A hint of purple

Right near where we were grillin' up dinner on the NY trip were these pretty little flowers.  Those who know me know that I can't resist a flower picture!!!!

Salad Dressing Anyone?

Another picture form the NY trip.  Poke salad (also known as Pokeweed) has some darned pretty berries in the fall and I always seem to find some to take pictures of now that I live in the south!

Hello, I am Fall and I Am Cool!

OK, so I really should be grading student papers right now, but I think I will avoid it a bit longer by blogging! :)  A couple weeks ago Courtney and I had the chance to head up to near Salt Point, NY to visit with some family (new family for me!) and go to their home winery bottling party!  More on the party is here.  Fall was starting in up north and we got to see some great foliage.  This little guy was just outside one of our friends' house and I fell in love with it.  No idea what type of plant it is but I love the way the leaves changes in stripes!  Most Cool Fall!!

More Purty Flowers, Netherlands Style

 

 

And back to The Netherlands again today :)

6/10/2005

Though I was pretty sure that I was past the time, I headed down to Haarlem (ever wonder where that NY neighborhood got its name?!?! ) to see the bulb fields.  And I say a lot of fields, but no blooms.  Darn it.  I think that I missed it by about 3-4 weeks.  Ah well, a reason to come back someday.  Which I will, I really like it here.  I did find 3 or 4 very small plots in bloom and of course took pictures   Iris and Alliums.
I drove around looking at the country side for a while then headed up to the town of Spaarndam mentioned in my green guidebook and this was a great find.  It is a little tiny town perched along one of the dikes.  It also has a small number of houses on one side, but much is perched right up along top.  Also three locks in town and on the third is a statue to the little boy who put his finger in a hole in the dyke all night too keep it from flooding!  The town was a lot of fun though and I am really glad that I headed up there.  They are also having some sort of a festival in the not too distant future (after I leave unfortunately) but several sail boats had shown up and had blocked in one of the locks—the one around the town square.  People were out on the boats just talking and enjoying the company.  I actually had to wait while the pedestrian draw bridge was raised to get a couple of the boats in.

Prettyness in Holyrood

Yup, that's right, Holyrood...the royal house of the kings and queens of Scotland since the fifteenth century though it was started as an abbey in 1128. The palace itself is pretty and what you would expect of many European royal residences. Much opulence! You are not allowed to take pictures inside as it is still used by the queen, but the grounds are pretty and open for pictres.