More Travels, Animals, Flora, Photos, Food, and Community!

I've probably posted a photo like this already when I mentioned my recent trip to our Audubon but I can't help but re-post this little guy!  This is Lincoln.  Ever since I met him I have been thinking about him.  He's a resident of the Audubon and was a rescue.  At some point I will be stopping by to make a donation specifically for his care.  I adore this guy!  LOOK!  He's even smiling!

One of the other stops I made while traveling for work not too long ago was one of my favorite places in our county.  This is the road to/from Kinzua Wolf Run Marina, Kinzua Dam, Kinzua Beach, Allegheny National Forest/Rim Rock, Jake's Rocks, etc.

I was thrilled with how this photo turned out considering the car was moving at about 55 mph when I took it.  Below you will see two more photos specifically from the Kinzua Beach location.  I will be revisiting Kinzua Beach this Saturday as I volunteer for a Bicycle Event and helping with registration.  My father will be helping with set-up today and the beer tent on Saturday.

But the last time I stopped at Kinzua Beach I was completely alone.  Well, I was the only human...let's put it that way!  It was a nice brain break.  Here is a photo I took while walking down the hill from the parking area.  There is a building behind me, several large parking lots, restrooms, and a few paths.  The grass you see is a small part of a LARGE grassy area where you can walk, sit, have a picnic, etc.  The bridge you see in the front is the bridge that goes over part of Kinzua and is near Kinzua Wolf Run Marina which is somewhat across the street on the other side of the bridge and Kinzua Dam itself - is not too far away.

That day I walked down to the water.  There were several ducks there.  They were not afraid of me in the least.  They actually came up to me and nibbled on my shoes and jeans.  I talked to them for several minutes.  I posted a video a while back on IG.  I was so surprised they came up to me like that but it totally made my day and I will not forget it!

Another brain break I took this past summer was to Bett's Park.  More specifically the Pollination Garden that Penn State Master Gardeners attends to each year.  These next few photos where some of the beautiful flowers I saw while there this year.

I have blogged about the Pollinator Garden before and I think I even did a walk thru video on YouTube a few years back.

Since I am backlogging these photos I must say most of the flowers and plants have since 'expired' for the season because fall is approaching.

And speaking of fall...my indoor/office plants are starting to realize what time of year it is, too!  I've already lost 3 plants and it's bumming me out.  This plant, however, is one of my newer ones.  It's called and Aluminum Plant.

This one is an Elephant Bush Plant.  I fell in LOVE with it but I think it's on its way out, too!  I hope I can save it.

My mother found a few old photos and here is one of them.  It's of my sister and I when we were in our church Kids Choir.  We were 'ewes'.  Oh...to be a kid in the 80s!

Here is a photo from the most recent Bra Shipping Party that our Zonta Club Members did.  If you remember seeing photos like these in the past you might recall we send the bras over to Free The Girls and they go to survivors of trafficking to help them start their own retail business.  Right now there are 3 countries that receive these shipments...Mozambique, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.  In about 9 months we have shipped 2,001 bras to Free The Girls from our rural area.

And now it's time for some vegan food!  Here is one of the items I found from Trader Joe's.  It was yummy and had a nice kick to it.

Right near where I work there is a NY Style Pizza and Deli place and the pizza dough just happens to be vegan.  They will put basically anything you want on a pizza.  I have enjoyed a few of them in the past but recently I decided to re-visit their 'build your own salad' and this is what they made for me.  It was darn hefty and VERY MUCH appreciated!

Greens, Broccoli, Tomato, Avocado, Cucumbers, Onion, Peppers, topped with a nice amount of Hummus, and French-Type Dressing.

Again, one of my side trips while traveling to work - and actually FOR work - I stopped in Kennedy, NY, at the Aber's Acres Produce Stand.  I couldn't pass up these AMAZING Organic Raspberries!

