For the last 3 years, I have begged Jimmy to take me to the Poppy Festival in Lancaster for several reasons. First, I LOVE festivals. I love trying out new foods, browsing through the vendors, watching the kids play games…the whole nine yards. I also have a fond memory of a time when I was about 5 years old. My dad took my family to a poppy field and I remember running through the beautiful sea of flowers with my brother and picnicking right outside our car. But my MAIN goal was to get nice photos to display in our bedroom.
Well, early Saturday morning, we packed breakfast, got the MP3 player ready, and off we went. We were probably one of the first ones there. I was so excited to eat, take photos of the field, and shop. But as I got in line to purchase the tickets, my husband whispered, “Ummm…I don’t think the poppy field is here.”
Ummmm…hello? It’s THE poppy festival. The poppy field MUST be inside those gates. Right!? Well, it turned out that the festival was JUST a festival…no flowers what-so-ever. We literally stared at each other and then laughed for the next oh…at least an HOUR. What the heck. We drove almost 2 hours for nothing!!
Feeling totally crushed, we asked one of the people in line to see if there were any poppy fields nearby. He told us that there was one 15 miles away.
And off we went…15 miles away…and found this…
Yay! Totally worth the drive (although I feel asleep). And as you can see, we had fun with the tripod.
Ever since we bought our house, Jimmy has been running around trying to make it eco-friendly. His first big thing was water. As in H2O. His first project was to create a rain barrel to catch the rain water. If you’ve been around, you know that we like to make our own little gadgets rather than buying, so, this is what he came up with…
Next, he had me looking all over for a funnel. Why you ask? To help gather the COLD water before we shower. You know, the water we run for the first minute until it’s nice and steamy. Well, in our house, it’s about a gallon of wasted water per shower. We now collect the water and use it to water our indoor plants.
Of course, we have all the basics down. We each have a bottle that we fill everyday, use canvas bags when grocery shopping, have compact fluoruscent lights, use wood chip in our garden (holds moisture longer), and have installed motion sensor lights in the garage.
We recently changed our porch lights so that they come on and off at certain times. This saves a ton of electricity for those times when we sleep in or forget to turn our light off. Our front light is solar powered.
I know there are so much more we can do.
Next step? Create our very own composting area, and when baby Koontz is born, we are going to try cloth diapers. Did you know that 50 MILLION disposable diapers enter the landfill EVERYDAY and they stay there for over 500 years?! That’s just plain gross. We might have to opt to a biodegradable diapers once in awhile, but our goal is to try cloth. Stay tuned!
well…not forever. It’s more like strawberry fields until we get lazy and stop caring. But as for now, Jimmy and I are so excited about our new strawberry plants. I admit, I was first a little skeptical…I mean, why grow strawberries when I can walk over to one of the best Farmer’s Market and buy a bunch for a great price?
But then again, I LOVE my strawberries! They are sweet, oh-so-cute, and I the fact the I can just walk into my backyard for fresh, juicy strawberries makes me smile!
Yum!!
April 13, 2010 Posted in Pet
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to photograph an adorable dog. Yup. You read it correctly. A dog. We met on a windy day at the Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro and I must say, I totally enjoyed myself! Kona was so quiet, tame, and wonderful to photograph. Here are my favs…
I *heart* her tag!
Uh oh…Kona is getting bored with me!
I’ll leave you with this image…
I could go on and on about my trip, but I know pictures are worth more than words, so here it is…the condensed version of my spring break.
Day 1:
- National Gallery of Art (Picasso, Monet, Da Vinci, etc)
- National Archieves and Records (Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights)
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing ($$$)
Day 2:
- Capitol Tour
- Washington Monument
- Air and Space Museum
Day 3:
- Lincoln Memorial
- Bus Tour (WWII Memorial, White House, etc)
- American History Museum
I was totally bummed because the first 3 days were raining, but fortunately the sun decided to come out for the last day. My favorite? American History Museum and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Cha-ching!
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