This is the newest addition to my African Violet collection. It's finally blooming after having sat around idle for a few months. I had to adjust the white balance settings in order to get an accurate representation of the colors and I also placed a clear translucent plastic funnel over the camera flash to soften the light.
It was a big weekend for festivals here in CNY. Some of the fun offerings included Oswego Harborfest, St. Patrick's Irish Festival, and the Syracuse Arts and Crafts festival just to name a few. The fireworks at Harborfest are by far one of the best displays in the CNY area, however, I decided to skip out this year and stay closer to home. I started the weekend by heading over to the Irish fest Friday night after work to catch a local band called Quigsy & the Bird. They played many traditional favorites such as Whiskey in the Jar, Tell me Ma, Unicorn and The Orange and the Green. This is some video footage from their website:
Saturday evening, it was back over to the Irish fest with my mom in law to check out another local band called The Flying Column. http://www.theflyincolumn.com/index.html
The music was great and we shared a table with an elderly Irish gentleman who must have kissed the Blarney Stone at some point. ;) He was quite charming, although a little tough to understand due to his thick accent. After the band finished, it was time for the Irish dancers to perform. The crowds had quickly filled in around the stage and were blocking our view from the table. As I was scoping around for a better spot, mom and our new friend had climbed up on the table (so they could see over the crowds) and were swaying back and forth to the music. I never thought I'd see mom up dancing on any table, ever - LOL! And all she had was one glass of hard lemonade. Anywho, for a simple no frills, free festival - this was pretty good. Music, dancing, food, brew and some good company - what more could one ask for?
Sunday, it was off to downtown Syracuse to check out the Arts & Crafts festival. Shortly after I arrived, a group of belly dancers in full costume put on a performance.
Browsing through the tents I was in awe at the talent some of these artists have, wow! There were so many unique goodies for sale, it wouldn't take much to drop quite a bit of cash here. I ended up getting a glass bead bracelet and one of those herbal neck/shoulder sacks that you can heat or cool depending on your ailment. This would've really come in handy a week or so ago, but at least I'm prepared for next time.
These are super chili's that I purchased at the CNY Regional Market. Although the plants are only about 5" tall, they are loaded with peppers. This is my first year growing these and so far, I am quite pleased - can't wait to use them in some recipes! Suggestions welcome!
This is a habanero plant that I picked up at Walmart. It's about a foot tall now and is growing in a container. As you can see, it has one decent size pepper already and there are plenty of others in the works . Several of the tomatoes are starting to ripen now. I placed my lens cap next to these Jet Stars for scale.
I had planned on working in the flower beds this morning, but the weather decided not to cooperate. So in between doing house chores and laundry, hubby and I took a little break to create our South Park avatars . We each did our own and then I combined them using Photoshop. The resemblance is quite remarkable - lol!
Enough playing around - time to get some work done before we head off to a benefit later this afternoon.
Part of what I find disturbing is the picture that accompanied this article. Now I don't doubt there is a homeless problem in Denver, but does anyone really believe these guys are truly 'homeless'? Call me cynical, but they look like 20 something year old punks that just need a good kick in the arse - look at the smirks on their faces! I'm pretty sure that if they got a hold of any free tickets, they wouldn't go and enjoy a little cultural enlightenment - they would sell them at 1/2 value to get the cash.
Anywho, reading this story reminded me of the South Park episode 'Night of the Living Homeless', here are a couple clips...
While Denver denies that they are attempting to make the homeless 'less visible' - I can't help but question their motives. Especially when you consider these offerings are only being proposed for the few days that the Obama campaign for 'change' (pun intended) and the mass media are in town.
My girlfriend from work invited a bunch of us girls to go to her Lia Sophia jewelry party tonight. Being the supportive co-workers that we are, we accepted her invite and thought we'd make a night of it by going out for dinner before heading over. The jewelry was pretty nice for costume jewelry albeit a little pricey. They had a necklace/bracelet set that matched perfectly with the outfit I had on, but it would have put me over budget - even with the buy one at regular, get two at 1/2 deal. So I opted for a couple pairs of earrings and necklace extenders instead - came to just under $50 including tax and shipping. Although these types of parties (or should I say money pits) aren't really my cup of tea, I had fun spending time with everyone outside of work. We should really try to do this more often - the dinner and drink part, that is. ;o)
After a slow start, the tomatoes are finally beginning to take off. It's been 7 weeks since I planted and here's where we're at:
I counted 25 tomatoes on the Jet Stars and 33 on the Romas, both with lots of flowers in the works. The Big Boys aren't doing quite so well... on a total of 6 plants, I counted 16 tomatoes and there are very few flowers. A few of the BB plants also have yellowing leaves at the bottom. ;(
The plants seem a little 'stunted' compared to previous years which could be partially due to me forgetting to add the slow release fertilizer granules to the soil before planting this spring. I had also pinched off a bunch of sucker leaves early on and maybe got a little carried away.
I've since let the suckers be, and to make up for the lack of fertilizer, I have given them a couple shots of 'worm poop' http://www.terracycle.org/all_purpose_2l.htm/ , a few banana peels and a watered down dose of Miracle Grow. Not all at the same time of course, but not on a regular basis either. Although they're nowhere near the height and bushiness of previous years, it looks like I might end up with a respectable yield after all.
These are super chili's that I purchased at the CNY Regional Market. Although the plants are only about 5" tall, they are loaded with peppers. This is my first year growing these and so far, I am quite pleased - can't wait to use them in some recipes! Suggestions welcome!
This is a habanero plant that I picked up at Walmart. It's about a foot tall now and is growing in a container. As you can see, it has one decent size pepper already and there are plenty of others in the works .
Several of the tomatoes are starting to ripen now. I placed my lens cap next to these Jet Stars for scale.
I had planned on working in the flower beds this morning, but the weather decided not to cooperate. So in between doing house chores and laundry, hubby and I took a little break to create our South Park avatars . We each did our own and then I combined them using Photoshop. The resemblance is quite remarkable - lol!
FYI - this post has been slightly edited: 
After a slow start, the tomatoes are finally beginning to take off. It's been 7 weeks since I planted and here's where we're at:
