Show and Tell Monday, June 8, 2009

My table at The Art Tour in Pine Bush, New York

Well, I fell off the face of the earth there for a bit. Life had gotten terribly busy and trying to fit in a bit of time to write was just not in the cards. I participated in the Pine Bush Art Tour on Saturday, June 6. The weather cooperated and the day was spectacular. Many artists came out and set up displays and it was the opening day of our Farmer's Market (I got the sweetest local strawberries which I kept munching on all day and the nicest fresh leaf lettuce, yum). I met a number of interesting artists and hope to be able to continue those relationships. The disappointing part of the day was the lack of foot traffic. Many, many drove through and glanced but very few parked to see what was there. Unfortunately, many of the artists will probably think twice about doing this again. It is all well and good to bemoan the fact that local Main Streets are going the way of the dinosaur but if we as the 'locals' don't support our own Main Street, there is very little room to complain. The Chamber of Commerce coordinated the entire Tour and advertised it in the papers and on line, posters were everywhere and yet relatively few turned out to support the local stores and artists who had put an incredible amount of effort into putting on a really special event. So much for my social commentary, just my observations of a day that was fun but a little disappointing at the same time. Here are a few photos of the booths that were at storefronts close to my spot.

So, out to the garden. The chive blossoms have been harvested and are busy infusing into vinegar. Should be a gorgeous color this year, looks nice already. Found some pretty bottles with corks that I am going to use to decant the vinegar into. I think I will dip the cork and top edge of the bottle into wax to seal well for storage. Think that will look pretty. maybe a little piece of lavender ribbon pressed onto the wax as a finishing touch.

I have got so many flowers pressing right now. Can't wait to start crafting with those. Have a few ideas that I want to try out. Make sure to make use of your edible flowers. A flower or two pressed onto cheese is so pretty, sugared flowers are so nice for cupcake decorations-just looks so exotic.

As your herbs are getting large enough to harvest, a nice easy dip is one part cream cheese to one part mayonnaise. Snip up small a nice mix of fresh herbs and mix them in, whichever ones are pleasing to you. A few crackers or pretzels and you have a gourmet snack!

Take a peek at the right side bar. You will notice a new member seal there for Nashville Boutiques. I am quite excited about this. I have been able to become a front page member of this brand new on-line shopping mall. The first ad will be in Cottage and Bungalow to hit the stands July 26. Keep your eyes out for it! Please take a look at this new site, I think you will really like it! www.nashvilleboutiques.com

Have a wonderful productive week all, talk to you soon,

Pat