Scotia, New York and The GardenLady

I have a friend…not someone I have ever met in person, though. I am sure our paths crossed but we didn’t know to look for each other. Her name is the Garden Lady http://www.gardenlady.us/ and she has her roots in the lovely, little village of Scotia, NY.

The Garden Lady is one way I kind of keep up with the area in which we used to live. She covers the changing seasons and all the happenings in Scotia. Last year she even went and took some photos of one of my favorite shops on Union Street in Schenectady called The Experience, http://www.experienceandcreativedesign.com/ . I hope if I ever get back to the Village of Scotia that I get to meet my "friend" face to face over a cup of tea! She also recently took photos of Scotia’s Annual Memorial Day Parade. Check it out, http://www.gardenlady.us/parade.html , if you doubt that true American spirit is gone.

Scotia, http://www.visitscotia.com/ , is the neatest little village. It is the rare kind of little town where they actually put photos of the local high school’s prom and middle school dances on the town website along with tons of other local happenings. Local farmers also set up carts on the side of the road to sell their wonderful fruits and veggies and handmade items...it is idealic. We didn’t live there but my children when to a Christian school in Scotia, http://www.schenectadychristian.org/ .

My daily treks to take children to school and pick them up made me very intimate with Scotia. Not to mention the freezing – LITERALLY - soccer games we endured as DS#1 played with the Scotia Soccer Club whose fields were located on the river and just perfect for catching the frigid breezes in the early morning hours. It was the 1st time I had ever seen kids bundled up like the Pillsbury Dough Boy complete with ski masks playing Soccer!!! In the south we don't play Soccer with ski pants on.
Every 4th of July that we spent in NY, was also spent on the riverfront in Scotia watching the fireworks. Sunday nights during the summer often brought us back to Scotia, as well, because there were always outdoor concerts, plays or storytellers. Scotia also had the BEST theatre, http://www.visitscotia.com/cinema.html …it was truly an old time movie house. It showed reasonably new movies and charged $2.50 (if I remember correctly) for admission. I remember going with a dear friend (from Texas) to see “Sweet Home Alabama” and we laughed and laughed, especially because the people in front of us apparently had a hard time understand some of the accents in the movie – not a problem for us misplaced Belles!

Scotia is also home to the Glen Sanders Mansion, http://www.glensandersmansion.com/ which is where my DD went for Etiquette Classes. On the other end of the “spectrum” Scotia is also home the famous and much loved Jumping Jack’s Drive In, http://www.visitscotia.com/jjguide.html . Jumping Jack’s was a new experience for me because, being a Southerner, I never realized that places like that ever close. Once old man winter makes his presence know Jumping Jack’s shuts down for the season and everyone waits for it to reopen and announce that Spring has arrived! Trust me in the 1st week of spring you WILL stand in line and wait to order – to be sure!!!