Monet and Me

decided to give the kitchen a much needed facelift. Monet poses at the kitchen sink showing off the valance from the curtain set that had been in the Young One's bedroom. The valance also had a set of swags, but I didn't like the way they looked in the kitchen window.

The real makeover was changing out the old cabinet and drawer pulls. I found these funky, mismatched, ceramic pulls on Amazon. They didn't have any sort of drawer pull to go with them but the knobs work just as easily for a drawer pull.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Fairy Ring

Corn

The Little Great Pumpkin is getting some color

Tomatoes anyone?

Lots of squash flowers, but no squash

The cardinal twittering in the twig

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Spin Art on a Whiteboard

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Pastina in a little chicken broth best cure for an upset stomach

2. Fun visit with The Brother and SIL at the grand-nephew's 4th birthday party

3. A late afternoon doctor's appointment so Himself called in a take-out order to Harry's. Finally got some fried clams

4.  A visit to the chiropractor. He made me taller!

5. Teague Day. We went for ice cream at J.J's in Upton. I had a cup of German Chocolate Cake. Heaven!

How was your week?

A Letter to the Teacher

 

My calligraphy teacher, Gerry, recently celebrated a milestone birthday. (Aren't all birthdays milestones?) Her Young One invited Gerry's family and friends to submit a video for a montage on Tribute.

As a prompt, we were asked to tell our favorite memory of Gerry and make a birthday wish for her. 

There are so many memories of Gerry, it was hard to pick just one. So I wrote her a letter, in calligraphy of course, along with a decorated initial and suitable decoration. I held the letter in front of my face while I read the letter and recorded the video. At the end, I popped out from behind the letter, as if Gerry wouldn't be able to tell who the letter was from.

"August 2024

Dearest Gerry,

Thank you for never telling me to take up knitting [ed: When I was a beginner and taking a workshop Gerry thought I would like, the instructor, frustrated with me being left-handed, told me I should forget about calligraphy and to take up knitting. As if that would have been any easier!, but I digress] Thank you for being the most caring, sharing teacher and friend. 31 years ago, you infected me with the calligraphlu and I'm so glad I never recovered.

Have a healthy and amazing creative year as you make another trip around the sun.

Happy Birthday"

Crescent Lake, Wolfeboro, and Ice Cream

Beautiful scenery

On our way to the town of Wolfeboro, we stopped at Crescent Lake 

We wandered around Wolfeboro. There was a nice park with this charming sculpture of Grandpa and grandson having an ice cream cone.

"The Bench of Friendship, a gift of Russian Craftsmen "from people to people" came to Alton for welcoming ceremony before heading to the Wolfeboro town dock and its summer home.  The Bench will return to Alton in September for its seasonal location in the garden adjacent to the Gilman Library."

Alton Rotary Club

The town dock and Lake Winnipesaukee

Wolfeboro boasts that it is the oldest Summer resort in America. The town was incorporated in 1770 and now has a "population of about 6,416 (54th in New Hampshire) that swells to approximately 25,000 during the summer tourist season"

I liked the heart shaped shadows of the iron railing

Rocktrumpet

The bench outside of Yum, Yum's ice cream shop which was closed!

We puttered around a souvenir shop. Please don't touch the moose. So we headed back to Laconia.

We knew we were in the right area when we saw the cows

Sawyer's ice cream!

I had a small cup of Almond Joy, a vanilla base with bits of coconut and pieces of the almond joy candy bar. I also had a cone on the side. Ice cream shops tend to pile the cone so one lick and the ice cream lands on your shoes. A cup and a cone are the best of both worlds. Sawyer's Dairy Bar in Gilford is one of the ice cream shops listed on the New Hampshire Ice Cream Trail By Region

We sat at picnic tables under some trees and watched some low flying planes. Turns out there's an airport. Laconia Municipal Airport in Gilford, New Hampshire.

T Stands for What A Nerve!

 

I was happy and excited we would be going to Pop's Clam Shack, the little roadside stand we've all heard about from our blog friend, Erika at BioArtGal. The place is closed Summers, Monday through Wednesday. 

Thursday arrived and I was looking forward to fried clams eaten outside. Teague found something online that said Pop's was closed on Thursday. I contacted Erika through Facebook. She said Pop's was open. I checked the hours on the website and waited until they were open and telephoned.

A man answered the phone.

Hi, I was just calling to find out if Pop's is open today.

Nope, we're closed. It's the first day of school. We'll be open tomorrow.

