Hooked on Historic Properties

I love history, historic houses and gardens. So a visit to Montpelier was perfect for Julia's Hooked on Fridays, blog party. I admit I have lived not far from Montpelier in Orange, VA., home of James and Dolley Madison, for four years and had not been there - until today! Sometimes inertia takes over and I need a real push to get out and do something. Luckily my friend, who used to work there, agreed to go with me and share her knowledge.

James Madison's grandfather, Ambrose, acquired the land in partnership with his brother-in-law, Tomas Chew, in 1723 and moved his family there in 1732. Six months later Ambrose was dead, poisoned it was thought by three slaves. His wife Frances managed the estate and eventually was assisted by her only son, James, later known as Colonel Madison.

Colonel Madison's son, also James, grew up at Montpelier and it was there in the second floor library that he wrote the Constitution of the United States. James married Dolley and became the fourth president of the United States. He and Dolley eventually retired to Montpelier and both are buried on the property. For pictures of the house and detailed information go to the official site of the Montpelier Foundation.
This is the view from the terrace looking west toward the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Madison property was bought by the duPonts in 1901 and extensively enlarged. Annie duPont turned the vegetable garden into a two acre walled formal garden.

The walled garden is surrounded by a brick wall and has brick and gravel paths. When I was there today it was abuzz with bumble bees and butterfiles seemed to be everywhere!

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Vacation in Nova Scotia

For years we have been going to Nova Scotia to visit family. This is last summer's trip to the Annapolis Valley and the Bay of Fundy. We like to eat lobster at Halls Harbour Lobster Pound. See the red umbrellas in the picture? That is where you sit by the water and eat while watching the boats. When the tide goes out in the Bay of Fundy (the highest tides in the world) the boats are left high and dry.

This tree is growing out of a cliff on the beach. It is difficult to walk along the beach as it is all round rocks. Where there is sand it is very red/orange like the soil.

Nice window box at the lobster pound!

This is the Wolfville town Library. Wolfville is home to Acadia University. A great restaurant in town is the Blomidon Inn which is a lovely Victorian building. Just a few miles down the road is Grand Pre National Historic Site where the Acadian settlers were forcibly removed by the English. The story was later immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his his epic poem Evageline.

The Wolfville Farmers Market is a lively place on Saturday mornings in the parking lot in front of the library. It is full of locally grown produce, crafts, flowers, meat, eggs, baked goods and coffee. They even grill locally produced sausages and I can tell you they are delicious! If you go, plan to have breakfast or lunch there - or both!

These are cherries grown in the Annapolis Valley. Aren't they gorgeous?

Here is a view of some of the vendors at the Wolfville Farmers Market.
I highly recommend a trip to Nova Scotia. The people are friendly and the pace is slower. It's like going back in time about twenty-five years.

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Help! Advice for a discouraged gardner?

It stared with a severe thunderstorm Friday night that turned into marble sized hail.The plants didn't seem to be suffering too badly and I couldn't move them all. So I left them in place.
Next morning this is the sight that greeted me. Every planter had been dug up! It wasn't enough to fight the bugs and slugs but now some four footed critter is doing severe damage!
Remember those lovely begonias? This is the same plant.

I've had squirrels dig up a plant every now and then but nothing like this! I suspect raccoons. But why would they do this? What are they looking for? They have been emptying my little cans full of beer that I put out for the slugs. They have developed a taste for slugs marinated in beer. It was getting expensive to buy that much beer so I switched to water with sugar and yeast. So if it was raccoons, they weren't drunk!

I have heard mothballs to discourage squirrels and moles but what can I do here? Both the squirrels and raccoons have been pests about eating our bird suet. Many days we give up and bring it in. The raccoons will even come during the day. Of course we bring all the bird food in at night. Last night we forgot the squirrel-buster seed feeder and found it off the hook and on the ground! Maybe I should borrow a dog and tie him near the flower pots for a few nights. Tonight I am leaving the back light on.

Any suggestions?

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Hooked on Painting/Collage

Join the Hooked On Houses Friday Blog Party.

I'm hooked on painting and collage, something I have always wanted to try. I just finally said, "Now is the time!" After seeing a painting I liked on exhibit, I checked out a book about painting with acrylics. I bought five tubes of paint (primary colors of red, blue, yellow + white + black. Thought I could mix all the colors but learned it is difficult to mix a good brown. So here are the results after spending hours painting and repainting. It was great fun and I definitely plan to paint some more. The best thing is if
you don't like the results - just paint over it! On the right is my tubes of paint, brushes and palette knife. The second picture is my makeshift palette of aluminum foil. It worked great. I discovered you can buy art supplies- BASICS ACRYLICS SET/6 4 oz-
from Amazon. This will save me the one hour drive to town!

Here is my first effort "Flight." It is 20 x 16. Materials are acrylic paint, onion bag, thread, newspaper, ribbon, buttons, dryer sheets.

This is a closeup of "Flight." You can see the buttons, netting, textured areas done with used dryer sheets.

