Last Fig (and others) Update for August!

This is my unknown variety of Italian Purple fig. Third year I've had this one, and I may get a ripe fig from it!

This one is "Peters' Honey".

I think this one will be a light colored fig. It's hard to tell, but I think some of them are starting to get ripe.

See the lower one? How it's starting to droop down from the stem? That's what makes me think it's almost ready. =)

Little figs, staring with Black Maderia.

Early Violet.

Violett de Bordeaux

Giant Amber. Yes, the second one has a few new leaves! 

And Genoa.

The green Champagne grapes look a little better than when I planted them.

And the Crimson Grapes are beautiful.

Both seem to have a critter digging around in them. I'm guessing it's a chipmunk.

Last, but not least, the raspberry runners that I pulled and potted. I sold a bunch of these at a tag sale in the spring. =) Let me know if you need any!

Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk

We dog-sat for Waldo for a few days.

 After he went home, we messed around with hair for awhile, then went to spend the day at Maritime Aquarium.

I loved this little guy! He's a Bull-nose ray. He kept coming over to Erin and popping out of the water to say "Hi!" and did the dolphin walk a few times. =) Very cute.

We saw some neat things.

And, some scary things.

Why are all the seals blind?

Not a great shot, but it shows that this seal is blind in both eyes. =(

They have a new, temporary exhibit. Lorikeets!

You could buy little cups of nectar to feed them, and they love the stuff! They also had a thing for Erins' hair. =D Look at #5 on the wall, eyeballing her shoulder.

If you live nearby, you should go check it out. The nectar is $3 for the 1oz cup, and it lasts awhile, depending on how many birds land on you! I just found out that this weekend, Labor Day weekend, is the end of the exhibit! Hurry!

All the figs

I promised an update on the figs, so here ya' go, *all* the figs.

The Genoa. Two out of three.

Giant Amber, it looks like another cutting *might* pop open before fall, I'll let ya' know if it does.

Violette de Bordeaux, the neat-leafed one.

Early Violet, looking good.

And the baby, Black Madeira! =) Just adorable. *sigh*

Quite a difference in less than a week. But wait, there's more! I've only been showing you the cuttings that I got back in February. But I have a few more to brag about. =)

This is "Peter's Honey". Bought because of the name alone, not that I needed any more fig trees!

Chicago Hardy, bought to replace a little one I had that didn't make the winter.

Last, my two original figs bought spur of the moment from a guy on Craigslist. =)

I don't have variety names for these, but the top one is a white fig, and the bottom one is a purple fig. I've had them for three years now. The purple one has figs on it!

His story is that his grandfather had brought cuttings with him from Italy, and grew his own trees. Eventually he taught the grandson how to grow trees from cuttings. So now he's selling his extras.

There you go, tell me what you think!

Tag Sale Day! (And Highlights of the Week)

 Monday was bee day, so after spending some time with Gabrielle and her hives, I took a look at the Taylor hive. It's been pretty much left alone this summer, I have added supers and a feeder, and even fed them sometimes, but definitely not as much as the other girls.

 They still look pretty darn good. =)

 Lots of bees... 

Lots of brood...

Plenty of nectar...

And even some honey.

Here's a bit of pollen and bee bread. I just love all the colors. =) I guess I'm easy to please!

So once I got them all riled up,

It was time to put them away. Just a nice was to spend a day.

On Thursday, my beautiful daughter dyed her hair!

Yowza!

We all spent some time in the sun while it set. This is "Stormy" a little guy that I sit for. =)

 That's when I noticed my single "Black Maderia" fig has finally opened up! I could swear I took pictures, but I can't find them right now. So I'll have to take more tomorrow, and get them posted... If I remember!

Then we rinsed the dye out...

 BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

And went Halloween shopping with Daniel, the next Stephen King. (So not kidding!)

It's a little early, and Spirit Halloween doesn't have any coupons yet, so we didn't come home with anything but ideas. I'll have to save them for a future post. =)

Which brings us to today, and the tag sale. My daughter and her friend Olivia, wanted some "Faygo" soda, which could only be found a 45 minute drive away...

 I grabbed my friend Sally, and off on the adventure we went! Somewhere along the way we spotted a tag sale and stopped to take a look around. (Sorry no pics, that would have been a little creepy.) Beautiful house, lots of very expensive junk that I didn't need, and one slightly mangled KitchenAid box. 0_0

  It was full of other junk, some cuisinart blades and directions, birthday candles and a rubber glove. (WTF?) But nestled in that box was the pasta press, all the parts intact. I'll let the next picture do my bragging for me:

The only thing it needs is the booklet of directions. I know I can get a copy online, if I want to print out all 72 pages! (Well, maybe when I'm feeling full of ink I'll do it.) It did, however, come with the direction booklet for the stand mixer, which I never got with my mixer. I'm feeling well chuffed!