Life Started in a Garden

I am so blessed to have girlfriends who are just as enthused as I am to go touring around our region getting inspired by God's awesome creativity - lakes, gardens, mountains, hills, vineyards, ponds, dwellings, families. I am still soaking in the beauty we witnessed together two days ago taking the RMSC Garden Tour . I think I saw the most inspiring gardens on this Saturday past than in all the years I've been touring. (but then, again I might say that every time)

There are several annual garden tours in the Rochester, NY area. All of which make for an awesome "girlz day out". All the tours are fundraisers for various civic organizations that bless our community all year long, year after year.

The one we attended on this fourth Saturday of July was far flung with 3 gardens in an eastern suburb and 3 gardens in a western suburb. I am going to divide this account into two installments. This post for eastern gardens and next week's for the western suburb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The first garden we visited was a shady garden and oh, so peaceful and serene. It was raining when we arrived. We all carried umbrellas. The gardener was present in each garden. They were all so hospitable and full of information about their gardens. This particular garden was completely covered in a thick carpet of decaying leaves. It felt luxuriously opulent. I asked the gardener if she imported leaves to make this huge expanse so dense. She answered me "no". The many trees on her property shed their leaves in the Fall and where they fall, they stay. She does create pathways through the garden, using the free mulch the town offers to residents (a recycling project in which the local towns shred residential garden wastes of tree limbs, Christmas trees, etc. and make it available to local residents)

The next garden was just a few steps away from the first one.  In picture 1, the rain soaked bench is reached by a decent on slate garden steps. It looked to me like a perfect spot for morning devotions. Note the mossy ground cover. In picture 2, you can see that this garden is on a slope. Therefore the gardens below are reached by stone steps. This garden was so rich in beauty, it was difficult to even absorb it into my tiny "point and shoot" camera. No shot could capture it enough for my satisfaction. Does that ever happen to you?

In the third and final garden on the east end, the gardener is the owner of a local art gallery. Therefore, you'll see garden artwork in her garden. Also a place for fairies. In picture 1 you'll see the fairie house and the fairie asleep on the moss on the right. Picture 2 shows a fanciful garden bench. Pictures 3 and 4 show a garden path lined with handmade etched stepping stones. Picture 5 is of a front lawn garden bed and picture 6, another piece of garden artwork - a glass and metal octopus, totally out of his element.

Stay tuned for the next post where you'll see the awesome western gardens of Scottsville, NY

Primitive Kitchen Cupboard

One of my favorite haunts is Country Craft Sales. Usually these are "Girls Day Out" events and sometimes involve a long motor trip. This particular Show took place in a town about twenty five miles from where I live.

When I saw this primitive wooden shelf unit, I fell in love immediately. I could just "picture" it hanging in my kitchen. My kitchen is small-ish and has only three walls. Two of which are home to countertop, closed door cupboards and stove. Wall #3 houses the fridge and an whole empty expanse (this is the space I want to "gussie" up). On the forth side is total openness into the family room - creating a greatroom space.

I would gaze and gaze at this open available space and try to imagine what to do with it. I did have a large watercolor hanging in it at one time but that picture looked lost in the midst of all that space.

At this Craft Show, I saw the perfect solution to my dilemma. The primitive shelf unit !!  I could fill it with primitive collectibles.

I purchased it from a carpenter who had his huge truck parked behind his showroom booth. His truck was outfitted like a carpenter's work shop. Lathes, saws, sanders, etc. The smell of freshly hewn trees, intoxicating to me. He put the finishing touches on my unit and loaded it in the back of my car. It measures 33" high and 44" in width. Perfect for that wall.

note the roller skates belonging to my boys on top shelf-their marbles on 3rd shelf

Now the next hurdle is to convince my husband to hang it up. He's not too keen on making holes in the walls. Plus, after having been married to him for a very long time, I knew better than to harass and nag him to get it done. That would have just cemented his resolve to never suspend that thing in his kitchen. So, I waited..........................

And then one day..............................done ♥♥♥



note sewing items-threads-needles-buttons
 

I love it. It makes my kitchen feel cozy and warm like kitchens of yore. It's not at all sleek and clean, spare and functional. It's full of memories, warmth, hominess and nostalgia.

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.