As most of you know, even though I was born in Texas to Texans, the 12 years my family spent in Corning, NY were a huge part of our lives.  It may seem like I’m on the payroll of the Corning Chamber of Commerce with this entry, but I assure you it is all genuine!!  I encourage everyone to plan a trip to the Finger Lakes area of NY, especially in the fall:  it’s a wonderful place!  (http://experiencecorningny.com/)

I arrived in Corning around noon on Thursday and made a beeline for a local coffeeshop where I knew Sheils would still be yakking with her friends after having met them earlier that morning.  Much of the time we had after that was spent roaming around Market Street, which is the historic (and super cute) downtown.  A glimpse of the shop-lined street:

 All the merchants were setting up for the Jazz and Harvest Festival which would be starting Friday evening (hayrides!  wine-tasting!  live jazz!) and many places entered a contest for decorating with pumpkins and scarecrows.  I thought the Y’s entry was quite creative as they formed their scarecrows in honor of the classic song:

 In the middle of Market Street is Centerway Square, with a clock tower and pavilion.  Back in the late 80s, they redid the square and there was a brick-building campaign.  My parents were generous enough to donate bricks in each of our names.  Of late, however, I could never find my brick and I was convinced they’d dug it up.  Thankfully– I found it this weekend!

 And finally, we always have to cruise the neighborhoods and marvel at how wonderful the Victorian architecture is– and how relatively inexpensive the houses are compared to the boxes around here in Maryland.  Here is the house where I grew up:  

Sniff, sniff!   We miss you, Corning!