Author Archives: Lori

Prospect Mountain Hike

Time for another Adirondack hike! Saturday was a good day for hiking, not so great for biking because it was pretty windy.  We chose the Prospect Mountain hike, which is one of the most popular trails. It starts pretty much in the village of Lake George, so easy to get to. 

It starts with a staircase to the bridge that crosses the Northway. Lots of steps!

Then the bridge over the highway:

I must admit here that my heart was pumping faster crossing this than going up all those steps. You can see right through the bottom!

On the other side, the trail started going up right away. It was pretty rocky, too.

The trail isn’t too long. It is an out and back route. The length of the hike as the crow flies is 3 miles, but it ended up about 5 miles. You never quite go straight up, but because of the rocks you go back and forth, which adds a lot of steps.  The elevation rise is around 1500 feet, which is a lot of climbing.

The trail crosses one more road, which was a nice resting spot.

Thumbs up – going well so far!  After crossing this road, then we hit the really steep part.

See John looking up to where we will be climbing? LOL.  It was challenging.  There were a fair number of people on the hike in the morning as well. It was in the upper 40s, which was kind of nice considering how hot and sweaty we were getting while climbing. I can’t imagine doing this on a hot and humid day.

There was leapfrogging of people because of the stopping and resting during the climb.  People coming down would say “You’re almost there”. I’m thinking their idea of almost there was not my idea of almost there.

Finally we made it and the views were worth it!

We started down there at the water level. Now that was a hike! The interesting thing is that you can actually drive to the summit here, which is why it is a popular destination. There used to be a cable tram that would bring people up to the hotel that once stood here. This is the last remnant of the tram line:

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There is a really nice picnic area with tables and outdoor grills. I would love to come back and picnic here.

More views:

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After a rest and snack, it was time to head down. It was almost as hard coming down. The flat rocks with pine needles were actually a little slippery. Good thing it wasn’t wet!

We passed some kind of memorial. Not sure what it is for as there was no signage.

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Rocky from top to bottom!

Then back across that scary bridge. Wave to the nice people!

Seriously – that bridge was really scary to me.

When I checked my health app after we were done, it said we climbed 99 flights! That’s a lot of stairs 😀  Our legs are feeling pretty sore today after all that climbing. It was definitely a challenging hike.

What’s Blooming!

Winding down, winding down. It’s just about November and it will be time to retire my Friday posts.  The garden actually still looks pretty decent.

My mums with the darker one finally matching the pink one:

I love this color combination. The orange foliage is from the balloon flowers. Those are pretty sensitive to cold. They come up very late in the spring and we have had a couple really cold nights, which nipped the foliage. Looks cool, though.

Marigolds with some new blooms:

There is also new growth on my butterfly bush. See all the bluish gray leaves versus darker green ones in this picture?

The bluish color is all new growth, which is pretty unusual on this plant in late October.  It even has a bloom!

I’m still waiting on the flowering tobacco:

I really don’t know why they just stayed like this. I will be digging up at least one of them this weekend to bring inside.

More zinnias:

All the new zinnia blooms are closer to the ground or very short, which is interesting.

That’s it for the garden this week. I do have to share this photo I took last night. It had rained all day and then the sun almost was coming through the clouds at sunset and it made the sky into a flame:

Isn’t that crazy? I took this picture through a window at a restaurant, which is why there are those reflections in it. FYI.

With the end of What’s Blooming, how about a flashback to a pink spring for today’s pink picture!

Don’t forget to click!

Have a great weekend!

Lower carb day

It’s getting to be the season of eating coming up, although truthfully I’ve already started with the candy corn! 😀

Lisa posted the other day about eating low carb and how it was a little difficult for her. I commented about trying to do low carb for a few days a week rather than every day and got me thinking that I should start doing that now with the eating season and all.  So, here is example of Monday’s lower carb day.

Now – keep in mind that it’s lower carb, not really low carb. I don’t do well with really low carbs (that’s just me) and I’m not interested in giving up my fruit. I also don’t subtract fiber from my carb count like a real low carb person. Basically my lower carb is just eating less grain items.

Anyhoo – on to the eats. Breakfast was a 1-minute muffin done in a waffle iron topped with blueberries:

Coffee with heavy cream, which is pretty rich. This breakfast was pretty filling.

Lunch time was a quick 2 egg + egg white cheese omelet:

I love omelets – love them! I eat them several times a week.

I got little hungry later and this would be a time where I would grab a bit of cereal as a snack to tide me over. Instead, I had a spoonful of this stuff:

It’s solid at this time of year, so it was just a chunk of it. I forgot how much I like this. Yum!  I could easily go overboard eating it, so I have to be careful as it is high calorie.

