BLOOM DAY SCANS

*** I can't get rid of the large print so please ignore it!!!

I've been busy today playing with my scanner. I've always wanted to make my own Bloom Day Scan instead of looking at the beautiful ones on Ellis Hollow's Blog.
http://remarc.com/craig/?cat=55
This month, the Gardening Gone Wild Blog ,
http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=12809
is having Octobers Picture Contest as a Bloom Day Scan theme. I don't have any excuses than to try this! I don't have much in the way of flowers or any foliage for that matter that's not brown from being dry! So I found what I could. #'s 1 & 2 look almost identical but one has a little more light peeking in. Also #4 I think, needs to be cropped. I don't know which to submit but I'm leaning towards #6. I still have time though.
These were really a lot of fun and I'm sure I'll be making quite a few of these!
#1
#2
#3
#4

#5

# 6

Yesterday PJ and I took the MG out for a spin and went out east to a Garlic Festival at The Garden of Eve Organic Farm. The traffic on Sound Ave was horrendous! We said to each other that this better be a good festival or we'd be a little upset. We're a little spoiled in having enjoyed the Garlic/Harvest Festival in Bethlehem, CT and the garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY for the last few years. The parking lots were mobbed but we found a spot.
There was a $3 admission. When you first walked in there was a bunch of pumpkins in a roped off area. These were for sale but no one was even looking at them.

There were about 15 vendors in the whole place! THAT'S IT! The JD Gourmet Balsamic Vinegars (the BEST in my opinion and we always buy a bottle in CT) http://www.jdgourmet.com/ and Sweet Melissa's Dips let you sample their products and maybe one or two more. There were 2 people selling Garlic Soup for $3 and $5 a cup but there were no samples to see if you'd even like it or not. To us, part of the fun of a festival is sampling the food! So the people selling pickles, jams and honey hardly got any business from what we could see. At the other festivals, EVERYONE has samples, even the people selling just garlic. They let you taste it before you purchase the bulbs. There were 2 vendors selling Garlic bulbs. How can they call this a Garlic Festival I'd like to know!!! There was hardly any garlic in sight and no smell of garlic!!
We walked around the rest of the property and both of us commented what a mess the ground was... not with litter but HUGE holes, rocks etc... It was a law suit waiting to happen. That was it, we were out of there. It was a waste of our time. We did buy the Balsamic Vinegar though. It's soooo good... like no other!
We decided to drive a bit more east to see if we could find a farm stand with fresh veggies but a good price. We ended getting off Sound Ave because there was just too much traffic. We went down to RT 25 and started heading west. We ended up stopping at Schmitts Farm. They had beautiful sunflowers.


Inside, they had lots of vegetables, pies and fresh breads. Years ago you could get local produce for pretty good prices. These looked no different than what was in the grocery stores and yet double the price! We laughed when we saw the loaves of Banana Bread. They were $12 a LOAF! UNBELIEVABLE! When we go up to Ithaca, every Jan there's a fair at the local Lions Club. We've hit it 3 years in a row now and the ladies actually now bake extra bread just in case we show up. The first year I bought 2 loaves and PJ came up to me when I was in a different row and showed me that he bought 3! Last year we bought everyone that they had! They are $1 per loaf and the same size as Schmitts $12 loaves! We always freeze them when we get home.
The one thing that I thought was a good price was their Mums. They were large plants in 8" pots and they were 4/$20.

This was just sitting amongst the gourds!
All in all we had a nice day, even though we were disappointed in the festival. We came home, made a nice dinner and had a bottle of wine. A great way to end the day!

I got bored with being home today so I decided to some garage sales. Our town is having a big garage sale but I will avoid it for various reasons. I decided to go to a bunch of other sales that were in our area plus one 2 towns over that advertised an annual BLOCK sale. The first 6 sales that i went to in my area were horrible. I didn't get a thing. Then I headed to the block sale... HORRIBLE! I couldn't believe how high their prices were... $5 for their books!!!
I decided to save my money and just go home. I got stuck at the light on Wantagh Ave and sat through 3 of them to make a turn! I noticed a sign for a sale to go to Harold St. I decided to make a left instead of a right and head there.
WHA-HOO. I hit a GREAT sale! I first spotted a big wicker basket. My thought was that this is just what I've been looking for to put all of PJ's millions of pairs of sneakers and shoes in that he just leaves on the living room floor. $1. That was all I was going to get but decided to ask about the Lia Sophia jewelry. I never go to Lia Sophia parties because I refuse to pay their price for their jewelry. I like some of their items but mostly I don't. Alyssa just went to a party and said she liked the items but it was way past what her budget allows but bought a pair of earrings anyway. So when I asked about the jewelry, I expected her to say ridicules prices and I'd spend my one dollar and leave. She said she is selling it cheap and just wants to get rid of it. She used to sell them but is out of it now. I'm sure the items that she had were a few years old. Who cares!
I saw a pair of earrings that I liked and asked how much? $2... OK I'LL TAKE THEM!!!!

Then I picked out this bracelet... How much? $2 !
Then I stopped asking and just picked out items that I thought Alyssa and Brooke might like before the lady next to me got her hands on them!


I had her add up everything including the basket. $14!! I felt like I hit the mother load! I hope the girls at least like SOMETHING!

*******
I had to show Alyssa these pieces. She wanted to go to the sale now so we went back and the lady put more out! She got a nice necklace and I got 2 bracelets and a necklace for $10!!

We had such a fun, relaxing 4 day weekend camping in Ithaca. When we arrived, it was cloudy and drizzling a bit. We set up our tent and decided to head towards Seneca Lake. We always buy wine from Wagner Winery because their wine tastes good and it's the best deal within the 2 lakes! The sun broke through!

For dinner, we ate at Greek Peak Resort. It reminded us of the Wilderness Lodge in Disney.

Thank goodness we had a restaurant.com gift certificate. PJ ordered the Braised Venison Pot Pie ($18.95). They came back to say that the pastry for the top "wasn't working and would he mind a biscuit topping instead". He agreed but said that the pastry was what he wanted the most! Our food arrived. His looked like dog food and the biscuit was one biscuit on the side, not on top! He said it was pretty flavorless also.
I ordered the Portobello & Spinach stack with Goat Cheese and a Smoked Tomato and Red Pepper Coulis ($14.95). Well, it was pretty but also pretty small! It was about 2" tall and 2" wide! THAT was the dinner! It tasted ok but honestly, it should have been an appetizer not a dinner! If we were there and had to pay full price, I would have been really mad!

Now that the sun came out, we had to go to Sunset Park and check out the somewhat cloudy sunset over Cayuga Lake. It started to get really cold!It must have gone down to the upper 40's. We were FREEZING!
We decided to take a ride to see our property. It was really foggy!


I love how the weeds are different for every season. Now the golden flowers of the Golden Rod were all over! Pretty!

As we were taking pictures, a pickup truck stopped and the man asked if we were interested in the land. We said that we were the owners. We got to chatting. Him and his wife bought 2 lots on the other side of the hill that's at the top of ours. They are Barry and Midge. They invited us to come look at their house. It's nearing completion. It's a ROUNDHOUSE! I've never been in one before. I'm glad I got the chance. I'd never want one. It was really weird but interesting at the same time. The rooms are all small because of the curves. Standing on the deck was nice though. They have a beautiful view. Barry is a lawyer in PA yet they're from NJ.


