniest things. We were entertained the whole visit.

On our way to the lake.
Hattie knows how to make the trip shorter…take a nap.
We stayed busy the whole time she was with us. The first day we ran to the store to stock up on all Hattie’s favorites, then she helped Stan bring our little boat from winter storage to the marina. The rest of the day was filled with riding bikes, dancing, climbing rocks and making new friends with marina dogs.

Captain Hattie

She had so much fun riding around the parking lot.

There are so many people and dogs to meet at the marina.

Hattie dancing to her own music…she was putting on a show for us.
Our second day was beautiful so we spent time at Taughannock Falls State Park. We played on the playground and along the lake…looking for treasures. Then enjoyed a picnic before coming back to the boat for a little rest and riding bikes again. After dinner we went out for ice cream. We also stopped and checked out Taughannock Falls. She was very impressed.

Hattie had fun looking at all kinds of treasures…shells, sea glass and jewelry.

Hattie loves to climb…she’s a really mountain goat.

Lunch at the park on the lake.

Summer means ice cream and that also means sprinkles for Hattie.

More things to climb on.

A visit to Taughannoock Falls.

Our last morning was spent at the Ithaca Children’s Garden. She really had fun climbing, swinging and exploring. Our tradition is to stop for lunch and the way home at the Jolly Trolley in Dushore. It breaks up the trip and it’s a fun place to eat.

Fun at the Children’s Garden.

Playing school

Lunch at Jolly Trolley.

April Updates

By on April 30, 2024 in The Pearl
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —C.S. Lewis
Wow it’s the last day of April already and it’s the first time in 14 years we’re not on a boat. Stan didn’t call Beacon Bay to line up our launch date until last week…we’ve been preoccupied here at the house. So we won’t be at the marina on May 1, but no worries we head back to The Pearl on Thursday and should start our summer season on Friday. 

CONTINUE READING HERE…»

April Updates

By on April 30, 2024 in The Pearl
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —C.S. Lewis
Wow it’s the last day of April already and it’s the first time in 14 years we’re not on a boat. Stan didn’t call Beacon Bay to line up our launch date until last week…we’ve been preoccupied here at the house. So we won’t be at the marina on May 1, but no worries we head back to The Pearl on Thursday and should start our summer season on Friday. 

Meanwhile our lives have been filled with projects around the house, family time and enjoying our yard coming alive. It’s been amazing watching the changes that have seemed to appear overnight.

Our yard on March 24

The way it looked on April 7…two weeks later.

One month later our yard is so green and the trees are blooming and putting on leaves.

The dogwood tree in our backyard is beautiful.

We have these Clematises all over the yard.

This Lilac tree is also in the back of the property. It seems wonderful.

We have strawberry plants everywhere…they’re like the ground cover in all the flower beds and they are full of blooms. I hope we have a chance to try some. With all the birds, bunnies and groundhogs we might have a fight on our hands.
We have wild violets growing all over the place also. They are literally coming up in the yard and I love them.

The paint in most of the house was fine and something we could live with, but the smaller bedroom upstairs had to be changed. We painted the walls a light gray and the ceiling white. We also painted the window seat and the room is now very inviting. What a big difference paint can make.

Last fall when we got the house we bought a nightstand and dresser for the small upstairs bedroom. They have tons of antique or resale stores in the area. We found wonderful buys and have had fun redoing them.
The before and after pictures of the nightstand. We will redo the dresser later in the summer or next fall.
We also needed a little bench in the utility room so we could change our shoes. We found an old piano bench that was just the right size. It was in pretty bad shape, but Stan did a great job fixing it up.
Before and after.
This little step stool was made by my grandfather almost 100 years ago and it is coming in very handy in this house. The stool was covered in overspray paint from all the times it was used in household projects. A new coat of paint and it looks amazing too.
I didn’t like the first color so I ended up repainting with the paint I used on the nightstand. 
The grands had their first sleepover at the house in April. What a great time. We had ice cream at the Old Mill Creamery and played in the creek…although it was a bit chilly.
Everyone enjoyed being creative on the patio. Spring means chalk, bubbles, soccer, s’more and so much more.
The kids also had fun skating and using the hoverboard. 
Graham really looks tall on his hoverboard.
Campfires and S’mores….what could be better.

March Updates

By on April 23, 2024 in The Pearl
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” -C.S. Lewis

March was a very busy month. We spent a lot of time with our Texas grands and catching up with friends we won’t see for eight months. March also was the beginning of our northern migration. We left about a month earlier since we have our new home in Lewisburg and had things we still wanted to do before we head to the lake for the summer.

CONTINUE READING HERE…»

March Updates

By on April 23, 2024 in The Pearl
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” -C.S. Lewis

March was a very busy month. We spent a lot of time with our Texas grands and catching up with friends we won’t see for eight months. March also was the beginning of our northern migration. We left about a month earlier since we have our new home in Lewisburg and had things we still wanted to do before we head to the lake for the summer.

CONTINUE READING HERE…»