Hello!

We have had a wonderful fun filled day yesterday. The Art and Agriculture self guided tour was going on in Salem, NY. The first place we went on this tour was the Slate Hill Daylily Farm. It was quite amazing, with about 8 acres of gardens with flowers and vegetables. One of the owners was very kind and gave us a tour of the place and even showed us how to breed the plants. They hybridize the plants and have many plants that they have developed. We even found a plant named Houdini and the lady said we could have a free one when we got a garden in ,in honor of Holden's nickname.

We also got to taste daylily petals. They are tender, yet crisp, with a sweet taste. They would be quite good in a salad.

Next we went to a place where the lady kept Angora rabbits for spinning. She had a weaving/spinning studio on her property.

The courthouse community center was next. The old courthouse was cream colored with thin dark green trim around the stained glass windows. The courtroom is one of the best preserved courtrooms in the area. The doors that lead to the judges chamber were tall and arched and made of dark wood. The place would have been breathtaking in its former glory. It is undergoing some remodeling and the preservation society is doing the best they can with its limited funds. We also got to see the jail cells and basement. The cells are now used for sorting recycling materials and holding the Salem Footlighters Drama group's costumes. The basement is used for pottery lessons.

Holden and Ian looking at blueprints for the courthouse.

The next stop for us was the Battenkill Valley Creamery. We bought some chocolate milk to go with our picnic lunch. We ate outside of the creamery and then drove back into town to visit the North Main Gallery. We enjoyed watching one of the artists show us how to make a screen print with watercolors. She was very helpful and friendly and we spent about an hour at the studio. One of the other artists offers very cheap art lessons for adults and children and Jacey and Holden will probably be taking them.

We stopped at Jackson's Variety Store on the way home. It's basically a store with a lot of cheap junk and hunting/camping stuff that sells hunting licenses. It did have combat boots for less than $20 though, so it couldn't have been too bad.

We watched Race to Witch Mountain after having some pizza for dinner. It was a great movie, though a little intense for Seth.

This day looks like it will be abit less exciting, but maybe that's okay. If anyhting exciting does happen, we'll defenitely post it for you guys to read.

We miss you all.

Your Friends,

-The Daughtons-