June was a scorcher!

I am thinking tonight of so many friends as well as all the rest who are without electricity today.  I hope tomorrow can bring relief for many of you.

I admit that I am completely bogged down and overcome by the tasks of moving out of one home and into another. The one we leave must have serious help to freshen it for sale soon.  I have a disorderly mess in the second one, which is why you do not see photos!  Thank all of you who have written encouraging words to us. We will soldier on. as all of us must do at times.  So.. for something happy to think of I googled Rufus Porter images, and got pleasantly lost in following some of those.    What would that man think of his fans in the 21st century!  I expect he could never have imagined us!  I have some good spaces for a few touches of his style.  I have not decided whether to paint on the wall itself, or on floor canvas and hang that, or on 4 x 8 sheets of styrofoam coated with gesso. Does anyone have the instructions which were published for doing that a few years back?   I look forward to a time when I will have brought about some order here and can think of painting again.  e

Today's progress.

Gary and Jack hung the pole for the baskets this morning.  The house is sleekly modern, with lots of interesting up-high spaces to use.  The ship weathervane shows from the kitchen as well as the main room.
 A group of 4 fine men are framing in our back  porch to make it a room with windows all the way around.  I see it as a place of pot plants and comfy chairs to watch the birds at the feeders.   E

A little at a time

Jack is painting the kitchen cabinets, just a little along between other tasks. I am happy with the grey green which to my eye is gray with a lot of green in it, and others including my artist daughter see as gray green, but definitely green. The color is planned to show well with Jack's stoneware collection, with accents of coppery redware placed here and there.
The dolls have begun to gather in the hallway niche, created for them from a former washer/dryer space.
I have pot plants to care for and a yard to plan. It always seems to me that when I dig in a garden, I begin to feel attached to that plot of ground. Those of you who are gardeners understand the elemental connection I am speaking of.
There are so many things yet to accomplish before we are settled here, I think of Robert Frost's words, I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Edyth

Still moving, getting closer!

That open light airy look, so appealing in an empty new house, is certainly gone!   I asked Jack if this looks like an antique shop. Jack said no but it surely looks like the home of dedicated collectors. And so we are. And our parents before us were the same. 
I am totally taken up with organizing and optimizing the inside, but long to be working out a plan for the yard.  Soon a house builder friend is coming to glass in the covered back porch, closing it in with windows and a door.  Some of the light fixtures have been changed and more are in boxes waiting.  I will post a few photos soon, but getting really settled in will takes months and months. 
In the new kitchen, I have decided how many shelves to allot for everyday dishes and glassware, and am giving the rest to daughters.  Pans for cooking are being cut back also.  Things like that are easy. It is when we wonder where to put treasured furniture pieces that it gets hard.  The bulk of the dolls are going to move to my daughter Beth's house until I see which ones I can keep and which I must part with.   She is making room for several glass cases.  e

A large family to move!

Our new house is still upside down, but I can surely see progress.  Jack and our son in law Gary worked today to convert a large closet which was intended to hold a washer and dryer, and made a doll closet of it. It is wide and deep and has one shelf now in the center, The plumbing is gone, and there is a new switch to turn on planned lighting in both the upper and lower chambers of the space.  Doors are planned, of either Plexiglas or perhaps French doors.   But I do not need to wait on doors to house some of the dolls , they are presently standing and sitting all over my bedroom.  They are very pampered dolls.  Perhaps most major doll collections are aided and supported by caring husbands, I know my collection is. The washer and dryer will have to find a home in the garage.   Pictures will come by and by as we settle in here. 

  At the same time that Jack and I have been moving,  my Colorado daughter has moved home to Texas, and is now living in a house in this same block!   She is alone now, her husband of 31 years having passed away in early April.  So it is good to have her here nearby.  I am greatly involved in both households, so am much stretched these days. We both are "housey" and have very different styles of nesting. Her rustic western decorating reflects her ranch upbringing, and her many years in the Colorado mountains.  Aside from my affection for the old dolls which are later and mostly German, Jack and I remain dedicated collectors of early New England Americana.  e

Rufus Porter Museum this summer

Last week The mail brought me a brochure listing classes in the 2012 Cultural Heritage series at this delightful small museum in Maine. Floor cloth painting looks like something I would enjoy, and there is a nice rug hooking class with Jacqueline Hansen, a top teacher. But it is the class on Rufus Porter Style wall murals I would love to take!  Not much chance I will get to Maine this July, but my heart will be there.  Check out the opportunities , I do not see 2012 events on the web yet, (they may well be there) email is rufusportermuseum@myfairpoint.net  .

There are lovely small museums all over New England.. another favorite of ours is the one in Lebanon Connecticut.  So much to enjoy for us who love art and antiques and New England's history.   Edyth

Texas Hill Country House

 On Monday and Tuesday of this week  a group of antique collectors I have enjoyed being part of for a number of years toured six hill country homes.  This is one of them, a lovely large log home in a beautiful rural setting.  The pictures here do not begin to do justice to the gardens.  The house itself has a number of furniture pieces made by my husband Jack, as well as many pieces purchased from O'Neill's Antiques in former years. So we are humbled and honored to have had our part in making this the jewel it is.  This house will be featured in the magazine "A Simple Life" next spring or summer.  Click on the pictures to see them larger.  E