Latte snack later. This is where more of my carbs come in with the milk.

Dinner was a classic for me. Chicken with pan sauteed broccoli:

This looks small, but it was 6-7 ounces of chicken (with Frank’s Red Hot on it).

Evening snack with football:

I ended the day with about 75 grams of carbs, mostly from fruit and dairy. I think if I subtracted the fiber from my day it was around 50? Again, I don’t do it that way.

It’s a good way to switch things up and knowing I’m only doing a few days a week of it makes it easy to stick to because I know the next day I can have, say, a bagel if I want 😀

Today’s pink picture is Ms. Pixie’s harness and leash:

She loves her harness and she will go over to the door and put her front feet up on the door patiently waiting so I can buckle the harness on her. She is pretty smart when it comes to that. Not so smart with other things, but I still love her 😀

Don’t forget to click!

Votes for Women

This weather is crazy here! We’ve been in the 70s for the last few days and it doesn’t look to change. Saturday morning we did go out when it was colder just because we needed to ride early. We went up to the lake:

It was really perfect riding weather. No breeze and no people!  It’s definitely a muted fall here.

Riding with my favorite partner:

I have to tell you – I do not know how John goes without sunglasses. He never squints. Me? I go out on a cloudy day without sunglasses and I’m all “My eyes!!!”

I think I’ve mentioned this is the past, but this year marks the 100th anniversary that women were granted the right to vote in NY. All year there have been activities and such going on. On Saturday, there was a reenactment of the statewide suffrage convention that was held in our town in 1900.

It was a reenactment of the opening day with actors reading the actual speeches given that day.

Musical interludes:

Even the refreshments were all recreated from the suffrage cookbook.

Those cookies were really good, too.

It was interesting that at points during the speeches, the audience actually broke out in spontaneous applause because so much of it really still resonates today.  Here are some of the advertisements that were in circulation at the time:

Not everyone was a suffrage supporter:

Men and women were against it.

I like this one:

It says, “And you think you can keep women silent politically? It can’t be did!”

We’ve come a long way, but there is still a long way to go in our country for equality all around.

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Today’s pink picture is a silicone lined soap mold. I was evaluating different molds to add to our line and this one came with a hot pink liner!

Don’t forget to click!

What’s Blooming!

It’s bulb planting time now. Actually – it is a little too warm still. Temps should be regularly around 60 during the day and we have been in the upper 60s to low 70s!  I only got a few bulbs this year.  Well, 50 bulbs, but that is a lot less than past years:

No tulips this time, only Allium. I got more of the purple sensation and the star of persia – 25 of each. I bought these from Tulip World as John Scheepers didn’t have the star of persia, which is the one I really wanted. I planted about 1/3 of them and will do the rest this weekend.

The front bed still looks decent for nearing the end of October:

Giant mum!  The one on the other side is finally starting to open up.

It’s a darker purple. No worries about frost for at least the next week so this should get nice and full.

This spring I bought 2 new shrubs to put in the dry shade bed, which I am standing by in the full shot picture above, so it’s not visible. I have one hydrangea there and the new ones are called Diervilla, aka bush honeysuckle.

The cultivar is Kodiak Orange and you can see why it has that name. These were tiny plants in the spring and probably tripled in size over the season.

Their mature height should be 3 to 4 feet. They are native to NY and good for many different growing conditions.  I also found out they are super easy to propagate. A twig broke off in transit and just for kicks, I stuck it in a pot, tucked that in a clear plastic bag and put it in a window that got morning sun. Lo and behold, it took root and started to grow! I planted that outside. Then we had a storm that knocked another twig off and I did the same thing. So now I have 4 of these bushes for the price of 2!  I’ve never had success with propagating before, so go me!  I loves me some free plants.

New snapdragon blooms:

The David Austen Othello rose sent out one more bloom:

Sorry about the bird poop on the leaf, but I wasn’t going to clean that off for a picture 😀

This is Polar Bear zinnia:

Lots of new buds on all the zinnias, too. This late warmth and no freeze should yield another crop of blooms.  It’s good for the butterflies. I see them every day in the garden. Right now it’s a lot of monarchs and painted ladies. I can go out every day and take a picture of them if I want.

Last stop is the pink picture of the day, which would be the giant mum – or the mum that ate Cleveland as I like to call it:

Remember to click for free mammograms!

October PSA

 

October is breast cancer awareness month, even though every month you should be doing your own self exams. I had my mammogram this year.

