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The Shop

July 29, 2018 at 8:56 am by Claudia

The humidity broke in the early evening yesterday.

Hallelujah!

I know there will be more ahead, but I’m grateful for two days without rain and a chance to get out in the garden and weed, mow, and weed whack. It’s sunny this morning and we finally have the windows open and the air conditioner off.

Today I’m sharing some photos of Milne Antiques and Design. It’s such a beautiful shop, situated in a historic building near the waterfront in Kingston.

The front of the shop where many of the pots and garden decorations live. Obviously, I’ve spent a lot of time here!

Hello! I’d like this table and chairs, please.

The other side of the front of the shop. I hadn’t even noticed my little blue chair at this point. I was literally taking in the bigger picture!

That’s Don talking to Jasmine as he examines some vintage suitcases.

Rebekah loves vintage signs and graphics. Another reason I’m drawn to this shop.

A view toward the back of the shop.

And toward the front of the shop.

Love this wardrobe.

The zinc barrels. Want one.

The chair. I love this chair. It’s so charming, so Adirondack camp-ish. And the colors, of course. It’s a bit fragile and I have no room for another chair, but…

I could have taken many more photos and will when I next visit the shop. But visiting the shop is dangerous for me! As you know, I’ve purchased quite a few treasures in the past few months!

So yesterday, as I was working on the dollhouse, trying to melt the glue that is everywhere – the assembler, whoever he/she was, used hot glue and never cleaned up any of the excess – I got a message from Rick. He and Doug were driving back from the city and he’s just received a text from another one of Rebekah’s great staff saying they had the perfect garden table and chairs for them. (Rick and Doug had asked them to keep an eye out, as they have a new patio outside where they want a round table and chairs). He wanted my opinion. It’s a lovely dark green table with 4 very comfortable chairs and as soon as I saw it, I said “Yes, get it!” And so they did.

Another satisfied customer.

One other note: Last night, after dinner, I was cleaning Stella’s cooktop. (I’ve never been so rigorous about cleaning up grease and spills on a stove in my life!) I lifted the griddle and cleaned underneath. I polished the chrome. And then I turned on a burner and observed the blue flame against the chrome and was immediately taken back to the day the propane was hooked up for the first time and, after years and years of not having a gas stove, we saw that beautiful blue flame. It was such a strong sense memory.

We’ll be celebrating her first anniversary with us on August 29th.

I commemorate everything.

Happy Sunday.

Saturday

July 28, 2018 at 9:07 am by Claudia

We have reached our sixth day in a row of high humidity, storms and torrential rains. Every time I think I might be able to weed or mow or weed whack, I am faced with a wall of humidity or a sudden storm. Everything is waterlogged. More rain today, then a break for two days, then more rain.

We’re not used to it being this humid all summer long. We usually get a day or two here and there and August always tends to be humid, but from the get-go this summer we’ve been dealing with a lot of high temps and humidity. I can see the effects of it on my potted impatiens on the porch – the leaves on some of the plants are discolored and look mildewy.

The only plant that really likes it is the big fern that sits on the former kitchen island on the porch. He’s digging it, for sure.

We have had a few sunny breaks, like the one we had the other day when we were out and about. And I’m very grateful for them.

Speaking of that trip:

This is the little chair that I bought. It’s quite heavy. As Don said to me when he saw it, “The color!” He knows this is a favorite color of mine. Actually, it’s one of his favorite colors, as well.

It almost looks Mexican with its chunky, boxy design, but no, it has a fleur-de-lis.

Perhaps a plant of some sort should adorn the chair?

It will definitely come indoors for the winter.

It’s been a frustrating week for Don in terms of photography, simply because conditions have not photo or camera friendly. We finally got outside yesterday for a little session, which was eventually halted because of inclement weather. But he did really well, figuring out F-stops, apertures, and all of that stuff that I should have a command of but don’t. I’m real proud of his progress.

This was shot on the porch:

(I’d been pulling weeds and you can see the dirt under my fingernails!)

This is tricky work. It’s a very heavy camera with a polaroid back. Everything is manual. Nothing can be easily deleted as with a digital camera or phone. The viewfinder isn’t aligned with the lens, giving a parallax view, so framing a shot is also very tricky. Much adjusting has to be done. Eventually, all of it will have to be done rather quickly, but now is the time for figuring out what works and what doesn’t. He did a real good job on this one.

The zinnias (grown from seed) are really taking off this year and are the healthiest bunch I’ve had in a long time. Cheery zinnias are one of Don’s favorite flowers. Mine, too.

I’ll share photos from Milne Antiques tomorrow and some photos of the vintage suitcases. It’s a little too dark in the house right now to get a good photo of them.

Happy Saturday.

Please Put The Book Back

July 27, 2018 at 9:45 am by Claudia

I’m loving this wide angle lens.

We got out of the house yesterday and paid a visit to our friends at Milne Antiques. I felt like I’d been sprung from prison. As we drove there…the sun came out! It was still very humid, but I can’t tell you what a difference that sunshine made in our outlook.

Don was looking for a vintage suitcase, as he wants to use one to display his photos when he starts the street photography thing ‘officially.’ He messaged Rebekah late last week to ask her if she had any and she responded that she just so happened to be visiting the house of John Burroughs, the famous naturalist, the following Monday and she knew some vintage suitcases were part of the lot. (I had no idea that John Burroughs lived and worked in this area, but he did.) His granddaughter was clearing some of the belongings in his house, which is part of a family compound. More on the suitcases tomorrow.

As happens every time I visit Milne, we ended up bringing home more than the one item we were looking for. I bought a child’s chair in turquoise that I’ll share with you tomorrow – I haven’t taken a photo yet. My real find, which I zoomed in on and fell in love with immediately, was this:

Are you kidding me? I had to have it. I love graphics, I love books, I love libraries.

Rebekah told me it came from a former library in New Hampshire. It was first a house, than it was purchased by the town and turned into a library, now it’s been purchased by someone who is converting it back to a home. (I hope the town still has a library.)

As you know, I love quirky things that I am not going to see anywhere else – nothing mass produced or made to look old. I am confident that I won’t see this treasure anywhere else, but more importantly, it speaks to my love of books and reading. And, like the sign on our stair landing that says “Use Other Stairs” where there are no other stairs here to use, there’s a little joke involved. Whoever took the book hasn’t followed directions and the book hasn’t been put back.

I wouldn’t put one there anyway because I love the graphics too much.

I’m crazy about it. I can’t stop staring at it.

As I sit here in my chair, I keep looking at it and smiling.

The sun is out this morning, so we took the opportunity to sit and sip our second cup of coffee in the Secret Garden. The cicadas were loud and I could hear the bullfrog, as well.

Sort of perfect.

More tomorrow on our other finds and also pictures of the shop.

Happy Friday.

The Shop

Saturday

Please Put The Book Back

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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