Pictures

I love taking pictures. My family bought me a nice camera and I take it almost everywhere I go. I love taking nature shots. I have so accumulated so many pictures I decided to share them with you. At the left is some of my work. I will be adding them to my web site once I price them. I have some picture that I had enlarged and matted that are really  nice. I hope you like them also.

Getting ready for the holidays

We've been very busy getting ready for the holidays. We will be at the Winter Wonderland Arts and Craft Fair at the Smithtown Sheraton on Nov. 20 and we've been making holiday soaps and getting ideas for gift baskets and such. We're really excited! Along with that, I've also been researching handmade lotions. I'm trying to find the perfect lotion. I tried one with grapeseed oil, that was a little greasy. Next I tried one with avocado oil, that one was nice. No greasiness and it left my hands soft. I will be ordering babasu oil to try that one also. I don't think I will have enough time to perfect it and send it away for testing before the holidays, but I'll try.

New soap scents are, Autumn Wreath, Hot Cocoa, Pumkalicious, Apples and Spice. Those are cured and ready. I have ordered Blueberry Muffin, Berry Christmas, Grape Soda and Raspberry Blitz. I'm going to try to make them as soon as possible so they're ready for Nov. 20th.

Well back to work!

Today is Wed. I have so much to do! We have been cleaning out the trees, getting rid of dead branches, trimming them so that some sun can get in. We have such a problem with mold and moss. Grass refuses to grow here. Such a shame, I would love to have a beautiful green backyard! The trees are also nice, but they have grown out of control. Luckily the goats have taken care of all the leaves. The only thing left when they're done is bare branches. But the branches need cutting and then piling up for the wood stove this winter.
Anyway, we still have more cutting to do, I have more paperwork than I can even imagine, we have a fair coming up on Sunday and our soaps aren't even trimmed yet! I will be showing all our fall scents; Apple Spice, Pumpkin Crunch, Hot Cocoa and making lotions also. Which reminds me I must also update my website! I think I have to start working 24 hours, sleep 4, work 24, sleep 4.......

Buy the way, we will be at the Bethel Fall Harvest Festival in Bethel, NY, the actual site of Woodstock, this Sunday 10/9/11 from 11AM - 4PM. I heard the weather will be great. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Today is Friday again.....it seems like every day is either Friday or Monday. Time flies by so fast!

Tomorrow and Sunday we will be at the St. Paraskevi Food Festival. We have many soaps and crocheted items. We will also be taking some lotions if I can figure out how to shrink wrap the top. I made some lotions yesterday; unscented, honey almond, honeysuckle, strawberry cream and energizing. We have in 8oz. and 4oz. sizes.

The weather isn't holding up. It's rainy and damp. I think the festival is outside so I don't know how that's going to be. I saw large tents but if the wind picks up it's not going to be a nice picture. I'm hoping the weather won't be too bad.

Hope to see everyone there!

Fall Festivals

St. Nicholas Fall Festival is over. Thursday it rained and was so windy we had to leave early.  Friday and Saturday it was cold, Sunday was a beautiful day. Not many people were out, at least not at St. Nicholas. We found out that there we quite a few festivals going on in the area that were packed and that's why there weren't many people at St. Nicks.
We made some new friends and saw some old friends. We had 4 or 5 customers return to buy more bars and I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart. It is so wonderful to here," I loved your soap so much and I just had to buy some more!" It's a great feeling.
Coming up this Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday we will be at the St. Paraskevi Food Festival in Greenlawn, NY.  Hope to see everyone there! We will be inside so I know the weather won't be an issue. We can't wait!

Too much rain!

A very hectic couple of weeks. Hurricane Irene hit with all her glory. We had no electricity for almost a week. Luckily we have a generator! But the bad thing with that is there are extension cords draped all over the house. Refrigerators, lights, TV, telephones all need a hookup. I think we need to look into getting a large generator for the whole house. Our neighbors have one and as soon as the electricity goes down, their generator turns on. Very practical!
Hurricane Irene brought a lot of rain. It rained Saturday evening straight into Monday and it rained heavily. Finally the sun came out and the winds picked up. The most damage was not from the wind though, it was from the rain. Rivers overflowed, fields turned into lakes, roads were washed away, houses were lost. There was water and dry ice distribution in various places. I realized that even with the annoying extension cords all over the place we were lucky to have the generator. Many people didn't. They lost a lot. Then again if your house is filled with water?
Then just as things began to dry, here came Lee and it rained and rained and rained on the already Irene soaked New York. People who were still trying to dry out from Irene had more water to deal with.
I hope the rain is over for a while. We need to dry out so people can get back to their normal routine.

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene is supposed to hit. I hear it's a very powerful and massive storm. I hope eveyone stays safe, dry and don't go out unless you have to.
We are all pretty much ready. Generators, extra food and water, chain saws and containers of gas. We just have to pick up things in the yard so they don't do any damage.
Due to the hurricane the Mastic Beach Festival was cancelled. I was sooooo looking forward to doing that festival. What a shame.
But, we were juried for the Bethel Fall Harvest on October 9. Yey! Hope to see all our friends there.
We will have new soap scents and some new items.
So again, everyone please stay safe and hope to see ya soon!