Flower Auction

Here in the Great White North our frost date is May 28th. I don't plant my flowers until Memorial Day weekend. Usually I start buying flowers around May 1st. I move them in and out of the garage until the all clear sounds. Why I do this I am not sure something about the best ones selling out. This year has been so cold ( tonight it is suppose to be 35 degrees!) I just haven't been motivated but life does roll on and my friend convinced me to go to the Mennonite auction on Friday. I have been going the last five years or so. You can't beat the prices. Seven dollars is the typical hanging basket price. Okay, you have to buy at least five baskets at a time but with a friend to split things with it works out. It isn't only the prices that draws me though, I just like the atmosphere. I like being around the growers and farmers, I like the banter back and forth between the crowd and the auctioneer, and of course the Mennonites themselves are interesting. Oh yes, I also have an auction nemesis. What ever I want he is sure to bid on. *&%#!

In some ways I find the Mennonites very appealing. I know, strange for me. Not really a feminist life style but their sense of community and their groundedness has merit. Mennonites don't seem to feel the need to hire landscapers! Nature, not so scary for them. Friday there were several young men holding the hands of toddlers in calico bonnets or straw hats. To say they were picturesque would be an under statement. I didn't get any shots of the kids because I am pretty sure that would be frowned on but I wish I had.

The drive home along the lake and through the vineyards which are just budding out was just awesome. The clouds were clearing, the grass is deep deep green ,and Dame's Rocket is blooming all along the roads. My favorite patch of Brown Swiss cows was at it's best. ( I like that patch of cows because they get to keep their babies and live in huge grass field not a small muck lot.) We do live in an area full of calendar shots.

Local Food

I have had some recent requests for me to resume blogging. I am pretty receptive to flattery so here I am writing again. I have to say part of the reason I haven't been writing is that technology got the best of me after all. I got a new camera for Christmas which I still haven't adapted to, The Flip is great except it takes hours each time I want to edit a movie, and worst of all we had to get a new computer which runs Vista! Okay, I can only handle so much new technology stress before I go running for my book....well...my book which is of course on my Kindle!

We had a good weekend, good company, great food, and fabulous weather. Saturday, Karl and I drove to Rochester to visit with my brother and his wife who were visiting Mom and Dad. We all went out to dinner at our latest favorite restaurant, Lentos. And we all had a meal that couldn't be beat. I had the lamb and I indulged in the rhubarb tart for dessert. I wasn't able to resist the wonderful spring rhubarb. The restaurant is all about using "in season" ingredients from local farms. They use local produce, local organic meats and local cheeses. I believe the menu even tells you the miles your ingredients have traveled on the back. I am heartily in favor of this but I admit we live in a pretty easy area to eat local as we are surrounded by farms, vineyards and orchards.

Keeping up with the eating local theme I drug Karl and Inga out to the Ithaca farmers market Sunday morning. Inga and I shopped while Karl talked shop with a graduate student he ran into as soon as we arrived. We bought fresh picked asparagus, spinach, kale, and some potatoes. Purple and pink potatoes! But the big hit of the trip was lunch. Inga was able to find red bean paste buns and cookies. She developed a real love for red bean paste in Japan so this find made her eyes twinkle. Even better than the red bean paste, at the Vegan,Gluten-free, Raw food stand we came across ice cream that Inga, who is lactose intolerant, could actually eat with pleasure. It was even creamy she proclaimed! When your child is in heaven life is after all very good.