Our New Old Walkway...

This weekend, we finally completed a project that has been in the works for a long time. Since the time we moved in, replacing the "walkway" (if you could call it that) around to the back door was on our to do list. Unfortunately, it just hadn't made it to the top of the list yet.

We went through various rounds of quotes from contractors for every option from stamped concrete to pavers. Ultimately, we decided we wanted the walkway to look old, not new, to go along with the age and look of the house. We settled on Pennsylvania flagstone and decided we would do the work ourselves to save money. Luckily, we had help from our friends, Brandon & Sarah Mauch (thanks, guys!).

We looked at flagstone at a few places before finding just what we needed at Barn Landscape & Supply on Babcock Blvd. They were friendly & knowlegable, had a great selection and good prices. They were able to schedule a weekend delivery and only charged $50 to bring the pallet of stone to our house, even though we are 15 miles from their location.

Here is what we we were replacing- a narrow path made up of 1ft stepping stones...


Last weekend we pulled up the stepping stones and dug out a 3 foot wide trench for the new walkway...
Here's the completed walkway...

Since these photos, we have filled in the gaps with a grass seed medium. Once the space in between the stones is filled in with grass, we hope we'll have a walkway that doesn't look new. Only we (ok, and you) will know the truth!

A Trip to the Farm...

This past Saturday, the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture hosted the 4th annual 'Buy Fresh Buy Local Farm Tour'. Since it was such a hot day, we only ended up visiting one farm (24 participated) but it was of particular interest to us because this year we joined their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). For a membership fee, we receive a crate of just-picked organic produce from Kretschmann Organic Farm each week.

It was really fun to tour the farm and meet the proprietors, Don & Becky Kretschmann, and to see where all the great produce we get comes from. Here are some shots from the afternoon. Feel free to comment or e-mail if you have questions about the CSA.

Eggplants...

Cattails by the irrigation pond...

Green bell peppers...

Apples in the orchard...

The orchard...

Something's sprouting (potatoes?)...

Under the apple trees...

Lovely coneflowers...

The big barn...

On a hayride/tour with farmer Don...

Giant green onions...

Kale- I never knew it grew in these pretty bouquets...

Bunches of basil...

More basil with dill in the background...

Tomato plants...

A view looking back at the barn from across the property. I was not expecting the farm to be so treed and hilly. This was not the flat farmland you normally think of...

The Big 3-0 in the Big Apple

A week ago at this time, we were on our way to the airport to head to NYC for a long weekend. Saturday was my 30th birthday and Jim agreed to take me on a getaway to celebrate. Having only been to New York twice before (both times on one day bus trips with no overnight stay), it was our first chance to get a real feel for the city. And I LOVED it. It was a perfect way to celebrate the occasion. We arrived Friday evening and departed Monday evening, and in those 3 days, we packed a LOT in. See for yourself...

The Raddisson Lexington, where we stayed, a few blocks from the Chrysler building in Midtown Manhattan.
The hotel lobby

Our tiny room (this was the first of 2 rooms we stayed in there, and the second one was bigger, but it's a long story)...

On Friday night, we headed to Lombardi's Pizza in Soho, the oldest Pizzaria in New York (opened 1905). Don't know that I'd ever had coal oven pizza before. It was delicious.

After dinner we headed over to Times Square. Take note of the photo bar at the top of the blog. Those are separate photos that Jim took while in Times Square and then used Photoshop to create a panorama. Pretty cool, huh?

Here's a quick video panorama as well...

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Saturday was the big day! Although the weather prediction was for rain (as seen here), it ended up being nice all day with not one raindrop, so we lucked out...

After hitting up the in-hotel Starbucks, we met our guide in the lobby and headed out on our private tour through Real New York Tours. Although it ended up being pretty history-based, we still saw some interesting stuff. Here's George Washington in front of Federal Hall (once the Capitol building).

The N.Y.S.E...

Front view of the Stock Exchange...

This was our first visit to Ground Zero which right now is pretty much a construction site. This is the new Freedom Tower going up. We were able to visit the Memorial Preview Site where they had models of what the area will look like when completed

One more shot of the Freedom Tower going up...

At Washington Square Park (you can see the Empire State Building through the arch)...

All ready to go out to dinner at the River Cafe in Brooklyn...

My Brooklyn Bridge dessert complete with candle and Happy Birthday plaque (made from chocolate of course)... No, they did not sing, thank goodness.

At our table... I really loved this place.

Outside the restaurant... It was so cute. After dinner, enjoying the view from outside the restaurant...

After dinner, we walked back to Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge, which was something everyone should experience once in their life. I wanted to go for a celebratory beverage, so we got changed and headed over to Rockefeller Center and went to the 'Rink Bar' which as you can guess, is set up where the ice skating rink is in the winter. We each had one delicious but very expensive drink. Ask me about this!

30 Rock...

From Rockefeller Center, we hopped over to Radio City for a few minutes...

What a great Birthday!

On Sunday morning, we hopped on the Subway (we did a LOT of subway riding- practically pros now) and made the hour long trip out to Coney Island. First stop, Nathan's, an institution in the world of Hot Dogs (home to the annual National Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4th).

Next stop, Luna Park on the Boardwalk, as we made our way to the Cyclone. Love this shot...

Looking at the beach from the Boarwalk. Was surprised to see a "real" beach in NYC.

The famous Cyclone, a Roller Coaster mecca...

Waiting in line...

If you've never ridden this, I can't quite explain it. I was expecting it to be tame, but it was not at all. The drops were fast and steep and the whole thing was much more intense than the Thunderbolt at Kennywood (my gold standard in wooden coasters). I still like the Thunderbolt better, but this is certainly an interesting ride...

After we got back from Coney Island, we headed to Toy Tokyo in the East Village so Jim could check out their Robot selection. He found a tin friend to bring home. Next stop was the Mac Store on 5th Avenue. You can hardly see it, right? This huge glass box is all that sits above ground, with the actual store under the street.

We had some time to kill so we strolled around a bit and stumbled across a Bastille Day Festival with lots of yummy french food vendors.

Here's Jim enjoying a crepe...

I couldn't pass up a strawberry tart from Payard. Too delicious...

Next on the agenda was Circle Line Harbor Lights Cruise, so we headed down to the piers...

The boat was nothing fancy but the tour was great...

Now this was a cool looking boat...With the tour leaving dock at 7pm we had great sunset lighting for some nice shots...

Love how this one has a red, white and blue sky...

Of course, the Brooklyn Bridge...

At the bottom and to the right of the bridge, you can see the back of the River Cafe where we had dinner on Saturday (it's actually on a barge)

This one's the Manhattan Bridge...

After the cruise, I insisted we visit Juniors in Time's Square for a piece of their famous cheesecake...

So worth it - a great way to end the day...

On Monday morning, we rode the Subway to Herald Square for a stroll through Macy's... This Macy's had no less than four, yes four Starbucks INSIDE the store. Can you believe it?

Love those wooden escalators...

Next on Jim's agenda was a stop at a great guitar shop, so we headed to Rudy's in Time's Square and it did not disappoint. They had a large selection for being a fairly small place. They also had some vintage guitars on display that were for sale. If only we had $29,000, we could have brought one home! :)

One more pass by Rockefeller Center on our way to the next destination...

Which was Central Park. Here's the whimsical Alice in Wonderland Statue...

Miniature sailboats on the pond...

Taking a break...

We wandered through Shakespeare Garden...

It's strange that it can be so quiet in the park when the city is bustling just beyond it's boundaries...

After enjoying Central Park, it was on to the subway and then the bus to head back to the airport. It was sad to leave but our legs had reached their maximum limit on walking for 3 days. I don't think I could think of many better ways to spend celebrating my 30th. Thanks to Jim for putting up with my plan and going along happily with every minute of it!