The last few days have been viewing the countryside. From Shinglehouse, Wellsville to Coudersport the beauty has certainly been entertaining me, actually both of us. Every few miles one of us will say, look isn't that beautiful? Is it just us or are others noticing how brilliant the various green colors are more vibrant this year. Maybe all the rain and nights of heavy dew has had something to do with it. Usually come August things are starting to look brown and heading the other way getting ready for frosts and snow. Not so this year, the lawn and barnyard are spring green and lush. I'm still mowing twice a week where other years maybe once every two weeks. We ate supper on the porch tonight (we do all summer long) and was noticing the trees on the hills. They are still green but getting muted with some deep reds and brilliant orange and yellow. The big question came up......will it he a good year to enjoy the fall colors? Hard to tell, it's something we look forward to with rides in the car or bike to our favorite places around the area. If you want to enjoy a few suggestions here are my top picks. #5. Kinzua area, #4. Benezette with viewing Elk as a bonus, #3. Pennsylvania Grand Canyon #2. Hyner Mountain with the bonus of watching hand gliders right up front and personal, awesome!, #1. TaDa my all time favorite ride around the Finger Lakes, summer and fall are beautiful but fall gives the added pleasure of smelling grapes in the air from all the wonderful vineyards. Great little restaurants on the lakes and wineries for tasting. There is also the Wind Mill near Penn Yan, it is a huge Farmer's Market with anything imaginable. Food vendors are plentiful with a few out of the ordinary treats. Huge plates of deep fried ribbon potatoes with several topping choices. We all split a plate! Fresh roasted peanuts all warm and toasty, homemade fudge, specialty coffees and teas. They have fresh cheese and meat shops, even local wineries are there and offer free tastings. Of course local farmers and the Amish farmers bring fresh vegetables and fruits. There are clothing stands, wood shops, material, yarn, you name it they have it. It's a 2-2 1/2 drive but well worth the time considering there is so much to see and do in the area for very little cost. Actually just what you buy will be the only $'s spent. Looking is free.
Instead of a Harvest Moon I am going to say we had a Harvest Sun today. After Dick worked on the pizza oven we headed to the garden. We still had 2 rows of potatoes to dig. Every hill has been giving us 10-12 Potatoes and they are huge. This is the best crop we have ever had! After digging and sacking 80 lbs of potatoes from one row we decided the other row can wait until tomorrow. This year will give us 250 or more lbs! We picked cucumbers and tomatoes, enough for one day. It seemed like the sun was perfect, just right for harvesting. What a beautiful day to be outside. Once the sun went down it was getting a little chilly, the sky is clear and the moon is going to be big and bright. It was a good day.
The weekend also brought our Canadian friends to their camp just above us. A little visit and bottle of Chocolate Lab Wine on Friday night with Tracy, Saturday night we all went to Pizza King in Wellsville for wings and pizza. It always looks so nice to see their camp lights on, that means a good visit with friends. If their visit wasn't great enough our biker friends, Ken, Donna, Glenn and MaryAnn stopped for a visit this afternoon! We love company! Good times, good laughs and a few remember whens. We all go way back, like I can't remember not knowing them.
We have plans for pizza bake offs when the oven is done! It's getting very close and the weather looks like it will make progress move along this week.
For the last few weeks and maybe one more cooking for me is planned around what we picked from the garden. Green Beans ended just in the nick of time.......enough. Now corn is a daily side, maybe the wet weather is the reason, it just seems very sweet, tasty and tender. A few more days and it will end. Tomatoes and cukes are still plentiful. Tonight we had BLT's and of course corn on the cob. It won't be long and I will be fixing "fall food". Boiled Dinners, roasts, stews, soups and lasagna. Until then it's veggies from the garden.
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The early morning tracks to the barn and garden. A wonderful
way to start the day at Cook'n by the Creek ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ |
