Port Bay, Lake Ontario, New York

It's Sunday evening, and we have had the nicest weekend with my sister Joani and part of her family. The weather wasn't too cooperative, but the sun did come out several times, and we did get in a boat ride, which always improves my outlook on everything! This evening we have been paying bills and visiting with our neighbors...one from Ottawa and one from Iowa.



This is a nice area, but I've been thinking about my earlier comment about upstate New York. It is true that red barns and picturesque farms are abundant here. But the cities have really suffered over the past 30 years. I grew up in a small town outside of Utica. In the 50's it was incredibly vibrant, young, and prosperous as WWII and Korean Vets settled and raised their families. There were several GE plants (light military and household appliances), Bendix (military parts and washing machines), Bosherts (heating systems), and a lot of small manufacturer's. Everyone had 3 to 4 kids so the schools were growing. For the most part, all this is gone. Utica's once bustling downtown area is empty now. Large department stores are gone, replaced by Dollar General, Walmart, and chain drug stores in the strip malls on the outskirts. People my age left for college and didn't come back and the population aged.

It's still a beautiful area but different now. Not so prosperous.

I have been having problems uploading photos and writing this posting. At first I thought it was the photos, taken from Steve's new camera, are too big, but I'm realizing that Google is having problems, so I'm going to close out for tonight before I loose all of it. I have some other family pictures to post and I'll try to get them in tomorrow.