Far above Cayuga's waters

It's hard to get back into the swing of things after such a fabulous vacation.
On the way out east we headed to Canada for July 4th.
The kid's were able to get their first stamp on their passports.

Niagara Falls was beautiful



but VERY crowded with summer tourists.



After two days we were ready to head to a town less populated for the rest of our vacation.
It was our third trip back to Ithaca since I graduated 14 years ago. I feel incredibly lucky that we were able to live here for 4 years. There's not words to describe the natural beauty of the gorges.
Here's the view from the upper trail at Taughannock Falls:


Here's a view of Ithaca Falls:


A couple of days we relaxed at the swimming hole out at Treman Park:



Husband and kids let me sit and knit at the start of their hike here too.


The kids were at day camp for a week up at Cornell and they loved every minute of it. They were sad to have to come back home too as they instantly fell in love with campus and all the "field trips" they took with their groups.
I could spend a week every summer in Ithaca where organic food is in abundance, vegetarian entrees on the menus is commonplace and waterfalls are only a few blocks away.

Going Green

I returned very late on Saturday(another birthday spent on the road) from a week in upstate New York. I have lots of great photos to share of the many beautiful gorges but it will be in another post.
I thought I had been bombarded by "greenness" until I stepped foot in Ithaca. Here is a sign announcing their zero waste zone at their weekly Farmers' market.


Here's another sign explaining which bin to toss your "trash" into.


All the utensils and food packaging is completely compostable because it's made of corn. Pretty dang cool. Imagine if every city set up waste containers like this how much less waste would be in our already overstuffed landfills.


At the beginning of the year I came across a site called Morsbags. As it states on the site "Morsbags are fully recycled, fun and easy to make(download instructions), hygienic(washable), Portable, foldable, unique, cheap, biodegradable and reusable." Here's my first Morsbag


The fabric was on the clearance rack for $1 a yard and it took me all of 20 minutes to put together. I've prevented the use of lots of plastic throw away bags by using it on a daily basis.

There are many more sites with different styles of bags. Like here, and here, and here. The last site features a "groceries bag with it's own bag cozy or stuff sack so you can pop the groceries bag into your handbag and never be without!" I may have to sew up one of these so I always have a fabric tote with me.
Each reusable bag has the potential to eliminate 100's of plastic bags over its' lifetime.
Hopefully you can find a bag style/pattern that works best for you and get sewing.