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Sunday, September 30, 2007

Garlic Festival

Saugerties_2002_03I know, I know .. I have been horribly slacking on keeping up-to-date with my posts since we got back from our trip. I'll try and do better going forward. :)

I still owe everyone an update on what we did on our trip. Not sure if I will ever get around to that. We had a really great time though and got to see lots of cool things. Kirsty and Laraine took us to some really neat old authentic English pubs and we did loads of sightseeing. Some of the places we went are: Chatsworth Manor House, York (York Minster & National Railway Museum), Nottingham, Warwick Castle and a scenic ride through the Peak District. We took tons of pictures and I promise I will get around to posting them soon. :)

Today we went to the Garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY (about 1 1/2 hrs. from where we live). It's a really neat festival surrounding everything garlic. They have been hosting the festival for 19 years on the last weekend in September. This year they had over 50 000 people show up over 2 days (Saturday and Sunday). It was busy but the area was really huge so it didn't feel so bad. We tasted lots of products made with garlic and had a really great time. You wouldn't imagine all the things you can make with garlic. :) Garlic bread, garlic chicken, garlic chili, garlic fritters, garlic hamburgers, garlic mashed potatoes, garlic mozzarella, garlic mushrooms, garlic onions, garlic pasta, garlic roasted pork on a spit, garlic pretzels garlic shrimp, garlic steak, garlic pickles, garlic popcorn and even garlic ice cream. :)

After the festival we stopped at the Gilded Otter Brewpub in New Paltz, NY. A really neat place with some yummy pear cider and margeritha pizza. I wish we had a cool brewpub like that close by. New Paltz seemed like a neat town with lots of shops and yummy looking restaurants. We also saw some signs for wineries so we will have to come back at some point to check those out. 

Mail Update: Since my last update letters have gone out to: Kirsty/UK, Lotte/Denmark, Charles/TN, Steff/ME and Jessica/DE. A letter is going out tomorrow to: Tizz/Denmark. Received letters from/owe replies to: Fiona/Scotland, Caroline/Scotland, Nicki/Australia, Sarah/Canada and Michelle/Canada.

Posted by Hanna at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Thursday, September 20, 2007

I'm back :)

Just a really quick post. I know I haven't posted in ages but I do promise that there is a reason for it and I didn't just abandon my blog. :) I was on vacation from September 8-20. We just got back this afternoon and I am really tired. The reason I didn't post anything about this trip earlier on my blog was because part of the trip was a suprise for my dad. We started out in Austria to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. And I do have to say the surpise turned out very well. :)

Spent 3 days in Vienna and then headed on to England where we spent the rest of the time. We stayed with friends in Derbyshire in the middle of England to be able to explore more of that region. Also went down to the south for a weekend to see my best friend Joanne who lives on Hayling Island near Portsmouth. We really had a great time and I promise I will update with all the details of our trip and loads of pictures once I am more awake. :)

Mail Update: Letters went out from Europe to: Celia/MA, Eunice/Malta, Tizz/Denmark, Charmaine/Malta,  Tiffany/OK, Nina/WA and Natalia/Poland. Letters going out tomorrow to: Kirsty/UK and Alex/Germany. Received letters from/owe replies to: (bearing in mind that I didn't get any of my mail from when we were gone from the post office yet) Sarah/Canada and Michelle/Canada.

Posted by Hanna at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Autumn-y Mood

Autumn1 I am kind of in an autumn-y mood today. The weather has been really gorgeous this weekend. Brisk blue skies, breezy, not hot, not coldm just right. :) I had to work yesterday but am enjoying a nice day off today.

It's been a busy week and next week looks like it's going to be pretty busy as well. Tomorrow is Labor Day. I am still going to have to work but it's alright. I don't mind all that much really. There is a ton that I should be doing but somehow I haven't really accomplished much today. Wrote one letter ... my mail pile is growing and growing. Also been reading a lot. I am currently reading the "Three Sisters Island" trilogy by Nora Roberts. Really great books.

Mail Update: A letter is going out tomorrow to: Carmen/Germany. Received letters from/owe replies to: Eunice/Malta, Tizz/Denmark, Kirsty/UK (2), Charmaine/Malta, Sarah/Canada, Tiffany/OK, Nina/WA, Natalia/Poland, Michelle/Canada and Alex/Spain.

Posted by Hanna at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack