Farmville '11 *week 4*

BIG news in Farmville this week! I had decided to update ya'll every other week instead of every week - I was afraid it was getting redundant, but as I had come to that conclusion, I noticed a very special, very exciting situation:

That's right! My Sweet 100 has the beginnings of its first cluster of tomatoes! I don't want to put too much pressure on this little guy, but this is awesome! If you'll remember, last year I didn't have my first tomato until July 4th, so I'm pretty hyped that I might be getting my first tomato in the next few weeks!

So my Sweet 100 (Cherry Tomatoes) didn't grow that much taller, but my theory is it used its energy for growing out instead of up:)

Next week, I'll get a close-up of the bottom of my Cherokee Purple's stems. They're turning a dark purple color - or maybe I'm just imagining that!

The cucumbers are coming along:)

I'm so grateful that my garden made it through the storms this past Saturday. I'm more grateful though, that the Lord kept my family and friends safe, and I pray that there is healing in the near future for those that are suffering now...

Farmville '11 *week 3*

This week we'll start with my biggest grower: my Sweet 100 - Cherry tomatoes made up for last week by far! Last week, my Sweet 100's growth was stunted by cold, yucky weather, but the warm sun and plenty of rain of this past week helped a lot:)

You can see that the branching stems are spreading and becoming wider with leaves too!

Now, we'll move on to my next best growers: the Cherokee Purples. Last week, I hadn't planted them in their pots yet, but about mid-week I did, so they were happy for the extra soil and grew an inch:)





My poor neighbors are working so hard to make the condo complex look nice with flowers, and shrubbery, but as you can tell I'm doing my very best to counteract their efforts. I'm honestly not sure what I'll say when they corner me and ask me to move my garden:(


And now, my poor cucumbers who haven't grown in height at all:( That said, I've taken very close-up photos to show ya'll that they definitely have new growth. They've got more leaves, and so they may be more of a growing out rather than up kind of vegetable.

You can't tell much about this first plant, but...

This little guy has a dying leaf, which made me sad until I realized that at the bottom of this photo is a completely new leaf! It's still tiny, but it's growing!


If you look real close at this one, you see some spiky things in the stem split, I'm pretty sure those are new leaves coming in!

See the smallest leaf? That's new!

Beautiful San Fran *Day 2*

I'm pretty bummed, bc I had this post pretty much done, but somehow lost everything I had typed! That's what I get for being technologically stupid! Anyway, I'm sorry, but you might get the abbreviated version of this particular post, and sorry that day 2 has taken me so long to post - I've been procrastinating since the mishap with the first version.

Day two of my tour of San Francisco proved to be a very tiring day - mainly because I had a lapse of judgment and didn't realize my poor legs and feet are not as young as they used to be:(

The first tour of the day was to China Town and North Beach (the Italian side of town). The tour book that I used took me first to the actual China Town versus the touristy part of China town. So there I was - a sore thumb - but enjoying the view of the crowded sidewalks with people buying fruits & vegetables at the market! I didn't want to be that tourist - shoving a camera in everyone's face, so I refrained. Below is one of the first photos I took.


The tour book took me to some places that I definitely would not have gone to on my own, and this traditional Chinese music store was one of them. Everything was handmade and gorgeous - this was my favorite photo.

This is how I knew I was in the touristy area - very neat!

I love the vintage look of the photo above. I also love the symbolism of this photo. The microcosm wrapped up in a big city of skyscrapers...



If I wasn't already impressed with the architecture of the city, the Chinese influenced architecture did it!


This was the only booth that wasn't swamped, because it was on a side road - the booths on the main road were a lot larger, but I thought this was a good representation of what I saw.


The second part of the same tour was to North Beach (much like NY's Little Italy - I'd guess). This photo is how I knew I had made it!


Another neat example of architecture, this building was one of a few (maybe several) triangular-shaped buildings in the city. It is home of some important people's offices, and on the bottom floor is a very nice Italian restaurant. For probably the first time, I ate, by myself, there, but was only able to afford a small salad and a glass of wine! So I left, and as I was leaving, our friend texted me and recommended a gelato place down the street...