If you are not insured, you may be eligible for a free mammogram. You can find information on that at the National Breast Cancer Foundation where they can help you find a facility near you – or through the CDC program called NBCCEDP

Early detection is key for the best outcome.

I just realized that I forgot to do my pink pictures for October like I have done in the past. Life has been a bit of a scramble lately and it slipped my mind. Then I downloaded some pictures from my camera from today:

That will do!  Please click on this site to help fund those free mammograms for people in need.

This was showing the increase in layers for biking now. Finger gloves are needed early in the day. It was 33 degrees this morning; however – we hit almost 70 degrees by the afternoon! It is crazy, crazy weather.

Still lots of butterflies, too. The are loving the zinnias.

They had best be moving on to warmer climates soon!

What’s Blooming!

The flower posts are going to be winding down soon. Wahhh!  It’s feeling more like fall around here again. The leaves are showing some color. This was on my bike ride today:

Not too colorful and more yellow than anything else. Maybe we will go north a little this weekend and do some peeping to see if the colors are better.

The annuals are still hanging on. Our temps were 30 degrees overnight last night with a frost warning, so I covered up a few plants. Not many since it is pretty late in the season, but the morning glories are still doing so well that I covered those:

Also one of the moonflower vines since it has a lot of buds on it.

Note how similar those flowers look. It’s because they are in the same family – Ipomoea – which is related to the sweet potato! There’s your trivia for the day.

I didn’t cover any zinnias, but they seemed to be fine today.

Even though seed packets are supposed to be one color, there always seem to be outliers. This was from the  packet of the above zinnia:

It doesn’t even have the same form. That’s part of the fun of gardening, though. Like Forrest says, you never know what you’re going to get.

I’m still surprised at the size of the mums out front. This one is a single plant:

Side by side with the other one:

The one on the left just has buds and not open yet. It is more of a burgundy color. It had better get moving! LOL

That’s fall right there.

Any guesses as to why I bought this decoration? Candy corn!  Tis the season 😀

 

Have a great weekend!

What I’m Reading

Here is another update on my reading. I’m starting to chug through some books. Still behind on my goal for the year, but I’m trying!

A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang

This book is a murder mystery set in 1918 involving a trio of young people, each of whom has a problematic person in their lives murdered with a “you’re welcome” note involved. At first the police don’t suspect any foul play in the deaths as the notes were found later, so socialite Allene and her friends Jasper and BIrdie work to solve the murders. Several twists and turns and red herrings in this book. It was a very fast read and well researched for events going on at the time.

Quarantine by John Smolens

When I was in school, I took a microbiology class that got me hooked on all things related to bacteria and viruses, so this book was a no-brainer for me to read. It takes place in 1796 during the plague outbreak as it reaches Newburyport, Massachusetts. Giles, the town doctor, is trying to save people and prevent the spread by building a pest house and using medical practices of the time while the town begins to rise up in religious fervor.The story was extrapolated from real history and the author was very meticulous in describing how life was back then and how they dealt with outbreaks. There is also a subplot of a conspiracy, which results in an unexpected ending. At times it moved a little slow, particularly in the beginning, but it moved quickly from there. I ended up reading this on a flight from NY to Denver this summer.

Close To Shore by Michael Capuzzo

This is a nonfiction book that tells the story of the Great White shark attacks on the Jersey Shore in 1919. The author creates a narrative based on newspaper accounts, as well as personal diaries and journals. He also does a good job of setting the tone of what life was like in 1916, although sometimes I found the details of that took away from the actual telling of the shark part. These were the first reported shark attacks in the upper East Coast and people could not seem to grasp that it was a shark that did this. At the time, people thought sharks didn’t attack people because their jaws weren’t strong enough. Really an interesting book and I have to say that it doesn’t make me want to swim in the ocean LOL!

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

This book is two stories woven together by two different real life disasters in New York – the Triangle Shirtwaist fire (1911) and current 9/11/2001. The parallels between these two events are actually striking, I have to say. Most of the book follows a nurse named Clara as she tries to deal with losing someone in the Shirtwaist factory fire and her inability to move on.  She takes a job on Ellis Island to create a safe haven for herself until she is forced to go back to the mainland. The part of the book in the current time follows Taryn, a widow who lost her husband in 9/11. She also has not learned to truly move on. Both stories are connected by a beautiful scarf that passes through various hands. I found Taryn’s story to be not as well developed, so I wasn’t much emotionally invested in her story. Clara I wanted to grab her and shake her many times LOL! But I was rooting for her. Again, another story well researched for the settings. Also a quick read.

