Cayuga Lake Wine and Herb Fest 2011

Today I went to the Finger Lakes region of New York for the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail's Wine & Herb Fest.

At each of the 16 wineries along the trail you get an herb or veggie plant along with some food made with that plant, the recipe, and some wine!

We had Peachy White Lavender Trifle here. Oh-we got a white lavender plant...not a peach tree.

What a gorgeous view.

I had a special treat for Melody, the Scottish Highland Cow, but she stayed in her barn at Buttonwood Grove Winery.

Another gorgeous view from the other side of the lake.

My new friend, Chip, gave me the lowdown on his winery, Long Point.

This was my 15th winery of the day. Am I a little blurry?

Look at the wonderful herbs and veggies I got today! There's cilantro, sage, rosemary, lemon thyme, basil, Thai basil, onions, fernleaf dill, tomatoes, peppers, oregano, sage, rosemary, savory, and white lavender.

Cabot Celebrates Easter in Arkansas

It’s been pretty rainy here in Arkansas but I managed to get in some Easter sunshine by checking out the egg collection on the mantle!

This picture has a Polish Palm in it that my hostess got from the Polish Arts Center in MI. They do not have palm trees in Poland, obviously, so certain areas make their own by bundling together brightly colored and elaborate dried flowers, wheat and grasses!

Here I am with a bowl of Pisanki. Pisanki are Polish Easter eggs. Aren't they beautiful?

My friend, Mad, and I colored our own Easter eggs.

I think we did a great job!

This was our Easter morning meal – I love the Easter butter lamb. Isn't he cute? The baranek wielkanocny is a traditional addition to the Polish Easter table. Amelia tells me you can find them everywhere in Western NY...but here in Arkansas my hostess had to make her own using a mold!

I really enjoyed my first Easter. I'm so thankful I got to share it with my new friends.

Springtime in the Ozarks

Well, it was looking like spring had finally sprung here in the Ozarks!  A few weeks ago we had several days last week of absolutely gorgeous 70 degree weather! Foliage is flowering and some green leaves are even starting to emerge on some of our trees!! But, as the fickle finger of Mother Nature can be sometimes, we dropped back down into the low 50’s during the day and down into the 30s at night these past few days!! It won’t last long, but we decided to head out for a while and snap some pics around town of our pretty flowering trees and such.

This Bradford Pear is a beauty!

The yellow blooms of the forsythia are a sure sign of Spring. Amelia says she can see the buds on the ones in her yard-but they aren't blooming yet!

I don't know the name of this bush-but it sure is pretty!

This Redbud tree is a pretty sight. I can't wait to see and explore more of Arkansas!