They told us of their 2 neighbors, Kathleen on one side and a couple, the Duncan's, on the other side. He is also a lawyer and a photographer on the side. They have a driveway and a great big hole, the makings of a pond. With the fog, it was like looking at a landing site of a space ship!We really enjoyed chatting with them. We exchanged addresses and will keep in touch.
Later on we went to lunch at Viva Taqueria. We got our usuals... the Super Smothered Burritos, mine with Tomatillo Sauce and PJ's with Ranchero Sauce. YUM! We sat outside even though it was still pretty cold out.
For dinner, we grilled chicken, corn potatoes with onions and Portobello mushrooms. .. A meal fit for a King and Queen!
On Sunday we went to a festival at Six Mile Creek. We got a bottle of wine and sat and listened to a really bad duo that sang folk type music. This is the first time we were at the bottom of the big hill. We're always on the deck overlooking the vineyards and the wedding pavilion.
Back to Sunset Park!

It went down to 42 degrees! Holy cow that was a cold night! I think I shivered the whole night! When we got up there was frost on the field across from our site.We had a really fun time with lots of laughs. I have to remember PJ and his "what the heck is Huffice Cream? I've never heard of that". He was very confused until we got closer to the truck... it was Huff Ice Cream! Sounds stupid now but was very funny when it happened. It's just the Zukowski way like Ben Jamin, Rec Liner etc.

We arrived in Ithaca about 15 minutes ago. We're already at the library! PJ thinks he put the $ for the mtg payment into the wrong account so we better make sure! It's chilly with a high of 62 today. I forgot to look at what tonight will bring. I hope it doesn't get too cold as we're camping!
So today we'll go to a garage sale, a winery, maybe a hike, who knows. It's time to RELAX!!!

Last night our v-ball team came in 2nd place in the finals. We lost the first game 19-21, won the second game 21-18 and lost the 3rd game 16-21. We played the NASTY team, the A. J's. We beat them for the season. We came in 1st and they were second. We were so happy to even do that. Anything to knock them down a peg is good with us! We were missing 2 players for college and 2 players in the last 1 1/2 weeks each broke their hands. So we were very proud of ourselves to get this far. It was nice, the other Wantagh team was there cheering us on. They hate the A. J.'s also. After playing, the 2 guys that run the place asked us if we wanted to play against them... sure, 6 against 2. I do recall playing against them years ago and they killed us! And they killed us this time also! Then they split us up and we went on each side so now there was the same amount on each team. Our guy was teaching Alyssa and I how to set properly etc. I never do that because I stink at it. Well, after about 15 minutes, I was impressing myself!!! It was a lot of fun and that's what it's all about! So it was an exciting night and now I'm very sore!

I went to visit my Grandfather today on City Island. Last time I went to visit him,it was sunny out and it took 1 hr and 40 minutes to get there. It should normally be 35-40 minutes. Today I left in the rain. I was all set to be slammed in traffic again, especially being that it was raining. It was smooth sailing the whole way there! I got there at exactly 11, the time I said that I would. I think it's been 20 years since I didn't hit traffic on the way there.
Pops was asleep. I didn't want to wake him. He wouldn't know who I was anyway. David said that he wakes up for about 10 minutes and goes back to sleep and doesn't know who anyone is.
David and I chatted and then I left 20 minutes later.
I decided that being that last time I was on City Island, I went down Cousin Jeannie's block and took pics of the boats and water, that this time I would do the same with Cousin Dottie's block. There are all at the end of her block, about 4 or 5 houses away from her house.
Looking towards the Throgs Neck Bridge.

I had to take a picture on my way home on the bridge. There was NO TRAFFIC again and there was construction too!!! UNBELIEVABLE!! Notice the blue sky. City Island, NYC etc was all blue shy. As soon as I got to Long Island, I was back in the rain. It rained until I got back in my door!