This is "Browns" 20 x 16. Acrylic paint, netting, threads, used dryer sheets, newspaper, and wool roving.

Detail of "Browns." You can see newspaper, thread, netting and the wool roving in the top left corner.
If you have any advice for me, please leave a comment!

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A Worthy Cause - Kiva

One of my sons is an active Kiva lender. He gave me a Kiva gift certificate for Mother's Day so now I am a lender. What is Kiva? It is a loan program that lets you choose the person/entrepreneur you want to make a small loan to. Loan amounts range from $25 (in $25 increments) up to $1,025. The loan is repaid and you may take the money or loan it again. These are real people who are working hard and need help to expand their business.

"Comfort Afum is just one of the many people needing loans. She is 38, married and has given birth to seven children. All are currently in the junior high and the primary schools. She lives with her husband and children in a rented apartment in a commercial town called Dwenase in the Western Region. Dwenase is a suburb of Sefwi-Wiawso, the district capital. Her husband is a farmer. Comfort is a food vendor. She prepares and sells groundnut toffees. She sells on a tabletop by the roadside from morning to evening. Comfort wants a loan to buy bags of groundnuts and other ingredients such as sugar in bulk. She buys her goods from Kumasi. She has been in business for twelve years. She aspires to expand her business and give her children a good education."

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

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Hooked on Begonias

I’m hooked on Begonias. While everything in the garden is being munched on by bugs or slugs, the Begonias aren’t being bothered at all. They just keep blooming. Visit the Hooked on Fridays blog party at Hooked on Houses.

This begonia is still wearing rain drops from a night shower.

One little white bloom nosed into this picture.

Could this guy be protecting the flowers by eating some of the bugs?

Gorgeous, pure color!

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Sweet Thursday - Super Quick Chocolate Cake

Hello everyone on Sweet Thursday. I have been looking at all the yummy cakes on Jerri’s Blog, Simply Sweet Home.

This cake mixes in the pan and needs no icing. And who needs the extra calories of icing? Just put ice cream on it!! Very quick to put together.

Wonder Chocolate Cake or I call it Dump Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tbs baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbs melted butter or cooking oil
1 tsp vanilla 1 tbs vinegar
1 cup cold water
Mix the dry ingredients together & sift directly into the pan. No need to prepare the pan.
Make 3 holes and pour in the butter/oil, vanilla and vinegar.
Pour cold water over all.
Stir with a fork until well blended.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Cake will be dark brown.

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Coastal Living Beach House

In keeping with the beach theme of the last post, here is Coastal Living's 2008 Idea House on Galveston Island.Inspired by Galveston's rich architectural past, this house on was designed in the Carpenter Gothic-style. Notice the number of windows which allow for natural light and ventilation and take advantage of the ocean views. The house survived the hurricane of fall 2008 with minimal damage while its neighbors were destroyed.

Wonderful tall windows and great built ins in this room. There is lots of texture with sheers, a wicker table and an unusual rope chair.


This is the other side of the living room. This soothing color scheme lets the emphasis be on the ocean views. Plaid rugs unite all of the colors. One of the decorators, Susan Bozeman said, "We used sand tones, soft blues and greens, and a little pop of aqua on the lamps for contrast...."

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Perfect Chapel at the Beach

Don't we all dream of living in a cottage on the beach? While I was looking at beach houses online I found this photo.This is the "Chapel by the Sea" on Captiva Island, Florida. The color of the pews is the exact color of the water in the photo below. The whole effect is cool and calm. Just lovely! Can't you imagine a wedding in this chapel using shades of teal and white with a pink accent?

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A Lick and a Promise

Our country furniture store in Gordonsville was open seven days a week. My husband and I worked every weekend and holiday. Now that we are retired, even though we have no schedule, we have reversed our activities and tend to relax more on weekends and save the chores for the weekdays. That means Monday is clean up day. When I was a child and we did routine housekeeping between the larger cleanings, my mother always said we would give the house “A Lick and a Promise.” So today I gave my house a lick and a promise.

Don’t things get cluttered quickly? Piles of magazines, newspapers and junk mail were first on my list. And while I was at it I culled my catalog pile. Everything that was discarded went into the recycling bag.

When I want the house to look “just cleaned” without doing a big clean up, I scrub the kitchen and bathroom sinks and faucets. When they sparkle everything seems clean. Add a few flowers beside the kitchen sink and you’re halfway there. I am currently using chemical household cleaners but when they're used up, I plan to switch to a cleaner that is better for the environment such as EccaPure Multi-Purpose Green Household Cleaner.

Another biggie is to quickly go over the floors. We live in the woods and that makes for lots of tracking in. I use this really handy Cordless Swivel Sweeper
and I love it! It is incredibly maneuverable and what a relief to have no cord. Very good for quick pickups. I even bought two - one for upstairs and one for downstairs!

