Wordless Wednesday - Rickshaw

Jeffrey Tillou Antiques - Litchfield, CT

After I left White Flower Farm I stumbled upon a beautiful antique store in Litchfield, CT. Jeffrey Tillou Antiques specializes in 18th and 19th century American art. I love folk art, so my heart sang as I walked through the store. I am so grateful I was allowed to take photos!

The carousel horse in the window did a great job of luring customers inside. It immediately made me think of my best friend from high school who restores carousel horses for a living. I love being able to say that! Learn about Lise Liepman's studio here.

Speaking of horses, horse lovers can appreciate these weather vanes:

Speaking of weather vanes, this one's great. How great would this be to point the way during a wedding? I can also see myself using an image like this to say "see reverse side" on a brochure.

This photo is dedicated to Dr. Robin at Bird Tweets. Maybe she can tell us what those keys unlock and what the bird is tweeting about.

I was familiar with cross stitch samplers, but I had never seen family records that were done in calligraphy:

My inner calligrapher was very inspired. That day I decided that some day, in my spare time, I might make a family record like these. I thought the eagles give it a flair of authenticity so I started photographing the eagles displayed around the store for inspiration. Plus my mother makes patriotric quilts, she will appreciate these too:

love that camel:

A patriotic quilt to inspire my mother:

White Flower Farm and Jeffrey Tillou Antiques make for a very good day!

White Flower Farm

I got my White Flower Farm catalog this weekend. It reminded me that I have a half-written post lying around from my pre-blog-hiatus days. I’m happy to breathe new life into it now.

While I was driving through Connecticut, I saw a sign for Litchfield. I recognized the name Litchfield from one of my favorite catalogs. The White Flower Farm catalog photos are gorgeous and the plant information is encyclopedic. They sell top-notch plants and their bulbs are world class. White Flower Farm absolutely guarantees their products. My friend Renata told me that she once ordered some plants and received a partial refund because they were not up to their "normal standard of quality". She also had the option to return the plants for a full refund. I’ve never been disappointed with their products.

Since I had a few hours to kill before my next appointment, I typed White Flower Farm into the rental car GPS and sure enough, it popped up. I recognized the farm immediately from the catalog photos. I had just rained so everything was crispy clean and the soil was spongy and fragrant.

I'm crazy for the stone walls that are so prevalent in Connecticut:

Like I said, their bulbs are world class:

This one is called Tulip clusiana Peppermint Stick:

They always come up with the most amazing colorful flower combinations:

And they also know when to let Mother Nature do her best work:

If you're going to click on any of the photos, choose this one!

A Weekend in Connecticut

Oma’s cat scan came out clear. We still don’t know what’s wrong, but I am relieved that we got good news on this test. The other good news is that she appears to be feeling better every day. Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes and stories about Oma. I think they had a very positive effect on her! I will definitely be writing posts about her amazing quilts and her home town of Lübeck, Germany, but I have to transfer the photos from another computer before I can tell the full story. Watch this space!

In the mean time, I have some photos from my trip to Connecticut on hand. About a month ago, I visited a small town close to the New York border named Kent. It is along the Housatonic River., which inspired Robert Underwood Johnson’s poem “The Housatonic at Stockbridge”

Contented river in thy dreamy realm
The cloudy willow and the plumy elm:
Thou beautiful! from ev'ry dreamy hill
What eye but wanders with thee at thy will.

Contented river! And yet overshy
To mask thy beauty from the eager eye;
Hast thou a thought to hide from field and town?
In some deep current of the sunlit brown.

Ah! there's a restive ripple,
And the swift red leaves
September's firstlings faster drift;
Wouldst thou away, dear stream?

Come, whisper near!
I also of much resting have a fear;
Let me tomorrow thy companion be,
By fall and shallow to the adventurous sea!

Well okay, it wasn’t September, instead it was May. If I was more talented I would write the May counterpart to the poem. I would not speak of the restive ripple and the swift red leaves, instead I would wax on about how the perfectly still waters reflect bright green juvenile leaves…

…and how the fishermen cast their flies (can you see them? they are about 3 pixels wide)

…and how nature always balances a perfect palette.

I will leave that poem for someone else to write.

Everywhere, the blossoms were at their peak:

We don’t get to see enough dogwoods here in California:

The coffee shop in town has a bulletin board where townspeople can purchase coffee futures for each other:

I fell in love with a basket shop with this shelf of Nantucket baskets:

Which is your favorite? Mine was this purse (or pocketbook, as they say on the East Coast):

It turned out to be just a tad too small to house all the electronics I tote around everywhere - a blessing, given that I don't need another purse, or another hole in my head.

When I had to make a U-turn, I pulled into a random driveway and saw this flanking the left side of the driveway:

and this on the right side:

On our way to visit Bard College, my daughter and I saw this farm:

We city slickers are not accustomed to seeing this!

We both liked the cow with the white face:

We visited my sister-in-law in Westport. Her one-year-old
Weimereiner, named Daisy, loves my daughter.

When we drove off, Daisy bid us good-bye.

We’ll be back, Daisy!