A farewell to summer - some summer scenes

I can't believe it's over already, but it seems to be the way it always goes.

I thought I'd share a few highlight pics of summer; despite a lot of rain, it was still a beautiful one.

July 4th fireworks over the river.

Small town, so zero traffic problems and a million great places to watch them from.

Can't really ask for more than that.

Free sunset and symphony concert at the fort.

This is one of my favorite events of summer.

This photo was taken during the concert.

💗

This waterfall is 45 minutes from where I grew up, and I never knew about it until last year!

Next time I'm wearing a bathing suit.

View from the living room window.

I hadn't cleaned it yet, but I still love this pic!

More fireworks, but with drones too!

And over the lake this time...

A lot of summer days with weather like this.

Some stormy days are the most beautiful.

First boat ride where we stayed out after dark.

The city looks beautiful all lit up.

I'm always grateful for the beautiful things I get to see, and I try not to take them for granted.  These pictures are all from the small town where I grew up, and I certainly didn't appreciate it back then as I do now.  And wherever we go, we always try to be near the water!

Summer's over, on to fall!  So much beauty in this season already. 🍁

The best church basement sale!

About a month ago, I was out and about when I stumbled across a flyer for a church basement sale going on across town.  It had been a while since I'd been to a church basement sale, so I thought I'd check it out.

This one was in the basement of an enormous Catholic church, and it seemed like it had a million donors.  Not only was there a lot of great stuff, but it was super cheap!  There was furniture and home decor galore...it made for a fun afternoon!

I ended up carrying two big boxes of stuff to my car; the whole bill was just $47.50.  Not bad!  Here are a few of my favorite things I got:

I've always loved these vintage wooden baskets.  (What a lot of effort went in to making this!)

But I've never seen one for $2 (like this one) before!

I want to line it and use it as a planter.

There was something about the mid-century design of this vase that I just loved.

You can't tell how big it is from the photo; it's very large!

$5.

Did I need it?  No.

Who cares?  It was $5.

I just love these little egg vases; I think they're perfect for spring flowers.

A $5 Fenton hobnail handkerchief vase?  Score!

I love the style of these vases.

Someone didn't know what they were pricing...

I bought a bunch of never burned candles and wax melts for about $6.

 I always pick up games and puzzles for the lake house (or me if I don't' already have them).

These were $1 each and in like-new condition.

What else did I buy?  Well, I got quite a few books for a dollar each (or less).  I scored a bundle of little garden flags - there were about 15, and all in good shape - for $5.  Now I have garden flags for every season, including St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day.  (I probably never would have bought those new, but they're nice to have.)

I also got a really nice outdoor flower pot for $2, some never-used, large Pampered Chef cookie stamps (in their original boxes with instructions) for $1 each and a pretty stained glass nativity set for $2.

Such a fun afternoon!  I like to be able to change things around in my house and garden without spending a lot.  I like having new board games and books to read and cookie stamps for a few dollars.  It's nice to have some new things without feeling guilty about spending a lot of money.

Church basement sale, thanks for the good time!  Hope to see you again next summer. 😇

Vintage in Vermont, part 2

Thought I'd share a few more pics of some cool old stuff in Vermont.  That's one purpose of this blog, right?  Here we go:

Here is The Inn at Weatherfield.

As soon as I saw the photo, I knew this was the place to stay.

It was on twenty acres, had beautiful outdoor areas, and all the early historical charm you could ask for!

Side view of the inn, built in 1792.

The innkeepers are Bulgarian, and have only been running the property for six months.

They were amazing!  

The restaurant in the inn was fantastic. 

The old posts and beams, and multiple fireplaces were enchanting.

Must be so cozy in fall and winter.

A couple of the covered bridges we saw.

This is the longest covered bridge in Vermont.

The sign on the front of this one says, "Walk your horses or pay $2 fine."

And here's one last interesting discovery (to me at least) from the Vermont Antique Mall.  But first, here is a pic of a container I bought a couple of years ago at a thrift store.  I keep it in my blue and white room and use it as a plant pot.

I love this little carved out 3D scene.  This container had no cover, and it was by itself, so I didn't know if it was just a single container or part of a canister set.

It was the perfect size for a plant.

It was just a couple of dollars, and I thought it was a lot more interesting than the typical plant pot.

So I was really surprised to see this little set (with lids!) at the store.

These were black and white instead of blue.

Each one has a different Currier and Ives-type scene.

There is no maker mark anywhere on them, so I don't know who made them or when.

I just loved them though!

Well, now I'm not just wondering about what happened to the lid of mine, but where his two friends went?  Did they all break?  I do wonder sometimes about the back story of things you see in thrift stores, like, how does one single china cup end up on a shelf?  Or 3 salad plates and nothing else.  There must have been more, right?  

Pretty sure no one else ever wonders about these things.

Someone's got to do it, I guess.

Vintage in Vermont

I am in New York for the summer once again, in the town where I grew up.  I've been trying to take advantage of my location; I didn't realize until I was an adult how so many great destinations are so near to where I am.  I've always loved New England: the architecture, the weather, the coast, the history.  I've been trying to visit somewhere new each time I'm here, so last weekend we drove to Vermont.

The Vermont border is only a few hours from where we are; I never knew that growing up.  I remember visiting Vermont once as a child.  So I chose an inn (built in 1792!) for this trip and we took the backroads.  What a beautiful drive!

I had no idea really what was in Vermont (besides skiing - but this is summer); after googling a bit, I chose the destination of the village of Woodstock.  We did a lot in four days: we visited the Calvin Coolidge homestead complex in Plymouth Notch (a fascinating afternoon), spent a day at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller mansion and state park (both touring and hiking), visited three covered bridges, saw some amazing gardens (I learned a lot of new plants!) and ate some really great food.

It was such a beautiful, mountainous state - my new goal is to return both in fall and winter.

On our last day, my patient husband took me to a garden center and a great antique mall.  It's always fun to see what the antique scene in other states is!  I spent thirty minutes at a huge antique store at the end of one day, it was very high-end and had lovely things; it was fun to look at but almost like walking through a museum - not the kind of antique store where I could buy anything.  But as expected, in a very old state, there were lots of old and very historic items, plus lots of Early American furniture, paintings and folk art, etc.

The second antique store was more my speed.  (Read: affordable.  More vintage than antique.)

The Vermont Antique Mall came with some unexpected bonuses:

It was a huge complex with great food places, a Vermont artisan shop, and even a little Alpaca petting zoo!

It was also right next to a massive gorge - which is apparently one of the main attractions in the state (we didn't even know it was there) - so got to see that too.

So what was interesting in vintage Vermont?

For whatever reason, there seemed to be a lot of cow creamers.

Must have been big at some point.

Fun fact we learned: apparently Vermont is a big cheese-making state, and has a cheese trail.

At the Calvin Coolidge homestead - which was a farm back in the day - there was a shop selling cheddar made with the original recipe of Calvin Coolidge's father.

We bought all kinds of cheese there - it was delicious!

This picture caught my attention because the tag says, "$22.  Scene from Bible."

I kept trying to figure out what biblical scene this would be...and is it actually a biblical scene at all?

Any guesses?  I gave up.

I LOVED this old blue glass cough drop jar.

It was pretty big.

I've seen this once or twice before. I was so tempted to buy it, because I have a blue glass collection in my lake room, and this little box is so charming.

But I actually have nowhere to put it...and it was $45 - worth it, but I usually only buy stuff if I think its undervalued.  (That's part of the fun.)

I thought this 50's-era vase was fantastic!

I'm so drawn to mid-century style; I love the illustration style and I'm not sure why poodles were so popular then, but this random poodle on the vase just makes it.

But I have no reason to buy a planter for a new baby.

It's in great condition!

So, when I arrived at the store, I was hoping to find something small that could be my Vermont souvenir.  But I didn't want to buy something just to buy something.

I had almost been through the whole place when I finally saw it, on the bottom shelf in the corner of a booth.  But here it is::

So, of course I forgot to take a photo of the complete set before it was wrapped (and I wasn't going to ask the shop lady to unwrap it) - but there were ten of these small, amber apple bowls, as well as one large salad bowl (also in the shape of an apple).

I LOVE vintage stuff like this, and I was sure it would cost more than what I would pay.

So I was shocked to see the tag said $15. $15!!

These are thick glass and good size bowls, unlike some of the vintage stuff you find that's really only able to hold small portions.

I think a serving set like this would be from the 1970's. (?)

Anyway, it just reminded me of fall (I make a lot of apple recipes in autumn, also the amber color reminds me of leaves).  I love to have people for dinner and have special dishes for the seasons.  This set was in perfect condition; all the apple stems were perfectly intact.

This will be fun to use!

I might follow this up with one more Vermont post tomorrow...I'm realizing there was a lot of cool stuff to share.  More to come!

Mysterious, morbid and...magical!

The other day I took a walk through one of my very favorite places in the world to walk.  It's an old, old cemetery, and it's truly stunningly beautiful.

My husband's father used to run it, so I was often there when I was younger, but like a lot of really amazing things, I took it for granted because I was young.  I always thought it was beautiful.  But it wasn't till I moved away, to another state - and came home again, that I realized how special of a place it is.  Like much about my historic hometown, it took leaving and returning to truly appreciate it.

There are several cemeteries in town that consist of flat or hilly acres in the shape of a square; they are treeless and full of headstones.  But this one is different.  This one has gently rolling hills with meandering paths, shade trees everywhere, a creek, a pond with a bench overlooking and some of the most beautiful and interesting statues and monuments you could find.  It's a historic cemetery in a small city that used to be quite prosperous, and full of well-to-do people who invested in their afterlives like small-town pharaohs.

Did I mention the stone chapel with the Tiffany windows?  Or the old hydrangea trees and lilacs that burst into bloom in the spring and fall?

Beautiful.  Tranquil.  Slightly creepy.  Silent.

I love wandering through these old crumbling monuments with only the sounds of birds and the insects in the air.  There wasn't a person in sight up on this hill.

Who was she, and how did this statue appear as a real woman?

Someday I'll just be a name on a stone too...

I wonder how the family who built this tomb made their fortune?

The dappled sunlight falling on the hillside gives such a romantic feeling to this place.

Jesus with open arms.

I love this one.

I spent a happy hour-and-a-half just wandering around, and only made my way through a fourth of the cemetery.  The newer section has no trees; I assume it makes for easier mowing and upkeep, and, understandably, no one seems interested anymore in investing many thousands of dollars on fancy burial mausoleums.

The old part of the cemetery has the same appeal to me that old houses have: detail and architecture that just can't be found in anything new.  Likewise, new gravestones remind me a lot of new buildings - a bunch of gray squares that each look like all of the others.

Once this statue was a living woman.  I imagine she walked through this cemetery just as I do.

It wasn't just the sunlit paths or the beautiful monuments.  While it was fun reading the old poetry and inscriptions on the stones, I also walked the perimeter, enjoying all the wildflowers.  I used my phone app to identify a lot of interesting plants; there were so many!

The swamp milkweed was blooming all around the pond.

It may be invasive, but it's still lovely to look at!

Cemeteries always fill me with a sense of peace.  They seem like a gentle reminder to me that life is short, and instead of causing sadness it almost makes me feel a sense of relief.  Relief that whispers that all those things I think are so important/distressing right now...all those little kingdoms we get caught up in building....in the end, none of them matter.  Not at all.  Dust to dust.

In the end, all that matters is having peace with God.

And in the meantime, I'm grateful to have such a historic, peaceful place to roam around.  A place to feel the presence of God.

Recreating a vintage planter

A couple of weeks ago, a friend helped me rebuild some broken down planters.  When my husband and I bought our lake cottage twelve years ago, it came with a homemade planter that I loved.  The original planter had been built by the former owner in the 1990's.  

I've been using it every year, and it was beginning to slowly break down.  This spring, I noticed it was leaning to the side.  When I tried to righten it, the wood on the base gave up completely, and crumbled into pieces. I set the planter back down; it was about 6" shorter.

Here's how it looked:

Here's my shrunken, 30-year-old planter

I loved the style of it, it reminds me of the planters I'd see outside of farmhouses when driving through the country as a kid.  (Remember the little wooden wishing wells with flowers inside?  I love those too!)  I wanted to rebuild it exactly as it was, so I asked a friend if he would let me help him make a new one so I could see how.

The planter was made out of cut up timbers.

It really was as easy as he said it was, and I got to learn how to use a chop saw.

The saw part was easy; the only part that was a bit difficult was holding pieces tightly together while screwing them together at the same time - especially because they weren't all exactly even or straight.

They definitely required some manhandling.

Here's the old planter and the new one being built.  

We measured it to make an exact copy.

We discovered the old one was built around a small tree stump that was holding it in place.

Here it is finished!

All I have left to do is varnish it.

It looks so much better now.

While we were at it, we replaced a few other worn out wooden yard pieces at the same time.  There was a small garden box made with the same timbers.  They were crumbling too.  We enlarged the box a little and replaced all the timbers.

Here's the new garden box, same style as before.  

But now I can fit two rows of plants!

There was a really cool wooden bench with iron legs that came with the cottage as well.  After decades outside, it's wood was destroyed too.  I was driving down the road last summer when I saw a sign that said "free wood."  Someone with some nice wood that was already planed had stacks of boards by the side of the road for anyone to take.  So I took a couple that I thought might work well to cut down to make a new seat for the bench.

Here's how it looked put back together:

I've definitely scored my share of cool stuff for free from the side of the road in my life.

But this nice, already-planed wood was a huge win.

I love the bark still on the sides.

My buddy James was a childhood friend of my husband's.

You know someone is a real friend when he is willing to teach you something he could do in one-third of the time it takes him to teach.

But then, he did have the pleasure of my company...