WOW! I can honestly say I'm not sure if I've ever had better gelato! They had so many choices, and if you know me at all, you know it's not a good idea to give me choices, so about 30 minutes and 30 sample spoons later, I picked out Blood Orange and some kind of wonderful Chocolate mix - YUM!!! That's all I can say:)


My first tour was over, so I sat down for a break at one of the many parks in the city. I want to say this was Washington Square, but I can't be sure of that. This nice gentleman sat next to me while I was there, and I thought he was interesting, so I took his photo - he's probably used to that.

While sitting there, I realized it was only 3 or so, so I had a lot of time before dark and before I needed to have dinner (I was apparently a little absent-minded because let's remember that I had only had a tiny salad and gelato - so the energy level was LOW). I decided that with my extra time I'd take the tour of Telegraph Hill...Big Hill = Big Mistake! Telegraph Hill is a tour that climbs its way, up a very steep and long hill, to Coit Tower a historic Tower that you'll see here in just a minute.


But first, some more of the architecture that I couldn't get enough of! Believe me - I'm sparing ya'll about 100x this many photos in my collection!

There it is at a distance - Coit Tower

Thought this was a neat perspective overlooking the city...


More stairs to climb before I got to the tower...Also, a great opportunity to take a break and catch my breath:(

Again, I'll spare you the many photos I took on the rest of this tour. Just know that it was a lot more than I bargained for and it was dusk (as you'll see below) before I stopped moving, because the tour weaved in and out of some inconspicuous places, and I didn't want to get caught there after dark, alone. Nothing dangerous, but I was pretty lost by the time it took me up and down several steep "hills" including a staircase with about 500 steps - I'm pretty sure I'm not exaggerating!


Anyway, as you can see, the hike was worth the view:) I ended up in a neighborhood with this view at everyone's doorstep - pretty amazing and breathtaking if you ask me!

When I arrived at this point, I met a landscape photographer there. He was prepping to get many pictures of the moon coming up over the city. I took the photo above and was about to head back to my hotel to get some much needed rest, when he asked if I wasn't going to stay to get a great photo of the moon. He was right - I didn't want to miss that opportunity, so I waited....and waited....and waited some more, but we never saw the moon. Meanwhile, I took a lot of photos like you see below as it got darker and darker, and probably have about 50+ of those. Overkill, I know, but they're all gorgeous, and maybe I'll frame them someday!


I eventually got back to my hotel, after taking a few wrong turns (mostly because I couldn't think straight since I had eaten hardly anything that day).

Needless to say - I slept well that night!

Farmville '11 *week 2*

Introducing the new additions to my garden! This past weekend was great! Our cousins, Jamie and Jess, from TN came to town, and while Jess was at a vet seminar at the NC State campus, the rest of us went to the Raleigh Farmers' Market - LOVE IT!!!

I told them how determined I was to have a more successful salad tomato plant this year, and when we got to the FM, I realized they had vegetable plants for a lot cheaper than at my local grocery store - where I bought the first tomato plant. Soooo....it only made sense for me to get more! Jamie convinced me to give the Cherokee Purple tomato a try - though I've never heard of them! We then decided I'd mail them to her if I didn't like them, but the truth is, if they actually grow, I'll be so proud of my success that I'll eat them whether I like them or not!

The main stem is actually 5", but I'll plant about an inch of them in the soil when I get the right pots for them.

As we were leaving, we spotted some Pickling Cucumbers, Cathy said they didn't need a whole lot of space to grow, and I figured my salad would be complete with cucumbers, so I bought them to see if I could be a cucumber farmer too! Their stems vary a lot in length, so I put their range.

On to my already planted tomato - more specifically, my Sweet 100 Cherry tomato. Unfortunately, the weather turned cold and yucky last week, so this poor guy didn't do so well. I brought him onto the covered porch one night, but that probably wasn't enough. He looks pretty miserable with his browning leaves and droopy disposition, but hopefully this week will make up for it:)

No growth this week:( But this is also because I've decided I'm only going to measure the stem before the major spit in the stem.

I've got the cucumbers in their pots, and I'll need to buy bigger pots for the Cherokee Purples today.