Flowers Brought on by April Showers

It was a beautiful Spring day in Greenville. I took advantage of the warm weather and cool breezes by spending several hours working in the garden on our big hedge "revisioning" (pictures of this later). But I also remembered to capture the beauty of all the early Spring flowers.

Even the dandelions look great at this stage!

The magnolia at the far end is set to bloom in just a few days.

Violets are appearing in clumps all over the lawns, unfortunately (or probably fortunately) lawn mowing starts next week and the violets will be gone.

Rabbits have been nibbling on the tulips, but the many varieties of daffodils are in full bloom all over.

A few tulips that have escaped the notice of critters.

Fresh Garlic Chives

There are many reasons to love Spring time in the Catskill Mountain and Hudson River region, but as far as a culinary reason to love the Spring -- it is the time when the garlic chives sprout in our herb garden! Nothing like fresh chives added to creamy scrambled eggs and a little goat cheese!

I love going out at the crack of dawn while the dew is still on the chives to harvest a fresh batch for the breakfast special that morning.

Another favorite addition to scrambled eggs from our herb garden is lemon thyme. Yum! But we'll have to wait a little longer before that is ready to harvest.

Spring Flowers and Dalmatian Puppies

The signs of Spring are popping up all around the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn. The daffodils will be blooming by the end of the day . . .

and it won't be long until the lupines are sending up stems of flowers.

I'm looking forward more garden transformations. I have in mind more perennials and flowering vines.

On another note, I was checking out the statistics of this blog and discovered a curious and funny thing --- the most popular post of all time was the one in which I mentioned a new Dalmatian figurine that I just added to our collection (displayed in the built-in cabinet in the dining room)! I thought "wow, I should post about Dalmatians more often." ;-)

So here is an obligitory Dalmatian picture! This is our Dalmatian, Hudson, when he was a cute little puppy. He is still cute, but not so little.

However, the second most popular post was about the Spring gardens, which is good because the flowers are much easier to photograph as they tend to hold still!

Chocolate Rabbits All Over the Place

Life By Chocolates at the Greenville Arms is going gangbusters making chocolate rabbits to ship out to all the stores that sell our gourmet organic chocolates.

Here is a batch of our Classic Rabbits packed up in protective bubble wrap pockets and ready to be placed in shipping boxes.

The rabbits are also available for sale in our shop at the inn. They come in organic dark chocolate, Swiss milk chocolate, or organic vegan dark chocolate.

On the Trail of Fabric - New York Shop Hop

The Quilter's Quest Shop Hop is May 19, 20, 21, 22, 2011. What is a shop hop? It is when a group of fabric shops get together and offer sales, prizes, and a whole lot of fun for participants who travel to each of the shops.

It's a great way to tour the area and support local businesses.

This year there are eleven participating shops:

Adirondack Quilts
21 Cooper Street
Glens Falls, NY 12801
(518) 615-0134
Mon-Sat: 10-5; Sun: 11-4

Flying Geese Fabrics
501 New Karner Road
Albany, NY 12205
(518) 456-8885
Mon-Sat 10-5; Thur 10-8
Sun 12-4 (Labor Day - Memorial Day)

Foofsique Quilting Emporium
437 Route 295
Chatham, NY 12037
(518) 392-3111
Tue-Fri 10-5; Sat 10-4; Sun 11-3

Gloversville Sewing Center
385 South Main
Gloversville, NY 12078
(518) 725-4919
Mon-Fri 9-5:30; Thur 9-8; Sat 9-5

The Joyful Quilter
19 Glenridge Road #A
Glenville, NY 12302
(518) 399-0128
Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri 10-5;
Wed 10-8; Sat 10-4; Sun 11-4

KC Framing and Fabrics
65 Davidson Drive
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518)580-9055
Mon 10-7; Tue-Wed,Fri-Sat 10-5;
Thu 10-8; Sun 12-4

Log Cabin Fabrics
702 Starr Road
Ravena, NY 12143
(518) 767-9236
Tues 10-9; Wed-Fri 10-5; Sat 10-4

Quiltbug
169 Main Street
Esperance, NY 12066
(888) 817-6577
Mon 10-8; Tue-Fri 10-5; Sat 10-4

Pumpkin Patch
58 West Center St (Route 20)
Lee, MA 01238
(413) 243-1635
Mon-Sat 10-6; Sun 12-5

Style Fabrics
222 Plaza Road, Kingston Plaza
Kingston, NY 12401
(845) 338-1793
Mon-Sat 10-6

The Yardstick
147 Barnerville Road, Suite 1
Cobleskill, NY 12043
(518) 234-2179
Tue-Fri 10-6; Sat 10-5; Sun 11-5

Winter Redux

For a brief moment it seemed like we were back to winter. Last night we got a lovely frosting of snow.

All of the trees and shrubs were frosted but the roads and pathways stayed clear.

I always love the way the Japanese Cut-Leaf Maple looks covered in snow.

Here is the same daffodils from the photo in yesterday's post!

Good thing I ran out first thing in the morning to capture these photos because by noon all the snow had melted away.