Seriously, I have learned so many useful skills from him over the years.

Five hours.  Three projects complete. ✔

The hard part is done, now the fun part - what am I going to fill the planters with?

The ugly, the bad and the good

I found out a few months ago that some tenants who had rented an apartment from us in New York were moving out, after five years.  They lived in a 150-year-old beautiful house, that had been converted into two apartments before we bought it. They were a really nice family - keep that in mind as you see the post - they did however, have three kids (two of them small with special needs) and a dog.  That said, I knew cleaning up the apartment was going to be a big job.

And oh yes, it was.  But it was even worse than I anticipated.  I think the little kids touched every single inch of wall within reach, and the walls were never cleaned.  The handrail on the staircase changed colors; it went from black back to natural wood when I scrubbed it with Pine-Sol.

So anyway, we decided to head to New York to turn the apartment over and get it done as quick as possible, which required me missing one of my favorite seasons in Tennessee.  I love the mild weather in late April to mid-May, and at The House of Goodwill, that's the season where the peonies (all nine) and irises (too many to count) are all in bloom.  I just love it, and after a late freeze killed the azalea show for this year, I was really sad to leave and miss it.  Our shoreline project was also completed while we were gone - I can't wait to see it!

So all that to say, my husband and I made the fourteen hour trip to New York and back, working non-stop ten hour days on the house inbetween.  It was intense.  But we got it done!

This is not a usual post for me, but I thought I would share a bit about the reality of being a landlord.  (A landlord without a management company at any rate.)  We are really particular about who we rent to, but little boys are still little boys...Here a few pics of the "highlights" (aka. the ugly and the bad):

It's probably a little hard to tell from the pic, but can you see how dirty this column on the left is?  (FILTHY!)  The one on the right I already cleaned, and what a difference!

How does this happen?  What were the kids doing?  Swinging around the pole?

Every one of these old iron radiators was absolutely filthy.  I think at least ten juice cups got dumped over each one of these.

Do you know how hard it is to clean a radiator?  Hard!!

Mystery stains on the radiator in the toddler's room...you try really hard sometimes to not think about what you're cleaning while you're cleaning...

All the eight-year-old carpet got replaced!

The biggest project of the year?

Replacing this old tub/shower with a brand new one.

I watched my husband and friends move a 300lb. iron bathtub down the stairs.

I really was afraid one of them might die.

They did it!

I spent fifteen minutes peeling this sticker off of the toilet.

I figured the next tenant may not appreciate it.

The refrigerator was running a little loud, so we decided to pull it out from the wall and see what was going on.  Here's what we found underneath...

Do you think this filter was a bit challenged??

This was one of those unexpected projects that took at least two hours to clean.  (Shop vac-ing and scraping all the crud off the floor.)

And there was more!  There were kitchen cabinets that had been pulled off their hinges (how again?), a bazillion dents in the wall near where a toybox must have been, dried snot on the walls (at kid level) and a million little pinholes and pieces of tape all over all the walls.  I have never been so busy with a paint scraper.

Yet mysteriously, the refrigerator and toilets were incredibly clean when we arrived.  Thank you tenants!

For all of these reasons, I would love to share some after pics of the place.  Because based on these pics, you might never believe what a clean and beautiful apartment it became once again.  Every inch of the place was cleaned, repaired and painted (a few ceilings included).  I don't have pics because we were working until after midnight on our final night (there was still tools and cleaning supplies, etc. strewn all around right till the end); also, the new carpet got installed two days after we left.

I wish we could have seen the final, final product in person after all of that work.

Oh, here's one last pic to share of the place:

Random plastic baby still hanging from the ceiling when we arrived.

Clearly something else was hanging with him, but what?

 

So that is what I traded my beautiful weather, peonies and irises for.  (I did dig up a beautiful white hydrangea, brought it home and planted it in my back yard.  There were four in the front yard, so I took one that was small and behind the others.)  Since I never know exactly where I'm going to be, I try to plant my perennials at each place so I'll always get to enjoy them in bloom.

Speaking of that, here is the "good" part of this post:

I planted a new perennial bulb in my garden last year.  It's a Schubertii allium that is very unique looking.  It began to bloom just as I had to leave, and it was so cool I just had to cut it and bring it to New York with me.

Here it is:

This flower is huge!

I just love the form; it reminds me of one of those 1960's-style Sputnik ceiling light fixtures.

My husband calls it Medusa.

And here's the allium at sunset in our living room.

It has a magnificent silhouette!

It was a really busy, really intense pair of weeks, but I loved it (one emotional breakdown not withstanding).  I really love that old house, even if I don't get to live in it.  I love real estate, and I love making the ugly beautiful.

Now to find a tenant without small children 🙂.