a bite of the Big Apple (Pie)

A whirlwind trip to NYC and boy, did we cram a lot into our time there!  We were there to visit friends, and I felt like I crossed every bridge in the city a hundred times.  Good thing they were so attractive!

Since I've been to the city a few times before and done a lot of the touristy things already, I decided to focus on a new objective:  thrift stores and famous bakeries. 

We hit three thrift stores (found a great vintage corduroy jacket and a winter coat!) and oh, did we eat!

Authentic New York bagels, cinnamon babka, the famous Levain cookie (gnawed around the edges in the photo above), ice cream, pizza.  So...much...food. 

We took the subway 25 minutes uptown and walked an additional 30 minutes for that Levain cookie, and it was so worth it!

Two words:  THEY SHIP.

I loved seeing the graffiti around the city...

...and a surprising amount of green space and rooftop gardens!

We went to Central Park and the MET gift shop...not enough time to do it justice!

We also went to the New York Botanical Garden...expensive, but SO pretty.

We went to the Long Island shore for a hike...gulls!  :)

We went to Upstate NY and visited Jones Family Farms in the Hudson Valley...

...where we had still-warm spicy apple cider donuts.  YUM.  We also took a 3-hour boat tour of the Hudson...

...saw West Point...

...and a gorgeous sunset.

We visited George Washington's headquarters on the Hudson.

Oh, and Todd got to see lots of old friends!

Check out this cake...another contributor to the 5 pounds we each picked up over the long weekend!

We ate too much and slept too little, but had a great time.  Still, felt pretty good to be back home again! 

Two weeks 'til our NEXT road trip...Nashville, here we come! 

Farm-tastic!

More lovely days in the town where even the graffiti makes us feel right at home:

It's wonderful to have so many great places to hike close by.  We've gotten into the delightful  habit of a leg-stretching stroll at least every other day.  There's so much to see.  Beautiful butterflies...

...including this aptly-named great spangled fritillary.

Check out those spotted eyes!

I also saw a banded tussock caterpillar making his way across a leaf...

...and these sawfly larvae were making short work of a leaf of their own!

Sawfly larvae are very destructive.  A group of sawfly larvae can skeletonize a leaf in no time, and even adult sawflies prey on plants! 

This was a fun discovery: the corpse plant (Monotropa uniflora).

It lacks chlorophyll and does not get its energy from the sun.  Instead, it uses its root system, and a has a parasitic relationship with a certain fungus, from which it draws nutrients.  Because they don't utilize sunlight, they can be found in some very dark places! 

We stumbled on this really colorful bog yesterday, full of birds and odd, spiky flowers.  I can't wait to go back with my binoculars!

We even found a nearby park with a pond where we can indulge in goz love!

More great news:  we're under contract to buy a 5-acre hobby farm!  I'm so picky and I don't like contemporary house styles, so I was absolutely thrilled to find this great A-frame.  It needs massive updating...carpet removed, walls repainted, cabinets knocked out, lighting replaced.  But I think it will be AMAZING. 

Two of the acres are fenced in and animal-ready!

The view from my future office deck:

The barn!

The deal isn't done until the deal is done, so right now I will say that I'm thrilled to be under contract and hopeful that there are no problems and we'll close as planned in early September.  I'm already planning a fruit orchard, massive vegetable and flower gardens, a chicken coop, climbing roses up the side of the house (A-frames just beg for climbing roses!), and a beautiful red door and window boxes full of red geraniums to offset all of that drab brown! 

Stay tuned!