And...Cherry Tomatoes!  A few years ago they got their ORGANIC certification.  It was a 3 year process.  Their stuff is AMAZING, too!

How To Catch Up On The Last 3 (Or More) Months?

I guess the BEST way is to just jump in, eh?

Yeah!  It's been WAY TOO LONG since my last post!  There has been a LOT going on and I really hope to share as much as I can with you!  I thought the best way to do it is in screenshots of 6 and go from there!  So with this first set of 6 photo shown above you can see that I have been trying my green thumb at more plants.  My co-worker has really been getting me into it.  The problem is...I can't keep up with buy more and more dirt and potting soil for the ones we are obtaining!

I was able to get my hair done and I have to get it done again soon!  I'm so horrible about being consistent with that!  YIKES!

Cricket is still doing well.  Riley and Charlie are aging by the day!  I have really seen a rapid change in both of them this past year.  Charlie is 19 and Riley is 18.

I have been able to locate some great new and new-to-me vegan items over the last several months in our travels!  I also put in an order online at some point, too!  This Daiya wasn't available to me locally with the 4 cheese style but I was able to find it online!

SWIRLS!  These Vegan Swirls receive a HUGE two thumbs up from me!  I absolutely LOVED them!  I can't wait to find them again!  She's Swiss Cheese I bought online, too, and whereas it wasn't the best vegan cheese slices I have ever had I was able to get them at a low price so I was happy I was able to try them on the cheap!  The Foodies Frittata was ok, too!  Very filling!  Again...found that online over at Vegan Essentials.  Same with the French Bistro product.  I have to fess up and say I wasn't a fan of that product but was super excited to try and was stoked it was one of the 'overseas' vegan products I was able to get my hands on!  The Mustaches were cute and cheesy but really small and easy to eat in one sitting!

We did take a trip to Indiana a while back - more on that in the near future!  

I have been finding some great random vegan deals at our new local Ollie's, too!  Annie's was on sale not too long ago!  There was another Vegan Mac I grabbed from Vegan Essentials that was pretty good and from Germany (I think).  And some more office plants!

Here are some Amy's Vegan Cheese Pizza Snacks that I finally found and enjoyed! 

And the other 5 photos are from Letchworth State Park!  We finally visited it this past fall!  I can't believe I had never been there before now!  We hope to go back in the spring or summer, too!  I really liked the visit!

Our mall is being ripped apart and the guys working on the building were going to trash all of the plants so my co-worker and I grabbed a bunch and tried to save them and propagate them.  Some are working well and others aren't.  

More pics of Cricket and Riley!

In one of our Ohio trips I was able to visit Mustard Seed Market again and found more VioLife Vegan Cheeses which I really like!  And our local Tops has Enjoy Life Cookies!  YAY!

LOTS more on tap!  Just need to take it a little at a time!  Hope you haven't given up on me!

Rooftop Garden Check-in & Cricket Update

I've had a few people ask me how our Rooftop Garden has been doing this year.  I haven't talked about it as much and I probably should.  We didn't do as many things this year because of less people to help with it and those who do most of it have been busier than usual.  But what we do have - I have taken some recent photos in the last week or so and will be posting a video, soon, too!

This year we have 3 different kinds of tomatoes we are trying.  2 out of the 3 are starting to produce something.  I will be posting more about which kinds at a later date.  Here's a pic of one of them in the meantime.

You know me and BASIL - I love it!  We have 2 'trees' of it we started this year as you can see here and we have one left inside near a window leftover from last year.  We have 2 'just starting out' plants that are growing from a 'drop off' from previous plants.

My mother has like 9 basil plants doing well in her back yard and she doesn't even use basil much so I guess it's time to start making pesto, eh!?  I know each time I mention it I have people interested in taking some once it's made.  I think I will make that a mini goal for this week and next week!

Another mini goal of mine SHOULD BE to do something with all of the Lemon Balm that is popping up everywhere!  I brought a little bit over from my mom's and it's going NUTS!

