Frosty and Sweet

    As soon as I open my mouth about bringing Spring things in, Mother Nature tells me to curb my enthusiasm. 

  Snow falling on Cedars -  My chicken coop pictured below with the cedar forest a very philanthropic woman named Elizabeth and her husband Ed planted many moons ago here on this little farm. It was upon her death at the age of 95 about 16 years ago at the estate sale that I first laid eyes on the inside of our 1835 farm house and the surrounding grounds and fell in love.  A lot has changed here in the ten years we've owned the farm - including the complete resurrection of the house.  One thing that is absolutely as it was - are the cedar forest on the left of us and Pine forest on the right, minus a few trees lost in storms.  I love them 💗 they remind me every day of the thoughtfulness and generosity of the previous occupants of Grace -  (This Old House)   We've paid it forward, so to speak - by planting many sugar maples along the dirt roads on the property.  Someday someone will enjoy the shade and glorious colors  and perhaps the syrup made from the the sap of the Mighty Maples we've planted. We will at least get to enjoy them as juvenile trees.

  Speaking of Maple Syrup -  I've been collecting the sap  from some of our ancient maples when the weather conditions encourage the sap run, and the boys have been dropping the buckets off at the Sugar House at Parmelee Farm.   It's balm for the soul, this community project.  Residents of our little town have been collecting sap from their trees to add to the big barrels at Parmelee,  helping to fill the distiller,  they've been volunteering to fill and label bottles, some even dropping off cookies and snacks for the volunteer force to enjoy while they work.  The Boyscouts and Girlscouts have visited to learn the ancient art of syrup making, as have science classes from the middle school.  All sales of the limited supply of syrup are applied to sustaining the farm and sugar house.

  That label being applied is one I designed for the project -  I'm no professional, but I think it came out pretty darn good in the -winging it- department.

      In these times of truly ugly politics, this community effort for a worthy cause is a beautiful thing indeed.  If you're feeling discouraged for whatever the reason, I strongly recommend finding a project or organization in a field of your interest that is doing something good in the world - no effort is too small, the commitment does not have to be huge, so don't let work commitments and the lack of free time discourage you.   It's balm for the weary soul. 💗

      Till soon, friends... 

Some Artistic Inspiration / Notes from the Swamp

    I love sea glass and have a large vase full of it - pieces collected over the years by myself, my mom and friends.  While browsing pinterest a few days ago I saw sea glass art by various artists and loved the simplicity and beauty of a few of the pieces. I gathered some of my best blue hues and bought an inexpensive frame and some Gorilla Glue at Michaels Crafts - within a half hour I had a little sea glass treasure I will hang somewhere in the cottage. 

This is another find I will put together to hang over one of the windows, perhaps during the next snow storm. I don't browse pinterest or etsy often but when I do I'm always amazed -  lots of inspiration can be found there, so many talented people.  Note: Copying an artists ideas isn't something you should do if you have any intention of selling what you create.  It's done all the time but not cool when the artist is trying to make a living at what they do. 

  News from the Swamp:

The orange scream is breaking from 11 presidents worth of tradition by firing Charles Brotman, who has announced every inauguration parade since Eisenhower in 1957.   The 89 year old, who is still very capable of doing his job,  received an e-mail stating his services were no longer needed. Needless to say, he's pretty heartbroken. 

-What an assh*le.  That's not even a political move. That's just an assh*le move. 



I'm not a big fan of Hollywood in general but I do love a good movie and a talented actor/actress.  Meryl Streep is one of my favorites and I just loved what she had to say at the awards show the other night. For the Orange Scream to call her an "overrated actress" is just the icing on his daily twitter ridiculousness.   Bravo, Meryl.  And Bravo Anne Donahue, whoever you are. 

The Orange Scream now denies he mocked a disabled reporter - sorry, dude. It's out there for the world to see, there's no misunderstanding here.  Click on link if you need a refresher.  That's just disgusting in anyones opinion, I sure hope. 

https://youtu.be/PX9reO3QnUA


AND... In case you missed it, here's the federal week in review:

1. Trump  fires all Ambassadors and Special Envoys, ordering them out by inauguration day.

2. House brings back the Holman rule allowing them to reduce an individual civil service, SES positions, or political appointee's salary to $1, effectively firing them by amendment to any piece of legislation. We now know why they wanted names and positions of people in Energy and State.

3. Senate schedules 6 simultaneous hearings on cabinet nominees and triple-books those hearings with Trump's first press conference in months and an ACA budget vote, effectively preventing any concentrated coverage or protest.

4. House GOP expressly forbids the Congressional Budget Office from reporting or tracking ANY costs related to the repeal of the ACA.

5. Trump continues to throw the intelligence community under the bus to protect Putin, despite the growing mountain of evidence that the Russians deliberately interfered in our election.

6. Trump breaks a central campaign promise to make Mexico pay for the wall by asking Congress (in other words, us, the taxpayers) to pay for it.

7. Trump threatens Toyota over a new plant that was never coming to the US nor will take jobs out of the US.

8. House passes the REINS act, giving them veto power over any rules enacted by any federal agency or department--for example, FDA or EPA bans a drug or pesticide, Congress can overrule based on lobbyists not science. Don't like that endangered species designation, Congress kills it.

  Because from what I have seen within my own social group, most Trump supporters will not have read this far, too offended.  If you did manage to get to this point in my post, what is it about this that you are able to dismiss?  Why are these things ok by you?  

Please, all - Wake up to what is actually happening to our beloved country. I'm not telling you to give up your beliefs - conservative, moderate, go left, go right, go high - but whatever you do, please don't go low.  Get involved  in ways that are comfortable to you - support causes that you feel strongly about, attending rallies and protests if that's your thing. Please don't sit and do nothing.  Decency above all.  It matters.  

- Just... sayin. 

Come. Sit. Stay.

  The porch is officially open here at This Old House.... let me not ever live in a house where there is no porch.  I grew up in an old farmhouse smack in the middle of a Staten Island, New York neighborhood where houses were stacked close together.  Our house was the original, built in the 1800s, before the area became a 'hood.   On the front of that old house was a porch, where many a rain stormy day was spent watching the drops fall around us,  perhaps catch the neighbors arguing or playing cards or reading on their own front porch, and it offered shade for sipping lemonade or iced tea on hot summer days.

   When we re-built This Old House - we knew what we had to add - a porch. There's one on the front, facing the road - which we rarely use. The rear porch looks out over our gardens and the hay fields and horses up on the hill. It's screened in summer to keep out the bugs and glassed in winter to retain some heat. On a cold winter day where the sun shines bright, it warms up enough so that  we can still sit out there with a cup of coffee comfortably and enjoy the view, maybe even read a bit of the book currently occupying the nightstand.

(that's a jeans rug crafted by Hilary of Crazy as a Loom - so durable, just love it) 

   Today after getting the various "stuff" done that needed doing.... I looked at the beckoning porch and said.. why ever not.  I grabbed my new read - Susan Branch's Isle of Dreams.. and sat in the reading chair, a light breeze flowing through. I highly recommend giving yourself time in your busy day, time to just relax and let go of whatever might have your knickers in a knot.

   If you're not familiar with Susan Branch, she is an author and illustrator who resides on my favorite Island, Martha's Vineyard.  I love her water color illustrations, as well as her writing style.. and oooh, her recipes are divine.  Her real life fairy tale story is one of courage in the face of heartbreak, and resilience.  My current read - Isle of Dreams, is hand written and illustrated by her- an amazing feat, and feast for the eyes and soul.

Below is just a sample of the writing and illustrations in her books... there are three. 

Quotes like this one are sprinkled throughout the books.. you feel the warmth she envelopes around you with her style, her illustrations.. her humor and grace. Kind of like the comfort of sitting on your porch with a cup'a...  watching the world go by... 

Quechee, Vermont and the Simon Pearce Gallery

  We visited Quechee, just up the road from Woodstock Center - located along the Ottauquechee River in the Town of Hartford.  Quechee Gorge is stunning, and forms the southeast edge of the town.  I didn't get pictures of the gorge, as the snow/ice were too heavy on the edges for safe photography climbing.  The covered bridge  was heavily damaged in Hurricane Irene and had to be rebuilt.  The  Simon Pearce mill also sustained damage and lost it's entire glass works floor, on the lower lever.  Amazing how that hurricane affected this area of Vermont, hours from the coast.

  A must stop in this area is the Simon Pearce gallery and restaurant -  the food is divine (accent on fresh, local) and we enjoyed watching the glassworks downstairs.  The mill itself is incredible, with a huge waterfall that powers the entire place.  Amazing....

Some history on Quechee... This is long, but it's worth the read - to see a once thriving community turn into a ghost town, and with thoughtful ressurction, it is thriving once again. ..  (or.. skip to the pictures)


 Quechee was settled in the 1760s when homesteaders were deeded acres for the erection of mills along the Ottauquechee River. The mills became the heartbeat of this community, providing everything from lumber to cider for the settlers. To accommodate growing traffic, a bridge was built over the Ottauquechee River at the current site of the Quechee covered bridge.

During the 1800s, the mills thrived, gaining particular attention for fabric. J.C. Parker and Co. (the property now occupied by Simon Pearce Glass) developed a fabric, "shoddy", made of new wool and reworked soft rags, thereby gaining a reputation for producing some of the country's finest white baby flannel. Another woolen mill, Dewey and Company, was establishing its reputation providing fabric for making baseball uniforms for the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Over 64 buildings sprang up around this company, creating the village of Dewey's Mills just downstream from Quechee Village.

In the 1950s, due to the shortage of an affordable labor force and the enticement of the South and its labor force, the mills started closing. Quechee lost the economic base that had existed for almost 200 years. The once booming community became a village of abandoned buildings with broken windows, fallen roofs, brush and bramble covered walls, crumbling foundations, a ghost town of what it had once been.

To add to the decline of Quechee Village, in 1962 a project to address flooding in the lower Connecticut River was initiated. As a result of this project, the village of Dewey's Mills and that mill ceased to exist. In its place, the Army Corps of Engineers built a causeway between Dewey's Mills Pond and the Ottauquechee River, which has created a walking trail and wonderful wildlife sanctuary.

In the late 1960s, a group of investors arrived in the area looking for that quintessential Vermont land to build a four-season resort community. As this was the first development of its size to come under the jurisdiction of Vermont's Land Use Act 250 Law, the end result is a resort that is well planned, developed and maintained with great attention to its surrounding, which includes the Ottauquechee River Valley, its hillsides, open meadows and woodland. Known as the Quechee Lakes Corporation, the company purchased all available land for its planned community and amenities. Today, the Quechee Lakes Resort is one of New England's finest resorts for seasonal and year-round owners.

Quechee Gorge, known as "Vermont's Little Grand Canyon", on the Ottauquechee River is one of New England's most popular natural wonders. Trails from the Quechee Gorge Visitor Center weave throughout the area (Gorge land is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers) and the Quechee Gorge State Park. A true destination site, over 200,000 visitors visit the Vermont Institute of Natural Science nearby, fish and canoe the river, hike the trails in summer and fall, and cross country ski and snowshoe in the winter.

 I took the picture below from the bridge... the power of this waterfall is indescribable....
The Simon Pearce Mill/Gallery/Restaurant is on the right.. the glassworks on the lower level...

We watched a Martini Glass come to be... the teamwork and the speed at which they have to move to work with the fired glass is incredible...  It takes about three years for a team to come together and work really efficiently at this trade.

 We came home with a set of ivory crackle glaze dishes, very sturdy and beautifully made.   Next post.. the rural beauty of this part of Vermont - We've explored the state some over the years.. and have to say, it's our favorite spot.

Well... really!

 We finally got the old well restored, thanks to our restoration guru Jeff and stone wizard Steve.  Jeff did a fantastic job making what is now new look old again.  I love the design.  The old well is still intact underneath and goes about 40 feet into the ground.  Amazing to see the interior... someone did all that stone work in very tight quarters 40 feet below the surface!  ACK!...


 Isn't she lovely?....

Farmers Market and a Wedding bouquet

 M & M went to a wedding Saturday...

And brought home this beautiful table centerpiece which her grandmother made.... the ceremony was on the shoreline, perfect theme, don't you think?  Two of my favorite things here.. a ball jar and sea glass.

Yesterday we went with good friends Jeff (our awesome Restoration-This-Old-House guru) and his wife Raven (the Fairy Queen who let me try on her wings)   to the Coventry Regional Farmers Market. If you are fairly local, it's one of the best around and since dogs are welcome, many attend.. some in their absolute best dress. So consider it a dog show too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a good friends, good food, pink poodles kind of day.