Apple Festival

So, welcome to the Ithaca Apple Festival! This year they added something new, their own version of the Iron Chef Competition. Three Chefs, from local restaurants faced off against one another.
These are the Chefs, the other three were Judges. All the food they used was locally grown or produced. Including water buffalo! Who knew?!?! Don't ask me who won, I didn't stick around. The guy with his back to us was the announcer, a DJ from Ithaca college radio. The short one on the end is the Chef from Cornells dining hall, yes, you read that right.


Look! Little tree! Love this place! Best apple doughnuts in the universe! No surprise they were here!


I swear _everyone_ in Ithaca shows for the apple festival!!
This is just 2 of the 3 arms of the Commons...



As promised, a picture of the princess. She has some rockin' markings!


Well, just a quickie today. Have fun!

And as usual,

Thanks for Noticing me!

Brrrrr!

Okay, no pics yet, but I have too many observations for facebook statuses, so you guys are stuck with them!

I _LOVE_, love, love, love, autumn! Halloween is my favorite holiday of the entire year! Mostly because you can do any kind of celebration, and you _can't_ mess it up. No worrying about a dry turkey and undercooked turnips. No worrying if you got the perfect gift for someone, and if one of your decorations gets lost and rots, well, you have a plant already ready for spring!

So far I have about half my decorations up, and it is a beautiful, overcast, windy, autumn day. I'm wishing I was going to leave the house in a pair of jeans, a warm cozy sweater, and kick-ass boots, instead of dressed for work, but, *sigh*.

The sad thing is, this year, we seem to have gotten fall, before getting autumn, and the leaves are falling faster than they are changing color. RATS!

Well, instead of mourning the passing of the warm weather, celebrate the coming of the slower pace of winter, evenings spent at home, warm, with family. Cozy hot meals of comfort foods, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and as a nod to my buddy Tam... knee socks!!

And again...
Thanks for Noticing me!

Up here by Cornell U., there are a million things to do!

This is "Judys' Day". They pick a theme, and the whole day is devoted to learning about it. This years theme was grass. Rice is a grass, and this is son #2 husking rice. I'm told he spent nearly the whole day doing that little panful. (I had to work.)

They also made grits, out of corn, which apparently is also a grass, who knew?! And for some unknown reason, they made chocolate "grass masks" (African) That would be son #1 in the first pic.

My favorite Judys' day was a few years ago, they took us back 100 years ago. Every one was encouraged to dress in period dress, and they had a schoolhouse, and a bunch of amazing things to do and see!

It's always good to make learning fun, for both kids and kids at heart!

Again, Thanks for Noticing me!