tent sounds wonderful. We have a big one and a small one Big is good.

LOL... Big is better within reason. As soon as Jim figured out I was talking about CAR camping and not a tent he'd have to pack in anywhere, he wanted to order a 10 person behemoth. Seriously, I think it was 12x18' and could be "divided" into 2 rooms with a flap of material.

I highly recommend the Coleman "fast pitch" system... I think the most time consuming part was unrolling and laying it out. It's framed with 4 shock-corded poles pre-attached to a piece at the top of the dome, no sorting out pieces or guessing what goes where. Quick clips attach everything (tent & rain fly) to the main poles, and the final step uses one additional pole to hold the front of the rain fly out and away from the door, making a little "porch roof." I also love that the floor material extends several inches up each side ("bathtub" style), so there are no seams along the ground for water to leak in. I didn't bother to seal the seams or add waterproofing; all the reviews seemed to indicate no need.

Pretty pretty pretty day!

Jill, those 3 season tents are ideal. We have one, but Holly's idea of camping is more like a RV or time share. A nice trick in cooler weather is to take a small electric heater along. It doesn't really warm the tent as much as reduce condensation. I know 2 guys in a backpacking tent can produce copious amounts of "rain". The first time I took Holly tent camping we awoke to a floating floor the first morning in spite of my efforts to set up on the high ground. She was not impressed by the trip, to say the least.

Well, we've properly broken in the new tent! Joyanna had a day off from school on Wednesday, and I was scheduled to give a talk in Ithaca on Saturday, so I put together a little fall adventure for the 3 of us. We spent 2 nights camping in Little Pine State Park, absolutely beautiful campground, but I'm glad we weren't there with the weekend crowds since the most of the sites were pretty close together.

Thursday was just a hanging-out day, lazy morning in the tent since we woke to light rain... changed plans a little and had our pancake breakfast in town... weather cleared, and we had a nice stroll through the woods along the creek. Thursday night was even c-c-c-colder... Joyanna and I were sharing a double (zipped together) sleeping bag, and we layered up and tucked blankets inside with us also. Then we were fine except for bathroom trips, LOL.

Friday was a beautiful blue-sky day! We took our time breaking camp, then drove up to "Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon," really stunning with the leaves pretty much at their peak. Just when I thought I couldn't ooh or aaaah any more, we'd go around a curve and see another bright grove of trees reflected in a stream, or a multicolored mountain ride rising into the bright blue sky... Continued on to Elmira and spent the night at the Econo Lodge, then drove to Ithaca in the morning.

We had a little extra time, so stopped by to visit the man who had first invited me to talk at the Ithaca NARGS (rock garden society) meeting. He's a retired prof. who's taken up plein aire painting and is really talented... and last weekend was "open studio" time along the "Ithaca Art Trail," so he wasn't able to come to the meeting on Saturday. Loved having the chance to see his paintings as well as getting a quick tour of his gardens. :-)

My talk (on Pocket Gardens & Pocket Ponds) went well... lots of questions, comments, suggestions... my dad says that's always a good sign! Their group has an informal brown bag lunch before the main presentation, so there was a lot of time to chat with some of the members. Totally fun experience!

After the meeting, we walked down to the conservatory to see "Wee Stinky," a Titan Arum that had put up its 3rd bloom stalk and started blooming Friday night. Looking at the live feed just now, I think the flower has started collapsing (that 7 foot blossom is only open a day or two). See http://www.syracuse.com/news/i...

I'm sure Craig will have another time-lapse picture put together soon... the ones from previous blooms are really cool.

We drove only as far as the PA border last night, staying in the little town of Towana... unexpectedly home to a really fabulous NY style pizza joint! Today, we stopped near Harrisburg at Little Buffalo State Park, where they were having an Apple Festival, grinding corn and pressing cider in a nearly 200 year old mill with a huge waterwheel, and also cooking down delicious apple butter in a big copper pot over a wood fire.

Martina's kids took good care of the critters for us, and it's good to be back home tonight. I can see those gorgeous autumn mountainsides every time I close my eyes...

wow, what a great little trip!

Sounds like a really nice getaway!

We really had a great time!

I meant to include a link to Nari Mistry's paintings: http://www.artbynari.com/

Livestream coverage of Wee Stinky's bloom continues... the spadix hasn't toppled yet. http://titanarum.cals.cornell....

Beautiful art!

Except for his short stature, Sally, he reminded me of you... busy, passionate about his interests, proud of his family, soft-spoken, with a warm and very "centered" feel to his personality... He doesn't speak slowly but is still very calming to be near... the perfect person for me to visit just before my talk, settled any nerves I was feeling!

Gee, I'm flattered
(And so glad it was the retired prof, not Wee Stinky, that reminded you of me)

LOL, "Wee Stinky" is MUCH taller than you (over 7 feet, this bloom cycle)!

Wow...Jill that was just what I needed!!! Thank you for the visual of such a great get away!!! Now to look at your links!

Here's how the understory looked today in our neck of the woods.


The color change has been noticeable even during the course of a single day.

Wow, I thought you had to go to the PA mountains to see that much RED! Next fall, we'll just come camp in your yard, OK?

That's beautiful, greenthumb!

For what it is worth, I still have tomatoes ripening by the south foundation of the house. Warm there.

About 10 or 12 years ago I harvested tomatoes for Thanksgiving. Never thought I'd see the day in this area.

Sorry to have been absent again, but a friend offered us a week in OCMD. We had 70-80*F temps and the summer flounder were still there.
Today is moving day all the tropicals have to get in the GH because of expected freezing temps tonight. Hope I don't forget anything. So bye.

I'm still spending almost all day, as much as I can to get ready for winter. I've come up with a new method of covering the GH with a solar pool cover and such.

Cool. I've got a couple of BIG bubble wrap sheets that came with the new couch and recliner... thought they might have a similar use (although not big enough for your GH), so I asked the delivery guys if they were throwing them out or reusing... too sturdy and potentially useful to throw out! Maybe I'll try wrapping them around the fig tree... big as it is, and in a sheltered location, it still dies to the ground most winters... and it's really too large to wrap with burlap. we've only had fruit from it a couple of times, but fresh figs are SO good I keep trying!