Willi, James and Monti

Willi, James and Monti, as in Williamsburg, Jamestown and Monticello- where we spent our 4th of July holiday. This was my first time to all of these places and as a person who enjoys American history, I enjoyed it tremendously. There was so much to absorb history-wise... there were fifes and drums, british soldiers, Benedict Arnold, Pocahontas, John Smith, Thomas Jefferson, I could go on; Wills must have been tired of me saying things like (as we walked along the James River in Jamestown) "Do you think Pocahontas stepped right here?" as I slowly lifted my foot up and back down to the ground.
Even with all that history at each destination, I could not help but be drawn to the gardens. To me, that sparked the most imagination in that I wondered how people in the 17th and 18th century tended their gardens, what did they use to water with, did they pull weeds, did servants take care of the garden, did they take pride in their gardens or only simply have them out of necessity? The above pictures are from random gardens we saw while in Williamsburg.
I love gardens. I love seeing other people's gardens, I love to talk about gardens and I love to learn about the history of gardening. I couldn't have imagined what an impact Thomas Jefferson's gardens at Monticello would have on me. Below are a few pictures from Monticello. To me, the picture of the garden pavillion is more iconic than Jefferson's house itself. I can just picture T.J. taking a long break to read or rest in the pavillion after a long stroll through his orchards, vineyard and vegetable garden.














I absolutely enjoyed every second I was there, taking it all in and just being there was special to me. While we toured the house at Monticello the guide pointed out amazing artifacts and paintings of patriots and presidents all of which I was happy to see; BUT as soon as she pointed out an 18th century wooden seed cabinet made by hand at Monticello in which T.J. kept his seeds that he gathered and labeled for the next year, I felt the tour was complete! The cabinet was plain, no frills, but to me it was the most interesting piece in the house.

Fahrenheit

That's Fahrenheit as in the new roller coaster at Hershey Park. The hour and 15 minute wait to get on the ride was worth it, despite the stinging rain as soon as we loaded into the ride.... yeah, it poured, long story. Anyway, we enjoyed a fun day at Hershey Park and are looking forward to our vacation in Williamsburg- Busch Gardens here we come!

memorial day-week recap

Days off. Love 'em! Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend... I have been off for the past week and have been enjoying every minute of it. It has been a time of catching up, doing things I just don't seem to have time to do while I'm working. Lots of gardening, cleaning, laundry and organizing. I also hooked up Wills' satellite radio (which was his Xmas present- yeah, just getting to it now...p.s. I've been listening to the Martha Stewart station.)and I also hooked up wireless Internet (who knew all you had to do was just buy a router??). I also did a day excursion to Lancaster County with my mom where we visited several green houses,farm markets and our favorite little indie shops on Main St. in Lititz. That's it for now, more updates later. Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm starting a moonlight garden???

Steel City then Fallingwater

I must say that even though Will and I spent our Saturday night in Pittsburgh watching the Pirates (his team) play the Phillies (my team), I did not feel far from home or out of place. I would say the ratio of Phillies to Pirates fans was about 1 to 1.
Now, it is well known that Philadelphia sports fans have a notorious reputation, but this is hard to take when I am sitting in the stands (albeit in another team's "house") minding my own business, contently watching the game when some 20ish year old girl behind me yammers on endlessly about how obnoxious Philly fans are, etc etc etc... It just so happens that in our section there were many Phillies fans and it was all good, no beer dumping, no shouting, no instigating, just a mellow good time. I was proud. So girlfriend, give us a break, please! We are not all of the "500 level, take no prisoners" mentality, we do not all get locked up in the stadium jail nor do we damage opposing team property and trash talk constantly. We just want to watch our team play and have a good time. But don't think for a moment that we won't cheer for our team and wear our colors proudly regardless of being in your house, our fan-ship knows no boundaries. Go Phillies!!! I almost forgot to mention that Wills and I both had Pirmanti Bros. sandwiches, a Pittsburgh tradition. It's a sandwich piled high with steak, roast beef or which ever filling you choose, then loaded with french fries and cole slaw (yes, in the sandwich)... mine was pretty good I must say.

On the way home on Sunday we stopped to visit a place that I have always wanted to go... Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, Fallingwater. It was spectacular. Words simply do not do it justice, you have to experience it. It is a wonder of architectural design and nature.
I am still in awe.

Pocono Pines

This weekend was my first trip to the Pocono Mountains. I am lucky enough to have very generous friends from Chicago that allowed us to stay at their PA getaway in the Poconos. Thanks Steph and Tim! Their house is wonderful and perfectly secluded in Pocono Pines. Everything had a billowy layer of freshly fallen snow and it was beautiful.

This is Chip. We were not equipped with proper snowman making accessories so we used what we could find in Bill's Jeep. Chip's buttons are water and soda bottle caps (and one motor oil cap). The scarf is a bunch of bungie cords; the mouth is a red Twizzler; the nose is a paint brush and the eyes are chocolate chip cookies. Not too bad, huh?

On Sunday Bill, Cara, Wayne and myself went snow tubing at Big Boulder. Let it be said that when snow tubing with friends it is all about "speed" and "distance". The folks at the mountain make it so easy too. You don't even have to walk back up, they have a tow line that you hook your tube onto and it takes you right back up the hill. That's the tow line in the picture above bringing us back up.

The snow tubes are for single riders, but you can lash as many tubes together as you want, we decided that connecting all four of us together would provide optimal "speed" and "distance"... Yep, we were right! Note: mine is the red tube, in front, how convenient, thanks a lot guys!

At the bottom of the mountain was this little brook, it was so beautiful and really got me excited for the beginning of spring- only 17 more days...

During our short weekend in the Poconos, we visited many local shops and found lots of candles, copper art and best of all... cheesecake. I will end on that note! Yum!

Thanks again to Steph and Tim who let us stay at their awesome getaway.