As usual, we had an adventuresome weekend. Sometimes these things are planned, sometimes they are spontaneous. Actually, most times they are spontaneous. Most times we take the camera. Sometimes we take pictures. No pictures this week, sorry.

We planned to go to Rochester to join a sister fellowship for Church on Sunday. They meet in their homes but have visited our Church periodically, so we wanted to exchange the privilege. That was the part we managed to plan two days in advance. The rest was the spontaneous part.

Jeremy’s sister, who just moved to Rochester, invited us to spend Sat. night with them. We would be able to see their new place, and our 4 nieces and nephews. So, as soon as Jeremy got off work at 1 Sat. afternoon, we packed up the car, plopped Jesse in his car seat, and off we went. We left early so that we could find a place to go for a bike ride.

We found access to the Erie Canal Trail somewhere around Farmington – we saw the canal from the thruway, and got off the next exit and searched around until we found a boat launch, where we were able to park, unload the bikes, and access the canal trail. It was my favorite ride yet this summer – lovely, smooth path (no hill,s obviously, on a canal trail) and lots of interesting things to see along the way. The canal was lined on the opposite shore with rich people’s houses, gardens, decks, docks, and boats. I always like to stare and dream – Jeremy and I both share the dream of owning a house on the water someday, though we would prefer a lake to a canal. Also, the people we passed on the path were interesting too. Who doesn’t love to people watch? I’m serious that these were some of the funniest looking individuals – Jeremy laughed when I commented that everyone on the canal looked like a walking caricature!

On our way through Rochester, there were signs for the Ten Ugly Men Festival. “What is THAT?!” I asked Jeremy. He didn’t know. Was it some kind of twisted beauty pageant, Jeremy wondered. It sure sounded intriguing, maybe scary.

After that, we joined Bethany, Josh, Jen and the kids for dinner. Then us girls went to a MaryKay party, which was fun, mostly ’cause we made it fun (we made up half the group). I tried green eyeshadow briefly. Very briefly. We all came home looking gorgeous, then sat up in the livingroom talking and drinking coffee until 1am. Fun. Exhausting.

Sunday morning we left to join the group meeting in the 19th ward. They are a nice group – all young couples, lots of little babies, Jeremy and I fit right in and enjoyed the fellowship of brothers and sisters in the Lord in the same season of life.

We got home at 8 last night, and fell into our beds exhausted. Before I fell asleep I made a mental note to look up the Ten Ugly Men on the computer in the morning…

Turns out Ten Ugly Men is a group of business men that host a Festival with music, family activities, and competitions to raise money for local charities. Last year they raised over a million dollars! There are pictures of the founders on the sight, here. I didn’t think they were that ugly, but their name probably attracts a lot of extra attention for their cause! I had to laugh at one of the men’s bios – he is quoted as saying,”I am a single ugly man and am looking for that special ugly someone.” Anyone out there wanna make his day?

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