We have 3 containers of it going strong and I'm not doing anything with it...it's taking off on its own completely.

All I can think of is include it in tea but I want to try and come up with some home remedies and health/beauty ways to use it, too!

Suggestions for Lemon Balm?  Let me know!

And just a quick update on Cricket before I go...here she is!  She's a sweetie!  Ever since we lost Suzie - Paco and Riley have been going thru the motions with no real 'leader' and Cricket is leader - that is for sure!

She loves riding in the car, going for walks with fur friends, and doesn't mind baths.  But she doesn't like her nails done...so that will be something I will need assistance with soon!  She's still around 4 pounds and done growing but she has no idea that she isn't as 'big' as the other dogs!

Missing The Breakers

Yup!  I'm already missing The Breakers!  I'm missing the Florida weather.  Just when I thought spring was here we had 2 days of snow in the PA/NY state line area last week!

To warm up I thought I would post more photos from our trip earlier this month.

This first photo is one that I took the day we went to the beach.  You can see their private beach area with some of the chairs and umbrellas and the lovely clouds and ocean!  From where I was taking this picture was from the pool area.  They had 9 different pool areas there.

Here's a photo I took at The Surf Break.  The Surf Break was a little spot near the pools, cabanas, and beach where you could get small meals, finger foods, and drinks. 

One of my mini goals while I was there was to get a coconut with the coconut water in it.  I was able to do that the 2nd to the last day we were there inside The Surf Break but I will share that photo with you at another time.  Yes...there were surf boards on the ceiling of this hut and it was so fun.  The breeze was nice, too!

While we were at The Surf Break there were two young ladies there bar-tending.  They were very nice and sure worked their butts off!

This photo was taken outside the front entrance of The Breakers!  Each day it was fun to take a walk out front and see what kind of exotic and fantasy cars were there. 

It's not unusual for The Breakers to hold various car shows, too!  The weekend we were there they didn't have a car show but I have seen a lot of pics from past ones and they are pretty awesome!

This was also where a lot of the limo's came to pick up and drop off people, too!  We were fortunate enough to take a limo to our tour of the new offices of Garden of Life.  More on that in the near future.

This wasn't a photo of our limo but of one of the many others we saw in and out of The Breakers.

The Breakers was incredibly clean all day and night but one morning I was out and about earlier than most people were and I noticed several golf carts around the grounds cleaning up debris from the night before.  And when I say debris - it was NOT garbage - but downed palm tree limbs - for example that came down naturally from the winds the night before.

They really do a great job working at all hours to keep this place looking amazing!  And each and every person there greeted us and was extremely helpful and nice.  I can't say enough about their terrific staff at The Breakers!

This was one of the many photos I took from the Terrace which was part of the Flagler Club.  The Flagler Club was the 6th and 7th level of The Breakers.  We were lucky enough to stay on the 6th floor and absolutely LOVED every minute of it.  I blogged more about this on both this blog and My Travel Blog so be sure to check those posts out!

I loved the blue and green colors on the terrace...the umbrellas were HUGE...the seats were comfy, the stone and marble beautiful, and everywhere you looked there were plants!  I should have counted how many plants were JUST on the terrace but I didn't.  I wouldn't be surprised if there upward of 100 plants in that area alone!

I've already shown a lot of the photos I have taken of the Palm Trees at The Breakers and I wanted to let you know I did a whole post of the Fountain at The Breakers and that is located over at my Travel Blog...check it out...HERE is the direct post on the Fountains.  Outside in the enclosed area past the lobby you will see an area with water, a fountain or two, and statues like the one you see here.

There was marble, stone, fountains, plants, palms, and other bits of eye-candy EVERYWHERE.  There was something to look at - at every turn and it was breath-taking!

In the near future I will share some of the foods and beverages I enjoyed while there.  I was just thankful for all of the fresh fruit and salads and organic fresh pressed juices, too!  So stay tuned for that!