We finally made it up to Innisfree Gardens, a place I'd been to about 15 years ago, in Dutchess County, New York.


It was the perfect day for it, sunny and dry.


The gardens are clustered around a beautiful lake with some very nice views.


These are the interesting seed pods left after lotus flowers bloom. You sometimes see these in floral arrangements.


More lake views...


What i liked about these gardens was that they used only natural materials, just the plants themselves and stone. Stone pavers, stone borders and simple stone fountains...very nice.

After our walk around the lake, we headed into town for lunch and found the very same spot i'd had lunch 15 years ago. We sat outside on the front patio. The food was pricey but the service was excellent. My friend treated. I brought my leftovers home and had it for dinner.

In Other News

It was so fun going to the dentist Friday, especially the part where you have to pay. I didn't! I've paid just $5 a month ($40 YTD) into my dental plan (it's deducted from my paychecks) and it paid for 100% of my dental exam, cleaning and x-rays. No co-pays! Hooray! The last time i was there sans dental plan it cost about $130, not including x-rays. And i walked out of there with a new toothbrush and 2 paaks of Stim-U-Dent, which my dentist says is better than dental floss.

My mom's coming over this a.m. to pick up as many red ripe tomatoes from the garden as she can eat. I have about a dozen ready to go.

On today's agenda, I'll be piling fieldstone in my wheelbarrow and bringing it back down to the front yard to encircle the spot where the locust tree once stood. It's just a large stump there now surrounded by some irises. I think it'll look better with the rock border and i can just weedwhack around it as needed; otherwise, all the grass and weeds start creeping into the bed.

I also have to spray some poison ivy i've seen growing in the back patio beds. Also need to mow the lawn, though i won't do that til later in the day.

If you're getting tired of getting unneeded phone books (I got FOUR new ones, recently) you can go to www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org to take yourself off the list and save a whole lot of trees.