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier

Of course, I got this book because it was about a gardener, but it’s not a good gardener! This is the story of two Irish teenagers who arrive in America after being separated from their parents on the sea voyage in the late 1800s (from the famine). They find work in a household that is shunned by the town. The family seems to be slowly changing and at night a strange figure watches over everyone sleeping. Everything with the house seems to be tied up in the large tree that grows very close to the house. It’s up to Molly and her brother to figure out what is happening and how to save the family and themselves. This book is actually supposed to be for younger readers, but it’s really scary at times. The author is really great at creating a mood – and the mood is creepy!  I think it would give a 10-year-old nightmares. The writing is quite good and I want to explore other books by this author.

 

I’m really stuck in a time period, aren’t I? Even the nonfiction one is around the same time!

What’s Blooming

Even though we had a little bit of a cold spell a few days ago, it warmed back up again. I’m wondering if we are going to have any fall color this year. The leaves have just been falling off the trees without changing.  It’s just been so dry.  The warmth has meant a longer bloom season, however.

The moonflowers finally are getting buds on them. I think they just might be in too much shade and that is why they are slow.

Getting a picture of the flower open can be tricky. You have to catch it either at night or early in the morning. The blooms only last through the night. They smell so good, too. Here is a nighttime picture:

I wanted to share my success with powdery mildew this year. Last year my peonies got it terribly and were covered in the mildew – which looks gray and yucky. It doesn’t really hurt the plant, but it looks horrible.  Anyway, I started early in the season with some organic neem oil:

You can pick this up at any garden store or big box garden center. I mixed it with water per the instructions and just a bit of dish soap to help emulsify it. Then I put it in a spray bottle and sprayed my plants with it.  You do have to spray after it rains since this will wash off. I am so happy that I only had a bit of the mildew and was able to control it. My peonies look like this now instead of icky and gray like last year:

The lawn is brown and dormant, but it has to fend for itself. I’m going to make the neem part of my regimen from now on. The other bonus is that it kills aphids. I sprayed a plant that had aphids and they were dead the next day and never returned. When I spray, it is only at dusk after the pollinators have gone for the day – just an FYI.

Gourd blossoms:

My baby gourd is growing! It is about 2 inches now:

The mums that are in the ground have just started opening up. Way later than the potted ones.

I’m still surprised that these keep coming back and getting bigger.

Sunpatiens in pots:

I have these in the space where I dug up and divided my irises in order to fill in the open space.

Passion flower:

I’m going to bring this plant inside again this year and see if I can get another season out of it.

John has gotten into doing stained glass as a hobby. I had a metal stem that the flower top had broken off of and it was on my list to do something with it…for years LOL. Anyway, I asked him to make a flower top and here is the result:

Now I’ve told him he has to make me more because I love it!  I need more stems, though 😀

Last, but not least, some decorations! My neighbor gave me these little ghosts as she was clearing out her Halloween stash.

So cute! They look cool by the solar lights, too.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Lately

I didn’t get a blooms post done on Friday. There wasn’t really anything new, but I did get some pictures of butterflies!

I saw them out the window on Friday afternoon and ran out quick with my phone. There were 3 monarchs on my zinnias, which is really exciting for me! They are “new” butterflies, which you can tell because they aren’t tattered at all.  Monarchs only live for a few weeks except for the migration batch, which can live for 8 months. Butterflies are fascinating!

I was really close to them, obviously LOL

Monarchs are a good subject since they sit nice and still for a long time, unlike swallowtails.

On Saturday, we had a family gathering to celebrate a few events, niece Devon’s birthday, my mom’s birthday and our anniversary as they all happen within 2 days of each other.  I was in charge of bringing a cake. I used mixes for time sake. I marbled chocolate and strawberry together into a bundt pan:

Topped with chocolate ganache. It turned out pretty well! I was winging it a little, so good thing.

Fall has officially arrived here. The temps dropped pretty rapidly from 90 degrees to in the 60s and overnight in the 30s!  It was too cold to bike in the morning, plus it was really foggy:

It’s crazy how cold and foggy the morning was and then it turned into a beautiful day, so we rode to the lake:

Quite a difference!  We had a snack from the bakery. Mine was a pumpkin cupcake with pumpkin buttercream:

It’s a small cupcake, but we only did 18 miles.  Lake George was really nice without the tourists around – or as many tourists, I should say. I’m always surprised at the drop off in tourists because fall really is such a beautiful season around here. Plus the village decorates.

Happy fall!