Cooperstown, NY-Day1

Jason and I took a vacation to Cooperstown, New York. It was about a 5 1/2 hour drive from Baltimore. We arrived in the early evening and after walking around town, we ate dinner at the Cooperstown Diner (a small diner with great service and good sized portions). Jason had fried haddock and french fries and I had a grilled cheese with sweet potato wedges. We stayed at Visions Inn (the annex building to the Lake Front Motel--which was under renovation during our visit). While it was very close to the Baseball Hall of Fame and convenient to Main Street, it didn't quite meet the expectations raised by the following quote off of the website, "Our annex building, Visions Inn, located 1/2 block from Main Street on Hoffman Lane, once an 1800's Brewery, has been totally renovated into a luxurious modern-day Country Inn."

Little Birdbath Garden

This little birdbath garden has been a real battle to get going this summer. I think now it finally is starting to look like what I had envisioned when I dug it out in the fall. I bought some black-eyed susans and blue asters. Both are perrienials, so hopefully they will return and spread making this a fun oasis for the birds and squirrels.

Marigold Seeds

I've decided to dry out and save some marigold seeds for next year.

Triops

We have a pet Triops that lives in our kitchen. He is cute, has three eyes, and looks sort of like a horseshoe crab. He is sort of elusive and small, so it was difficult to photograph him. We had two Triops, but one died and then this guy ate his dead body. Gross, right? But, that is what they do. Jason didn't name our pets because they only live for 90 days or so, but I have ended up calling this guy, "Triops Friend," as in, "Have you fed the Triops Friend today?"
Click on the title above for Triops facts and information. You may want a cannibalistic little pet of your own one day!

Refreshing Pool

Earlier this summer, I painted our kitchen, put up new blinds and made curtains for the dining area.

Garden

I kept the garden low key this summer. The mint, strawberries, shasta daisies and rosemary all came back. I added morning glories, pumpkins, bird house squash, and marigolds. Jason put up a squirrel feeder and we've been having fun watching the squirrels try to figure it out.

A Trip to Fort McHenry

I went to Fort McHenry yesterday with my friend Clare and her friend Camila from Brazil. The weather was beautiful and we went on the full tour (which was complimentary yesterday to our happy surprise). There were reenactors playing the drums, cool sculptures, canons, mannequins, the sea wall walkway, tugboats, neat patterns and more. Then we went to a great pub in Locust Point and had delicious blueberry cobbler! A fun, summer day! Thanks Clare!

Plantable Paper Pulp

I recently taught one of my classes how to make paper. We blended old telephone book pages with old construction paper and then added grass seeds to one batch of pulp and wild flower seeds to another. My students made "Happy Spring" cards for Earth Day to give to a family member or friend. Then I decided to save the pulp to make some paper later on at home. I drained the water out using a colander and squeezed and squeezed the pulp. I brought it home and let it dry on the patio in the sunshine. It didn't dry out by nightfall, so I brought it inside into the basement. Then I didn't go back down for a week, thinking "its drying down there and I can put it in tupperware later on." When I finally went back down, it was growing! Much to my surprise.....I've just been letting it grow now and might plant it soon.

Easter Sunday at the Druid Hill Conservatory