Labor Day weekend in Ithaca

This weekend I went up to Ithaca. Partly to see how Tina was settling in and take her shopping and to dinner. Partly, to eat and buy wine. I like to support the Finger Lake wines. I had 2 items on my list...wines, and a fudgy chocolate cake from Wegman's. I had also wanted to go check out Knitting Etc., a new yarn shop. Well, they aren't that new. They just changed ownership and moved.
First stop upon my arrival was Northside Wines and Liquors. This is the main liquor store in Ithaca. And I bought:

One of the bottles was bought purely for bottle amusement purposes. It was < $10 and the bottle was just too cute:
Why yes, that does look like a cat. I think it's a riesling, as that's about all I made out of the words on the label. And if it sucks, hey, at least the bottle is cute.
So, there were 13 bottles. I only picked up 6 at the liquor store. 4 of the bottles are apple cider that I picked up from Bellwether Cidery. I stopped at a couple of wineries along Cayuga Lake. This was the second one. I had originally planned on going to Sheldrake Point and had driven past the Cidery on the way up. At Sheldrake Point, I bought 3 bottles...I believe they are destined to become sangria.
Saturday, I also picked up yarn:

This is all going to become a bag for my Tote Exchange pal. Well, I think there's actually enough to make 2. I'll be keeping the second one if I ever get around to it. This is all anyone is going to see of this until I"m finished and my pal has received the bag. I actually got a lot done over the weekend. It's knit double stranded and I had only wound 2 colors while at the shop thinking that's all I'd get through but the bag knit up a lot faster than I had anticipated.

Finally, I would like to tell you about cake. I have been thinking about this cake for a while, ever since I knew I was going to Ithaca. The first time I had it, it was for my birthday. It's a chocolate cake with a fudgy choclate frosting, pecans around the edge, and some caramel on top. Yes there are 2 Wegman's here in northern VA that doesn't require me to drive 6 hours each way to get to. No they do not have this cake, trust me, I've looked.
Tina and I arrived at Wegman's where I proceeded to cakes and did not see it. So I talked to a guy in bakery who said that why yes, they do still make it and there should be some out tomorrow or Monday or I could always order the cake. I went with ordering so that it was guaranteed to be there. Tina was a little surprised. Hey, I did come 6 hours to get this cake, I wasn't going home without it!


Overall, it was a good trip. I hate the long drive cuz it's long and it hurts my back. I did keep a Thermacare heat pack on my back for the drive back so that worked a lot better. The weather was cool and grey, typical Ithaca weather but SO refreshing from this crappy hot and humid weather we've had. Ithaca is magical and I did think, "Gee, it'd be a nice place to retire!" Can you just imagine me retiring to an artist's life in the land of hippies? Even if I don't retire there, for me, it's a getaway. I am familiar with the area. I have friends there. I can be on my own. For me it is refreshing to be there.