Litchfield Antique Fair

Last weekend we went to Kent to the 40th Annual Litchfield Antique Fair.  We love the town of Kent - it's about 25 minutes south of us and the drive there is through woods and winding hills, passing the Kent Falls Park with a beautiful small waterfall.  The antique show was held at the Kent School in one of their outbuildings.  It was probably one of the nicest antique shows I have ever attended!  Each dealer had set up his "booth" like a room - some had even tacked up wallpaper so it felt like you were in a big house walking from room to room.  Beautiful furniture, lots of old paintings, folk art, pottery, a booth with nothing but old framed American flags.  Lots of the items were way out of our price range - first painting we looked at was $147,000!!  Yikes!  But it was still fun to look and we found a few items that fit our budget.

These are the two things we brought home with us.  The first is a cast iron duck or bird that was a shooting gallery target, dating back to the 1920's.  I love this little guy and have since been on the hunt on ebay and etsy to see if I can find any more.  Another collection in the making???

The framed owl is actually a pattern on linen for an owl toy.  It would have been cut out along the dotted lines around each piece, sewed together, and stuffed.  It came in the frame, which was a bonus.  It's by Arnold Print Works out of North Adams, Mass and is dated October 4, 1892.  I'd never seen anything like it before, and of course fell in love with it because - hey!  It's an owl!  I've also been doing a bit of online research on these and it's pretty easy to find the completed toys for sale but quite a bit harder to find one like this that was never cut and made into a doll.  It's hanging in my little sunroom/studio.

And Happy Father's Day to the newest Father!

Our newest father in the family is Elliott's Dad, Dave.  He's just learning how to be a Dad, and it's a lifelong job and learning experience.  I will never forget being in the delivery room with Casey and Dave when Elliott was born, and as soon as Dave held his son for the first time, he said: "This is my son.  I love him so much!"  He's going to be a wonderful Dad to Elliott, and I hope he knows that Granny and Grumpy are always nearby to lend a hand when needed.  We love you Daver...

Happy Father's Day to my Son

I'm very proud of the father that my son Ian has become.  The time he spends with Emmett - and he spends a lot of time with his son - is always quality time.  He is patient, fun, entertaining, teaches Emmett so much, plays him music and builds legos with him, takes him on nature walks and to the lighthouse and park, makes art with him, takes him swimming, watches videos with him, makes his favorite foods for him.  Someday, I hope that Emmett will become a father because he has had a wonderful role model to pattern himself after.

Thank you Ian, for being such a wonderful father to my grandson.

Love you...

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my Dad.  This will be my 63rd Father's Day with him, and I consider myself beyond lucky to have a Dad like mine.  I want him around for more Father's Days ahead.  Love you Dad.

Casey and Elliott Visit

We finally got Casey and Elliott to Connecticut for a visit.  David and I drove over on Wednesday afternoon and picked them up, spent the night in Maynard, and drove back to Sharon on Thursday.  Took them back home on Saturday - there and back in one morning/afternoon!  It was fun to have the little guy here for his first visit.  Jamie came by on Friday on her way to work and got to finally meet him.  We ate out one night, I cooked the other night.  I think it was a good relaxing visit for Casey and we got Elliott to smile for us lots!

I remember when Emmett and Jamie came to visit us in April, when he was three months old.  We all gathered around him on the bed and watched him smile and laugh - he had just started laughing.  It was something I'll never forget, just like Elliott's first smiles.

I'm so glad I'm here.........

                                                    Aunt Jamie finally meets Elliott

                                                    Wait for it........

                                                     There it is!!

                                                    Granny, Grumpy and Baby Elliott

                                                    Momma and Baby in matching checked vans!

Card Creations for Unity Stamp June challenge

Card Creations for Unity Stamp June challenge

Card Creations for Unity Stamp June challenge

Lizzie Borden took an axe...

Our last stop was Fall River, MA.  We found ourselves only about 25 miles away while in Newport, and I did a term paper on Lizzie in high school so have remained fascinated by this unsolved mystery.  So here was my chance at long last to visit Lizzie's house!  We first went to the Historical Society and toured a pristine Victorian mansion.  They have a nice collection of memorabilia relating to Lizzie and the trial including some gruesome autopsy photos.
The original Borden house is now a museum and B&B.  I cannot imagine anyone wanting to spend the night in this place, but for a day time visit, it was great.  We got a tour and history and timeline and trial synopsis - it was really interesting.  Nothing of the original furniture, etc is left but they have tried to redo it according to how it was done at the time, using photos taken inside the house.
One interesting fact:  Mrs. Borden's (Lizzie's stepmother) brother was visiting at the time of the murders.  He was not there on the morning it happened, but that night, he slept in the guest room where he always slept, even though his sister had just been bludgeoned to death in that same room that same day!  Don't get it!

