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West Virginia
When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

June 15, 2014

A lot of flora - no fauna that I recall...

Yesterday, Saturday, we were off to the nearby Saturday morning farmers' market on what was forecasted to be a nice day but seemed kind of threatening while at the market.  But we didn't get rained on and that was all that mattered.  Lots and lots of good looking produce and plants, 2 bakery stalls, a local winery vendor, etc.  And the produce was what was really in season - lettuces, strawberries, and such.  I sometimes wonder about my farmers' market at home because they seem to have tomatoes and later summer items at the beginning of summer...


We brought our purchases back home and headed out to the Friends of the Forbes Library in Northampton.  The day stayed nice but changeable - brilliant sun and blue sky, clouding over, sun again and a nice breeze all day.  Lots of lovely old homes where we parked and this was my particular favorite and if it was Chris's photo, the wires wouldn't be there. :)

Once parked, we walked to all but two of the 7 gardens so we got some nice exercise.  I'm just going to post what pictures I have because what can you say about plants especially when you don't know their names?!  But the gardens were lovely - each in their own way and the last one we visited (which was the first one on the list) was truly beautiful - very much how you think a garden in a garden tour will be. I'll post the "scenes" first and then close-ups of some of the plants.

I think the occupants of the little playhouse below must have moved when the new tree house appeared on the scene.  But it still serves as a delightful little surprise tucked back in the trees.



All the gardens were very lush - the foliage plants were all amazingly big and full.  Most of the gardens were predominantly shade gardens so lots of greenery and variegated foliage.




The next two are of what I think my sister said was a mountain laurel bush.  The first shows a profusion of tiny pink buds and the second shows a spray of the fully opened flowers.  


So that was our day.  We stopped at some point in our travels for lunch at a little diner we tried for the first time on my last visit and decided it was a favorite spot for hot dogs (which we both love) and it was good and very diner-ish again.  And then for a light dinner, we had a fresh baguette with three different cheeses and a delicious salad that Virginia made - her salads are always really tasty and interesting.  This one had, along with the various greens, little bits of strawberries and coarsely chopped pistachio nuts and she said the dressing had olive oil with a smidge of sesame oil, white wine vinegar, fig jam (which she uses a lot in her cooking and dressings), a little apricot jam, pepper, and I think maybe she said a bit of mustard.  She can correct all this in her comment if I'm seriously mistaken.  Anyway, whatever was in it, it was delicious!


2 comments:

Christopher said...

Looks like it was a great day for garden tours, despite the threat of rain. And that dressing does sound mighty tasty... hard to remember that there are still homemade dressings ;)

Chinch said...

Gosh, that salad sounds good -- wish I'd ever remember to write down what I come up with but now you have so I'll try it again. Sure was a fun, nice visit but I never thought to look for your report until today when I came to look at the Sophia report.

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