I live in my own little world
but it’s okay
Everybody knows me here

Unfortunately this weekend marks the first real chill of fall, which means the balloon game and ferris wheel on Cayuga Street aren’t doing much business. At the moment the temperature is 42F/6C - yikes!

The rain didn’t stop some people yesterday from touring the Commons, browsing tables of goodies made from apples. We picked up a half-peck of macoun apples from the Cornell Plantations stand. I think a half-peck is five pounds, but I’ve never heard the term before so can’t be sure. I know it was enough to make 4 1/2 pints of delicious apple butter! I used Elise’s recipe at Simply Recipes and highly recommend it if you’re in the mood for canning. YUM! We also bought a mini apple pie from the Amish booth.

Yesterday was also the opening of the fall Friends of the Library book sale - “One of the largest book sales in the country, with nearly 250,000 selections which are collected over a 10 month period.” We arrived around 8:30 and waited in line for about 1/2 hour to get in. I overheard the line monitor say that some diehards started lining up at 4am! The used booksellers in town show up first thing to snap up the best deals. Matt saw a guy with a handheld scanner, entering all the book UPC’s for whatever reason. Small paperbacks are $2 and trade’s and hardcovers are $4.50. Hot deals! We got out for 26 bucks, definitely a feat for Matt who eats books for breakfast :O)

After the book sale we tried dim sum at Hai Hong restaurant, which runs on weekends from 11am-2pm. My favorites were the crab-stuffed shrimp ball and sweet red bean paste-filled sesame balls.

I’m hoping the rain lifts later in the week so I can take a drive out to Taughannock and Treman falls for some fall foliage photo sessions. Next week is apparently peak color time and all the rain makes for better falls.

A couple of weeks ago we took a drive to Corning (about 30 miles away) to check out the Museum of Glass which we knew about from reading finger lakes area tourist info. Corning as a town seems much smaller than Ithaca with the exception of CMOG - obviously the main attraction there. We were surprised to find a huge, ultra-modern (and glass-walled, go figure) building in the midst of a farmland valley.

The posted admission for adults is 12 bucks, but here’s a tip: Ithaca residents qualify as ‘locals’, so show ID and pay only 4 bucks! Great deal :O)

There’s an enormous marketplace on the main floor selling products in all configurations of glass you can imagine - some pieces of art we saw were tens of thousands of dollars, but there’s plenty to buy for those with a tighter budget. Christmas ornaments, perfume decanters, glass-bead jewelry, beverage glasses, dishware, and the latest bodum designs… we didn’t spend, but there’s enough temptation.

The museum is definitely of world-class quality and wouldn’t be out of place in the big city, so go if you can! Here’s a link to some pics I took.