Last chore - water the house plants and the flowerpots on the porch using a Watering Can that is cute enough to be part of the decor. I’m finished just in time to write my blog! Tell me - what are your secrets for a quick clean up?

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A Shower of Utility Aprons for Dorothy, 1922

Needlecraft Magazine
Published Monthly by the Needlecraft Publishing Company,
Augusta, Maine and New York, N.Y.
10 Cents per copy
May 1922

A Shower of Utility Aprons for Dorothy
Dorothy was going to be married. Her four very dearest friends, Maude and Marjorie, Molly and Madge, suspected this before even they were told, because was all at once so interested in cookbooks; she didn't study the fudge-receipts either, they discovered, so they were pretty sure it meant something.

And so, one afternoon, they presented themselves at Dorothy's home, each carrying a little package. Dorothy was in the kitchen, because this was the cook's afternoon off, and every opportunity must be improved; and straight to the kitchen went Dorothy's four dearest friends.

The packages were deposited on the table beside the mixing-bowl, without a word; and when they were opened, Dorothy owned right up. First she laughed, and then she cried a little, and then she hugged the girls all around and declared they were positively the best and dearest in all the world. As for the aprons, there was never anything half so lovely, useful and altogether desirable for a little new housekeeper-to-be. She tried them all on in turn, and there were "Oh's!" and "Ah's! to the heart's content of five girls.
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Checking in with the Hooked on Fridays Blog Party, hosted by Hooked on Houses, I have been going down the list of participants and have read many of the blogs (and left comments). When I found this old article about aprons, it reminded me of the post by Sustaining Creativity about sewing aprons and her Etsy store. It seems women need aprons in 2009 as much as they did in 1922. In reading this old article did anything strike you about it? What about this phrase, "for a little new housekeeper-to-be." This is a magazine written for women and marketed to women. Isn't that phrase condescending? The whole tone of the article is condescending. Thank goodness attitudes have changed. Anyone have a comment on this?

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Fabric Collage

I used to do a lot of weaving. At the moment my craft room is not large enough to house my loom and all the yarn. What I always enjoyed about weaving was how much texture I could put into a piece of fabric. So I am doing these small collages and putting together many textures.
You might recognize this picture as the top of my bedside table from the last post.

Here you can identify some of the materials I used. There is lace, both black and white; three colors of ribbon; three fabrics; one golding netting fabric, and the solid brown is a piece of panty hose. Keep your mind open for unusual sources.

In this close up you can see two colors of unspun wool; some gold beads; and a star button. I save little scraps of things because it only takes a tiny amount. I even save little tufts of my kitties' hair. In one collage I used some rabbit fur. These are fun to make because there are no rules and no fear of making a mistake. You can make anything work!

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Some of my Favorite Things

I'm not an early morning person, but if I can sleep as late as I need to, then I'm fine with mornings.I love my bed! We put a memory foam topper from Bed, Bath and Beyond on our mattress and it is sooooooo nice! I love my bedside table! My oak table is an antique (bought at auction in Maine) and I think it might have been a school desk. It has a small, shallow drawer with a pencil tray inside. On the right it has a writing surface that can be pulled out. There is room on top for all the necessities - photo of children, lamp, tissues, place for a drink, a plant, decorative items, a folder and pen for jotting down ideas, my latest craft project and plenty of room for a book. In fact sometimes there is a stack of books. I always read in bed before I go to sleep. Underneath are a basket and a tub full of folders and magazines. There is a lovely view out my window of the creek across the street. When the leaves are off I can see the lake with the morning sun sparkling on the water.

I love my ancient, soft, oft' washed sheets! They feel like your favorite, soft, worn out jeans! My comforter and shams are in my favorite warm colors. I like to mix patterns.
And what is morning without a cup of fresh-brewed, aromatic coffee? I love my morning coffee! And I love my husband who makes it for me every morning! Melita Classic decaf is my favorite. I don't drink it for the caffeine, I love the taste of coffee. No flavored coffees for me in the morning - just plain and strong! Of course I have a favorite mug. I love my kitty mug! It has a nice curved lip and a picture of three yellow tabbies. Appropriate for me since I have three yellow tabbies - Big Guy, Paws and Cindy.

What are some of your favorite things?

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Bedroom as a Retreat

Do you have place in your house where you can retreat when you don't want to hear the TV another minute? When one more football or baseball game will drive you insane ?! How about your bedroom? Below are three bedrooms that would make nice getaways. A place to curl up with the latest historical romance or a good mystery. Be sure to make yourself a mug of hot chocolate, or maybe a pot of tea. A few cookies might be nice too. Pamper yourself!This looks like a nice escape - romantic without being too frilly to share with a husband.

This bedroom is simpler but inviting. It is in an addition to a craftsman style house. The flat board woodwork was chosen to go with the craftsman style. Isn't the transom a nice touch?

This room is inviting without being too fussy. A soothing atmosphere and a comfy looking bed.
Photos : Country Living, BHG

Where do you retreat when you want to be alone - the bedroom, the guest room, the porch?

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