Thanks, and I ended the call. What the HELL! Closed? What a NERVE! What does the first day of school have to do with the price of clams? And I'm going HOME on FRIDAY and Pop's is in the opposite direction. And what about people who don't have kids, don't have kids in school? Why can't they have a fried clam lunch?

Teague told me to calm down as she had a plan B in the works. She said Pop's was okay, but it was just like every other roadside clam shack.

She drove to Alton's Bay across the street from Pop's to Shibley's At The Pier.

After a short wait, we were shown to a corner table with a view of the lake

and a view of Pop's across the street.

Shibley's was a nice restaurant with lots to choose on the menu. I opted for a broiled haddock wrap, sweet potato fries, and an Arnold Palmer. A little too much aioli in the wrap, but it was delicious.

After lunch we walked around the park in Alton Bay.  I was taking a picture of the wolf by the boat ramp when a fella trying to get his boat out of the water warned me, "They bite."

There was a surfer in a wetsuit (the lake temp was getting chilly) and he was e-Foiling, surfing on the lake. It looked like he was flying across the lake like this:

e-Foiling Lake Winnipesauke

Alton Bay Station was a stop on the Boston and Maine railroad back in the day

Alton Bay boasted the first floating bandstand.

After lunch and walking around, we were continuing our adventure with more exploring of the lakes communities in search of ice cream.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page

Castle in the Clouds

The weather was predicted to be cloudy and with a chance of a shower. Not an ideal beach day. We decided to take a trip North to Moultonborough, New Hampshire to visit Castle in the Clouds, the Lucknow Mansion.

After a harrowing ride up a twisting, turning mountain road because Waze decided we needed a heart attack of a ride. (The road reminded us of "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut". If your school or library hasn't banned or burned Stephen King books, you can find the short story in King's Skeleton Crew) we found ourselves in the relative safety of a parking lot with signage directing us to the Carriage House (gift shop) where we could purchase tickets. After getting tickets and donning a sticker, we were directed to wait

for the trolley which would take us up to the house.

The views of Lake Winnipesauke and the mountains were just spectacular

You can take a self-guided tour of the house which began in a sunroom where we watched a short video about the history of the house and owners. I was charmed by the adorable bunny doorstop.

The house is named Lucknow. "Originally comprised of 6,300 acres, the property featured a 16-room mansion, stable and garage, two gatehouses, a 100 foot greenhouse, farm buildings, an 18-hole golf course, tennis court, a man-mad lake, and 45 miles of carriage and bridle paths."

The architecture belongs to the Arts and Crafts movement. "Though its construction employed modern materials like steel beam and terra cotta blocks, the exterior was veneered with hand-cut stone and adorned with hand-scalloped oak timber framing. - the house was intended to fit naturally and comfortably into the landscape." (from the brochure)

awesome front door

The house was built in 1914 and was the home of Thomas and Olive Plant. Plant's story was rags to riches rising "from factory laborer to proprietor of the Thomas G. Plant Shoe Company by the age of 32. By his retirement in 1910, his shoe factory was the largest in the world." (from the brochure)

State of the art appliances and technologies are seen throughout the house. At first we thought this was a dumb waiter and then realized it was a refrigerator and freezer. Not an icebox! The cooling system for the units was ammonia brine refrigeration system. The house was also equipped with a central vacuuming and intercom system.

At the time the house was built and lived in, the couple was very wealthy. Unlike the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island with their  flamboyant opulence, Lucknow was a tastefully decorated home. However poor budgeting and over spending collecting object d'art plunged the Plants into financial difficulties. A friend of theirs bought the house and allowed them to live in it until Thomas' death in 1941. The house was sold and Olive moved back to Illinois to her family. 

Fountain in the "backyard"

While the furnishings inside the mansion were beautiful to look at, the real jewel was the magnificent views of the lake and mountains. As you can see, the weather dudes lied and the weather cleared to another fine day.

This torture device isn't an Iron Maiden, but something called a needle shower. Showers were for the men only as it was believed women were too delicate to withstand the shower. On the other hand, I don't think I would like sharp jets of water blasting my kidneys.

Overlooking the front drive 

This was my favorite wallpaper in the house

It was used as a maid's room for helping repair madame's frocks

or a sewing room. My mother would have loved this room.

her writing desk

tea service

Another spectacular view

A covered walkway from the house

leads to a pergola

With squirrels carved on it. The squirrels had been lost, but restored last year.

After touring the house we caught the trolley to go back to the Carriage House (gift shop) and parking lot. Doesn't the trolley look like Mr. Roger's Trolley? From the parking lot, Waze graciously found the main exit so we didn't have to go through Mrs. Todd's shortcut again.