Artistic Rebellion

Freedom of Speech. Personal Rights. Making a statement. Or that's what he calls it.

Driving down the road through Potsdam, you can't help but notice the public display of urinals, potted toilets, vibrant paint, and a clothesline of female undergarments. Apparently, the man who owns this property was frustrated with the zoning laws that forbid him to build a Dunkin' Donuts on this corner. So instead of subtly receiving the rejected proposal, he decided to have his own little public rebellion...or artistic rebellion if you will. If his goal was getting the town to "finally" notice his lot, he most definitely succeeded.

"Endangered Species"...not sure what that means but hey, it sure does make people stop and wonder, right?

A side view of the lawn with the brightly painted garage in the background.

If you look close enough, you can see the urinal planted right in the middle!

What if everyone responded this way to basic rejection? What an interesting world we would have!

Where does your garden grow?

I have greatly enjoyed visiting Dave's family in New York. Life here is just so...well I don't know...peaceful! I feel as though I actually have time to think, get away, and enjoy the simple things. The other night after we were all winding down after dinner, I went out back to see what his mom was up to. I just had to smile as I saw her humming away as she watered their garden. It was one of those moments where you stop, tilt your head, and put your hand on your chest as you take in a sweet moment. I just stood there admiring her nurturing spirit I couldn't help but take a few pictures of her (their) growing garden.

Tomatoes

Beans...I think...

Look at the lettuce all ready to be picked!

Broccoli

Maybe (hopefully), we can have a garden like this someday....

My man and his projects...

I love it when I see my man in power tool heaven. He is just so adorable...of course in the most "manly" way possible. The moment we arrived in New York, he began creating an endless list of projects for himself from sanding and repainting furniture to cutting down trees and stocking firewood. Anything to use the beloved power tools. I just sit there and eat it up as I gawk at his abilities. Every now and then I am able to help catch a branch that falls or take a ride in one of his mega lift things. Even after almost 5 years of knowing him, there is still so much that I find that David Evans can do. Incredible.

The first thing he wanted to do was mow the grass in his family's new lawn mower. He was lovin' every minute of it!

When he rented out the "mega-lifter" (at least that's what I call it), I was able to go for a ride!

"Woah! This thing sure does go high!"

This chain saw sure did make him look quite masculine. With a mixture of the sheer look of it and the sound was a bit....well....intense.

And here I am, his faithful helper, catching the humongous branches that he dropped!

It has been such a relaxing couple of days already. From sleeping in late to catching up on reading, to sitting outside while my man conquers the world (aka his backyard) have been a wonderful vacation.

Little nieces + dirt = messy fun

Another fun thing is that we get to finally meet family members that were born while we were gone. Dave's brother, wife, and their precious Sophie and Courtney were at the house for a couple days. We were privileged to play around with them for a bit as they roamed all through the house. Literally, you would turn your head for a second and BOOM...they were GONE!

Here are a few snapshots of Sophie messing with the dirt.
"Ooohhh...my hands are dirty!"
"Maybe I'll put it in this bowl..."

"Aaaah....never mind.""Hmmm...I'm bored with this...what else can I get into?"Life from the eyes of a two year old. I miss being messy without having a care in the world.

A tasty riddle for you.

What tasty treat has the following ingredients: Chex cereal, powdered sugar, chocolate, and peanut butter?

Think you know it?

PUPPY CHOW!

Disclaimer: When you taste it, you might eat more than you think...pace yourself.

Games, beach, and burns.

Now for the cabin.

It's 8:00am and nothing but the quiet lull of oscillating fans can be heard. Mom has already crossed off her 13th project for the day in the race against time (before we get up) and Dad is out maintaining the boat. Awesome. While I LOVE the buzz of energy, chatting, and activities that will soon fill the room, I tried to take in the moments where I could just sit and clear my head.

Not long after, one by one the house wakes up to the smell of mom's cinnamon buns in the oven. The rest after this is history as far as memory making goes.

My family is the type that finds a game they like and will then play it relentlously until someone decides to spice it up and introduce something new. The funny thing though, is we like that it is the same game over and over and over (people who don't understand us might not agree). We've done that with Dutch blitz, Scum, and Kings Corners. Yet this time it was a new culprit...Monopoly deal. Whether we were at the dinner table, on the living room floor, or at the beach, we were playing it! But don't worry, we are not complete game junkies. We also were able to fill in boat rides (water skiing/tubing/wakeboarding), swimming, ping-pong, and even a family game of whiffle ball.

Here's dad in his element. Sun's out...wind against his face...hand at the wheel.

And the burns. Even though we lathered up with the sun tan lotion (well at least I did), all of us got a bit fried. Or friend Lindsay looked particulary toasty.

Pausing for a group picture...yet do you see what game is on the blanket?

Monopoly deal on the beach...

Monopoly deal in the house...

But hey...anything to make memories, right?

Down by the river...

It feels so great to be outdoors where the nature surrounds us. Not to say that we don't enjoy living the city life, yet the desire for fresh air, daily hikes, and water adventures sure make us homesick.

A lot has happened since I wrote my last blog post. Family visits, road trips and being in locations with no internet will do that to ya. But as I sit here in New York feeling quite rested knowing I'll be in one spot for at least two weeks, I'll catch up a bit.

Pennsylvania was deadly hot for the first couple days we were there....deadly like almost 100 degrees with humidity so thick you could cut it. If we weren't out on shopping trips or driving to memorable food hotspots you would find us near water. Oh heavenly, cool, and refreshing water. One particularly warm day we all decided to head down to the river and kayak/canoe. What a fun day! It was not until then that I fully realized my skin's deficiency of Vitamin D. I will definitely have to work on getting a base tan before we take on Florida's rays in July...

Here's the whole gang. The kayak (a.k.a the "banana") was my mom's latest Mother's day present. What a well loved and worthwhile gift!

Instead of being called the Evans, we should be called the "Pasteys". We got so many pale jokes from my siblings you wouldn't even imagine (they are all so tan!). At least our skin tone is favored in China ;).

We tried to take this picture like five times. We couldn't get the camera to take fast enough before I had already swung back to the tree. All was fun with that swing until a spider the size of a ping-pong ball decided to join me...

It's the river now, but in only one day our next destination is the lake! From pool to river to lake, oh what fun.