the Hawley Focus

riSING stars in watertown

jennhaw — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:49:44 +0000

Mike surprised me a while back with tickets to an American Idol type competition in Watertown called RiSING Stars. This is apparently the 3rd year they’ve done it and award one lucky singer at the end of the night. The winning duo from last year is actually already signed for a record deal. I have no idea if all the winners have this kind of success or recognition, but it was neat to hear that news and get to see last year’s winner perform.

I actually found a video of them performing last year at RiSING Stars.

The event finally took place this past weekend, and it was a nice date night for us. The show included dinner and took place in the Goss Opera House. It was interesting seeing the original architectural details restored. I’m glad that we have such a nice place to go to once in a while. There is also an upscale restaurant on the first floor called Charley’s and also a coffee shop connected to it. The other half of the first floor is an art gallery.

Mike is dreaming that he’ll be up on that stage next year.

The border is hand-painted and is also original to the ballroom.

I’m hoping my future living room will have a huge dome like this for a chandelier.

There’s a balcony to the right and those archways are individual “rooms” that groups could have reserved to watch the show. Mike said it a bit too expensive to do that. We were more than satisfied to hobnob with the common folk on the main floor.

Ahh, the happy couple.

Mike can certainly be romantic at times and think of different stuff for us to do together. I’m glad we went even if there were some “rising stars” who chose country music as for their songs of choice. We both agreed that the winner from the evening deserved the title. It was a high school senior who sang “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele. I’ve never really heard any Adele songs, but I’d say after hearing the same song by the real Adele that the winner was as good and sang just like real Adele. She was dang good.

Here’s the video for the song, in case you’ve not heard it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYEDA3JcQqw

seeing double

jennhaw — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:42:10 +0000

Yesterday the girls presented us with a JUMBO egg. They were very giddy about it since it seemed to be our biggest yet. Fortunately, their father was already in the midst of making Harmut waffles and would be needing 3 eggs. He used the jumbo egg in place of two eggs. I just feel sorry for the little chicken who had to push that thing out.

As we suspected, the egg contained twin yolks.

tractor in the forest

jennhaw — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 04:28:26 +0000

We live in the kind of town where everyone knows everyone, dating back several generations. However, when I describe where we live, it seems our house gets missed. It’s not until I mention the original family name that bells ring. Part of the reason our little house gets overlooked is because it sits quite far back from the road and is also hidden by a massive forest in our frontyard. Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit, but there really were more trees than we could count on 2 hands when we first moved in. Mike has slowly been decreasing the numbers out there. Today Mike put his new tractor and loader to use as it assisted him in hauling off brush and logs. It made the job of cutting 4 trees down by himself go much quicker.

surplus and new life

jennhaw — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:40:15 +0000

Surplus, that’s not a word you here too often these days. However, our hard-working chickens are providing quite a surplus of eggs for us this week. Yesterday the girls collected 7 eggs, and we’ve been getting an average of at least 4-5 each day. Our family is not going to be able to keep up with this many eggs, so we either need to start sharing with neighbors and friends or sell them.

Another new development is that one of our Araucana chickens is producing green eggs for us at last. The girls got to eat one for breakfast this morning.

The farm across the street keeps cows. Two of their cows just had babies! Mike took the girls over to look at them. One of the calves was only 1 hour old. They couldn’t get too close to them because the calves are still adjusting to their new surroundings and are afraid of people.

Watch out! Mama looks like she’s gonna charge anyone who gets near her suckling.

Oh, and one more thing. For all my fellow Downton Abbey fans. My sister-in-law posted this link to Downton Abbey paper dolls on Facebook, Downton Abbey Paper Dolls.

I’d have to say my favorite one is O’Brien with her “evil soap”.

If you’re not already watching Downton Abbey on PBS, then you’re missing out. You can catch up on PBS.org.

chickens, cats, and hats

jennhaw — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:50:05 +0000

Last night Annie went on a search for a replacement pair of gloves since her usual ones were soiled after outside chores. She brought the glove bin inside and took it upon herself to take out every glove to find its match. There was an inordinate amount of lone gloves, so I told her she might as well organize all the outerwear bins in order to find more of the mates. Of course, my suspicions were correct because each bin had long ago become a mishmash of gloves, hats, and scarves. It was nice to have the task completed though and to discover many lost items including non-wearables.

Violet was pleased to re-discover her kitty hat. She absolutely loves to be accessorized and always makes sure to grab a hat when we leave the house. This was NEVER the case with her big sisters at the same age.

This morning I looked out the window and noticed that all the chickens and barn kitties have congregated right outside the house. Beazus noticed me and even came right up to the window to “meow” at me.

And speaking of the barn kitties, Mimi and Violet really love them. Mimi has really been showing an acclimation for the outdoors and our farm life. She will disappear for long periods, and we’ll find her just cuddling with the kitties. Violet always tries to pick one of the kitties up whenever she sees them and will say, “Awwww!” Notice that Mimi is also holding 3 eggs that she found in the coop that day.