Yesterday I started a new job that has very flexible house. This way I can still sub. I was hired by a friend to "sit in the room and while 99 year old Aunt Mary sleeps, you just make sure she doesn't try to get up and end up falling out of bed. You can watch tv, read, whatever you want because she'll be asleep almost the whole time". Someone has to be there while she's in bed and the family can't handle it anymore. I was a bit leery because I HATE nursing homes but decided that it was a smart move.
So, I brought a book with the hopes of actually reading the whole book through the days, something I rarely accomplish. Aunt Mary's sons were there and they introduced me to her and right away she didn't want me there. She doesn't want her sons paying for someone to watch her. She kept saying "so what if I fall out of bed. I'm 99 years old. How long do you want me to last"? I had to tell her that I'm not getting paid and that I'm doing it to fill my day.
They showed me around and chatted for about an hour while Aunt Mary kept saying she doesn't need me. They both had to go so they wheeled her into the lounge area and left. Aunt Mary then was my new best friend and chatted with me NON STOP until I left at 4:15! She is one funny and spunky lady! We chatted about her boys, how she was married for 7 years with a 4 year old and pregnant with the second when her husband fell, hit his head and died. She had to bring them up alone and she worked extra to be able to provide extras for her boys... one was music lessons which ended up allowing that son to go to Julliard.
Later in the day her best friend Mary was at Bingo and wet her pants. She had to go back to her room to get changed. In the meantime Aunt Mary said she always wondered how the aides deal with the men that have those accidents because "you know, they have to touch their private parts. You know my husband died after I was married for only 7 years and I haven't seen one of those things since then. I wouldn't know what to do with it! I'd be afraid if I touched one I might make it fall off"! She grabbed my hand and we both had a good laugh.
Mary came back and Aunt Mary told her that her sons got some lady to sit in the room to watch her and she doesn't want the lady to be offended but doesn't want her (ME!). I said Aunt Mary, that's me. I'm only here to help them and to keep you company. She said she enjoys my company. Then she said "I think that other lady lives in the basement"! I really ended up have a fun day and I'm actually looking forward for tomorrow.

Last night was our Semi-Final Volleyball game. The wind at the beach was howling at 40 MPH with 50 MPH gusts! This was not the weather we thought we'd have being that we live about 7 minutes away from the beach and it was pretty calm at home! Another obstacle was that we were missing 3 key players. Two had college classes and the third broke her hand on Saturday. We knew we really had to put everything out there if we had a chance of winning these 3 games. We came in first place for the season but now needed to win this and then the Final to get the absurdly HUGE trophy.
The first game was a complete surprise of how close the score was back and forth. We'd be winning by one then the other team would be winning by one. You hit the ball one way and the wind would carry it in an entirely different way. Sometimes the ball would be ready to land out of bounds and the wind would push it back in at the last second before landing! It was bizarre! We ended up loosing the first game 21-19. That was pretty intense if I say so myself!
Now we have to get more serious for the second game. We had some pretty awesome plays. Whenever the ball would come to me all I could think was that I better hit it and do good because I don't want to lose on account of me! We were in the air, on the ground, diving in every direction. This was another tough, neck and neck game but we ended up winning 22-20.
OK so now we're on to the 3rd game. There was no letting go at this once we started. It was pretty close until midway when the other team cracked! We started gaining points and the more we gained, the more they messed up, thank goodness! We ended up winning the 3rd game 21-14! WE DID IT!!! We were all so happy and PUMPED! I never saw so much adrenalin from this team before!
We were so proud of ourselves. EVERYONE played their hearts out! We're so excited to play in the Final Games next week but we're not happy with who we're playing. They are known among the 16 teams as being the 'nasty team'. We've played them before and there are always problems. But that's next week. For now, we'll all bask in the glory that we won with our hearts last night!

PJ and I took a walk at Jones Beach this morning to see the aftermath of what Hurricane Earl created. We really didn't get rain here but the tides wrecked havoc.
Below is looking towards Field 6

Lifeguards at Field 5
Basketball courts
Towards field 5



Walking towards Field 4
Field 4
The main stairs leading on to the beach at Field 4
My favorite shack

The golf course looking towards the ampitheater
a bench in the basketball courts
walking towards field 6