Joining in with Mary-Lou a day late. We had a busy week last week, but yesterday was even busier so although I got some photos ready for a blog post, there wasn’t an extra minute to write the post!

The mid-term elections were held a week ago today. Many of us were hoping for a Blue Wave, and although we didn’t quite see what we hoped for, an unusual number of women and minorities were elected to the House of Representatives, and many states turned to Democrats in the governor’s races. One race that particularly interested us was in Wisconsin where Sarah now lives. A friend of mine (who did not get elected) was running for State Assembly, and I made phone calls to get out the vote for two afternoons. A friend and I also participated in a postcard writing blitz organized by a group locally. We’ve been writing postcards for specific issues for some time now, but for the two months prior to the election focused on getting out the votes. I’ve never been particularly active politically, but the negativity and lack of cooperation between parties here has driven me to it! Here are a group of us at the Monroe County Democratic Office. I missed the big congregation of all the democratic candidates including an appearance by Kirsten Gillibrand, one of our current Senators.

The day after the election we headed to Canada for two nights. I was quite surprised to read so much in their national paper about our elections, and equally surprised at the frankness with which they expressed opinions about our government. We talked to several people who had stayed up much later than I did on Tuesday night, curious to see the election results. Needless to say, our government policies effect their trade with us in very big ways. 

We had a lovely two days, starting with an elegant breakfast in front of a fireplace on Thursday morning.

From there we headed out to visit a couple of wineries. Two were favorites of ours, but one was new to us. We learned that the Marynissen Winery was one of the first wineries established in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area, and we had a lovely time chatting with the woman doing the tasting. We’ve never been to NOTL mid-week in the off-season so we pretty much had the wineries to ourselves. I loved the beautiful mural behind the tasting bar.

We drove to Jordan for lunch and a visit to one of our favorite wineries, Vineland, and then headed back to NOTL to sit by the fire and read before having an elegant dinner which was part of the package deal we signed up for. 

Friday we drove home in a steady snowstorm, and by the time we arrived home the ground was covered. Fortunately, it didn’t stay around too long. I had been invited to a dinner party for a group of folks who organized a fabulous concert at our church to benefit two refugee centers in Rochester. I volunteer at one of those centers, and made a small contribution to the planning of the event. The star performer was Ayman Jarjour, a professional classical guitarist who was born in Syria. (The man in the red sweater.) He now travels around the world performing for free to raise funds to support refugee settlement. He was joined by three doctoral student in the classical guitar program at the Eastman School of Music. They played both at the Friday night dinner (an intimate gathering) and at the formal concert the next day.

The woman playing the hammer dulcimer is a local musician who has performed professionally in the area for many, many years and was one of the organizers of the concert.

The concert was very well attended, and we raised over $2,000 dollars.

On Sunday we attended a family celebration—Ella’s fourth birthday party for her friends. Her real birthday isn’t until the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but since so many families travel over the holiday her party was held earlier. No one is more excited than Ella to celebrate a birthday. She chose “Night” as her theme, so Betsy figured out that a space-themed party would meet her expectations. And it did. Here’s the birthday girl, “pleased as punch” to be the center of attention. Check out the pattern of her dress!

Our local grocery store, Wegmans, produces the best birthday cakes. They are a lot of fun, and better yet, delicious!

Ella’s big sister, Skylar, is on the left, and her very best friend, Olivia is on the right. The party was a big hit with Ella’s friends as well. 

I did get some creative time on Sunday before the party and caught up with the 25 Tags of Christmas project. I’ll be back with the next installment soon. Today, I need to do more catch-up for yesterday’s tag and today’s. Hope your week is off to a good start.