A Visit to the Albright-Knox Museum

On Friday, last, my comares, ***  and I had another GIRLZ DAY event. We got up early, got all gussied up, tuned in the GPS and trekked from Rochester to Buffalo, NY. A trip of about 80 miles.

We had a beautiful, sunny day to travel. Our admission tickets were purchased beforehand. The venue was the Albright-Knox Art Gallery 

rear of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery building-parking lot entrance


Our reason for visiting the museum was that there was a "Monet and the Impressionists Revolution 1860-1910" exhibit showing. It was a rare opportunity to see these great works so close to home. We made a day of it. We arrived about noon and dallied in the museum gift shop before our scheduled 1 PM visit to the exhibit. Museum gift shops are one of my favorite places to shop. Purchased myself a reusable silk, fold up inside a small pouch, shopping bag for my trip to Sicily. Then, after viewing the spectacular art work, we had lunch in the Gallery Cafe' . A very relaxed, and charming meal of soup and quiche with iced tea for me, then a shared molten chocolate lava cake for dessert.

The art patrons were permitted to take photos of all the paintings except the Monet' paintings. I took a few shots of the other impressionists that I favor particularly. I'm not certain that I will remember exactly whose work is who's.

This is one of Degas' little ballerinas

Renoir

Gustave Caillebotte

can't remember - sorry

There were many more, including some of the work of Toulouse Lautrec, Manet, Gauguin, VanGough, Matisse, Seurat, etc. Not to mention the museum's regular collections which were also spectacular. This museum is definitely worth a trip. To do it justice, a weekend visit would be a good thing.

In the guarded Monet exhibit, where no photos were permitted, the evolution of his style development throughout his career was so interesting to see how he followed the light and did canvas after canvas of the same subject in varying light and seasons. It is said that he particularly liked to paint in winter because he so appreciated the light that the effect of snow gave to a scene. It was a very memorable day and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity.

these are my comares Patty and Joanie

*** "comare" is Italian for godmother or sponsor. Often in Italian culture, very close friends are also called comare . In all the different and varied Italian dialects, the word morfs to goo-mah'-dee because the "r" is rolled. or goo-mah. Funny, huh?


I love GIRLZ DAYS. They are very special to me.


 

A House Tour This Weekend

This past Sunday I took myself on the Perinton Historical Society's 35th annual house tour. My town was founded in 1793 by Glover Perrin. The town has a rich history as, I'm sure, most small towns do.

This year the homes on the tour were all on the same street so you could just park your car and walk the tour. All the houses on this year's tour were built in the early 20th century.

Our Historical Society and Historical Museum are both completely volunteer staffed. This tour is one of several fund raising events that keeps this treasure up and running. I am happy to support it.

Each house had a chair or chairs outdoors so visitors could put "booties" over their shoes to protect the homeowners floors and carpeting. When visitors were finished using their "booties", they were deposited into the colorful shopping bags you'll see next to the outdoor chairs.

This apple tree, loaded with big, shiny apples was in the garden of one of the houses.

 

 

The tour afforded the tour-goers a peek at the first floor of each home. A docent was present at each one. They gave a little capsule of the history of each house.

 

 

 

This little house was, by far, my favorite. It's the Cape Cod style. Note the clematis growing over the garage door and the wisteria over the front entrance. This inside had a very Key West vibe, clean, white, open, airy. The homeowners vacation there and their northern home is a lovely reminder of their relaxing times in Key West.

 

There was a secluded spa in the backyard.

 

 

This weathered lattice created the seclusion of this home's garden. I couldn't resist taking pictures everywhere I could at this house. I would move in tomorrow if they would let me.

 

 

                       A small Autumn gourd vignette on a side porch of the same favorite house.

I think this home owner so honored the unknown visitors to their home on this bright sunny house tour day. This is a window box on the side of the house, just brimming with cabbages, gourds, and everlastings. I found it so enchanting. I think I would love to know these folks.

There were 7 houses on the tour and as you can see I was charmed by one in particular. I just used my phone cam to take the pictures. Sorry they are the best quality.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the tour with me.

Life Started In A Garden Part II

As promised last week, here is part II of the RMSC 2015 Garden Tour. This part of the tour took place in the western end of our county in the little historic town of Scottsville, NY  To see Part I, click on this link  http://sammysgrammysneedlin.blogspot.com/2015/07/life-started-in-garden.html#comment-form

The first garden we visited was the home of a family who live on and operate a flower farm and are in the "flower" business. They have a roadside stand where they sell bouquets and also sell at the local farmers market. The farm was idyllic.

row of bachelor's buttons

busy little bee sipping some nectar from this sunflowers center

treehouse built right over the sandbox

 The owners so friendly. We asked directions from them on how to get to the next stop on the tour. While they were giving us directions, they mentioned "turn right at the Scottsville Diner". That's all we needed to hear. It was time for lunch. What better to eat than at a small town diner.

We had a delightful lunch there. Greek chicken Souvlaki salad in a pita and iced tea. You see the "CLOSED" sign in the window because the diner is just open for breakfast and lunch. By the time we left, it was indeed closed.

Next stop, a town house and garden in the old town of Scottsville.

grape arbor - much cooler under there



Just couldn't resist taking pictures of some of the houses on the street where this garden was. All of them built circa 1830

The final house and garden on the tour was the most expansive, awesome, restful, peaceful............don't have words to describe it..

there was a sandy beach on this pond and two Adirondack chairs to sit and rest in

shady hosta filled path and almost invisible rope hammock attached to two trees here

I sneaked a little picture of the front porch with its white wicker furnishings, including a porch swing

arched entrance to the patio overlooking the garden

Historic House Tour

A couple weeks ago my town Historical Society staged their annual historic house tour. The homes on this year’s tour were all the same genre’……………American Craftsman Bungalow.

This was a movement in the early 20^th century, actually originating in England by William Morris (the Morris chair), who was tired of the excessive Victorian architecture and the machine-driven Industrial Age. Morris and his followers wanted to return to the pre-industrial “handmade” society.

I see a definite parallel between this movement and the current atmosphere that we, ourselves, are actually a part of in that we espouse “handmade” as opposed to the manufactured, “cookie cutter” design we see all around us. We see it as finer, more quality driven rather than quantity, we see it as long lasting rather than “throw-away”.

These early pioneers of “handmade” had the same view point.

This movement traveled across the pond and was spearheaded in the U.S. by a gentleman named Elbert Hubbard, author (A Message to Garcia which sold 40 million copies, translated into 37 languages and made into a movie), lecturer and entrepreneur.

He was the founder of the Roycroft Campus, a national historic landmark, located in the small western NY hamlet of East Aurora.  In it’s heyday, 500 people were employed there. It became a mecca for notable artists, authors, philosophers, and power brokers.

Today the Roycroft Campus is a living museum, which presents conferences, holds classes and demonstrations and is definitely worth a visit to little East Aurora, NY. To learn more about the Roycroft Campus, visit  www.roycroftcampuscorporation.com

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the houses on the tour. Each of these homes was built in that historical period and in the arts and crafts style. The home that you see in the middle picture was actually built by the current owner’s immigrant father from a Sears and Roebuck kit ♥. I was very impressed that all the homes were kept in period with their interior and exterior décor. When you entered, it was like walking into your grandmother’s or great grandmother’s house.

As you can see from the pictures, bungalows were not ostentatious buildings. They used the space very economically. Dormer windows for upstairs bedrooms, therefore, slanted ceilings in all these rooms. You would often see built in buffets in dining rooms, with leaded glass in the doors and perhaps a stained glass medallion in the middle of windows in the rest of the house. There may be handmade tiles surrounding the fireplace. All in all, the homes had a very “spare” look but yet still warm and cozy.

In my little town, we are blessed to have 30 plus Art and Crafts homes. All built between 1910 and 1930. The historical society included a map with our tour flyer, so that we can have a look at them and marvel at the genius of the “movers and shakers” of our local history.

Part II of Girlz Day Out

Part II of GIRLZ DAY OUT was a tour of the LeRoy (NY) Historical Society Museum.

Most towns have a historical museum. My own town does. I love to learn about the history of the early days and beginnings of towns, villages and cities across the U.S.

On our GIRLZ DAY OUT, after touring the Jell-o Museum, we visited the LeRoy Historical Museum which was on the same property as the Jell-o Museum, separated only by a garden.

Since my favorite thing in the whole world is discovering old, unused, discarded household items, rescuing them, repurposing them into something useful and beautiful and "current", I was in my glory in this house which was the museum. The high ceilings, the extravagant woodwork, the wavy glass of the windows, the broad porches, the nooks and crannies.......................ohhhhhhhhh (swooning)

There were two docents there who made sure we didn't miss a thing. The home had a center entrance with a huge reception area with seating, paintings of ancestors, hat and umbrella rack, library table. To the left was a room that housed the "land office", full of surveyer's tools, roll top desk, many glass enclosed bookshelves, maps of settlement divisions. And to the right of the entrance hall was a parlor, with music room behind that.

It was in the parlor that we discovered that this house once was part of a seminary for women. In one of the nooks between the parlor and the music room was a historical display from Ingham University. The first exclusively women's university established in the U.S. Founded in 1835 as the LeRoy Female Seminary, chartered by the N.Y. State Board of Regents in 1852 as Ingham Collegiate Institute. The thing that struck me as most sweetly sentimental was a tiny class ring. Not a big showy ring like today's class rings but a dainty gold filigreed, pearl centered ring. Many of the women who matriculated at Ingham went on to make their mark on history. One, Sarah Frances Whiting founded the physics department and established the astronomical observatory at Wellesley College.

There were two kitchens in the museum. One, a 1930's kitchen and the other, an 1830's kitchen. That hundred year span produced astronmical advances in kitchen technology. The housewives went from scrubbing laundry in a wash tub with her hands to an electric wringer washing machine. From making meals in the fireplace over a wood fire to preparing meals on a gas powered stove. From having no refrigeration to an electric refrigerator, from candlelight to electric light, from personal visits and letters to a telephone.............

100 years before - 1830

All in all, GIRLZ DAY OUT was a totally precious day filled with beautiful memories.