                                      Outside Lizzie Borden's house, getting ready for our tour!
                                                            If she didn't do it, who did???

Road Trip continued

Our next stop was Newport, RI.  I had mixed feelings about Newport.  On the one hand, I loved driving along Bellevue Avenue and looking at all the gilded age mansions.  We visited two of them - The Breakers which was a summer home for the Vanderbilts, built by Cornelius, and The Elms built by the Berwind Family, big name in the coal business.  They were amazing, especially the Breakers.  It's hard to imagine a lifestyle like that.  Most of these mansions have now been taken over by the Newport Historical Society so they may be preserved and enjoyed by visitors like us.
The harbor in Newport is great with lots of yachts and sail boats.  We stayed in a wonderful inn called the Francis Malbone House.  The original owner was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, so that will tell you how old the house is.  We loved it and the hospitality shown to us.  Plus they had the best scones I think I have ever had!
But Newport is also full of lots and lots of tourist shops and some of the absolute worst women's clothing shops I have ever seen.  Lots of traffic and people, and this is early in the season, so I can only imagine what it's like in the middle of the summer.  So for me did not quite live up to expectations.  David loved it.

                           Had lunch at Castle Hill outside overlooking the water - wonderful!

                       The Vanderbilt mansion - and this is the back side seen from the cliff walk!

 The Cliff Walk is a wonderful pathway just for people on foot and runs along the cliff behind a lot of the beautiful old mansions.  We walked here our last morning.

The other mansion we visited, The Elms.  It was within 3 weeks of being torn down when it was saved by the Historical Society.

Road Trip

Dave and I took a road trip last weekend to discover some more of this beautiful state we are now living in.  We drove down to the southeast corner of the state to Mystic.  It's a place we had heard a lot about.  We stayed at an inn in Norwich CT which was close by.  Like so many places you hear so much about, the actuality is that it doesn't usually measure up to expectations.  Everyone discovers these unique spots and the t-shirt shops and postcard shops and trinket shops come into town, and pretty soon, you've got yourself a real "tourist" destination, which is not what we were looking forward to.

                                             Mystic

                                              the beach in Stonington

                                     one of the many homes in Stonington we fell in love with

Stonington Harbor

But being in Mystic led us to discover some of the other small towns near by, and we fell in love with Essex (called by the locals SX) and especially Stonington.  That was by far my favorite.  Small town on the coast with a beautiful shoreline, a handful of shops and restaurants (all good), and a collection of some of the most amazing early American homes to be found.  Lots had dates on plaques on the sides of the houses and many were from the 1700's and early to mid 1800's.  I loved it and want to go back and just spend a few days there.

Card for Unity Challenge

Cards published in Take Ten Magazine

The June-July-August 2011 issue of "Take Ten" magazine has several of my cards published.  Here is the cover of the magazine and one of the published cards.  I send cards to them on a regular basis and often will have them published in this magazine, which comes out quarterly.  It's one of the best card and paper crafting magazines out there, and the company who publishes it has some other really good publications that cover a multitude of crafts and creative work.  So being published in this magazine is kind of a big thing to me.  

Scenic Drives from USA Today, Friday, June 3

This article appeared in today's USA Today travel section.  This drive in Connecticut is within 30-45 minutes of us.  We have seen both covered bridges and driven over the one in West Cornwall.  It truly is a beautiful drive everywhere near us in Connecticut.  When you come visit, we'll take you through the covered bridges!

Visiting Walden Pond

When Ian, Emmett and I went to visit Casey, Dave and Elliott this week, we visited Walden Pond on Thursday morning.  It was a beautiful morning - cool and sunny.  Ian and Emmett walked all the way around the pond, and Casey, Elliott and I just sat by the water and enjoyed the peaceful view.  There were people swimming in the pond - temperature 74 degrees.  The little cabin is a reproduction of the actual cabin that Henry David Thoreau lived in for two years.  It was very tiny but very cozy and had everything he needed.  He built much of the cabin himself.  To think of living so simply with so few "things" and just taking your days to tend your home and your land and enjoy nature and living off the land.  To spend so much time thinking and writing.  It's hard in this day and age to even imagine such a life.  I want to come back when Tyler visits and hike around the pond with him.

My two favorite little guys

My first post

I wanted to enter some cards onto one of the websites that I follow, and in order to do that, it was easiest to have a blog and post photos of my cards on my blog.  So, here I go entering the world of blogging!  Not sure this will be of any interest to anyone but will try to make it interesting and fresh.  Casey and Jamie both have blogs and they do such a great job with them and I love reading them as well.

So now I just need to make my cards!  And Jamie has asked me to teach a card making workshop at the Tivoli Library in August related to the theme of travel.  So I need to start coming up with some good ideas for that workshop - have never taught anything before but think if I can come up with a couple of fairly simple designs and maybe incorporate people's vacation photos into them, it might be something fun and a new experience for me.