Old bottles, a president's home, and the lovely NH mountains. Can you dig it?

What a fabulous weekend! It was beautifully clear and cool here in New England, and my friend D invited me to her summer "cottage" for some R&R.


We had fun playing catch with her 2 dogs and a tennis ball. The little lab was always eager to fetch.


The big dog had to be in the mood! They were both very amusing to watch.



And then there was our bottle hunt. D had seen some old bottles along a stone wall that runs around her property, so we decided to go digging to see what we could find.

And what a load of bottles we uncovered! Many were shattered, unfortunately, but we came away with a good haul of intact bottles, along with bits of china, 2 rusted clocks, and part of a bicycle. We set up our treasures outside on the patio.






Later we managed to get some of the bottles cleaned up and then laid them out in the sun to dry.


I've been a scavenger from way back, so I really enjoyed uncovering these treasures. In fact, I may take up bottle digging as my new hobby!

After a hard day of digging, a gal needs a nice glass of wine. Relaxing on the porch watching the moon rise over the mountains is the ultimate experience!




Pictured next to my wine glass are a couple of the many wild turkey feathers I collected during the weekend.


Of course, a visit to D's is never complete without some discussion of history. Presidential history, to be precise.


You see, D is the great-granddaughter of the U.S. president, Grover Cleveland.



And the property I was visiting is the site of his summer home in the NH mountains.



[former summer home of Grover Cleveland, aka the big house]

D's house is the former caretaker's cottage.

[caretaker's cottage, now a summer home]

D's house sits behind and slightly up the hill from "the big house." The big house is where Grover spent one happy summer after he had left office. Unfortunately, Grover passed away not long after acquiring this house in the early 1900s. His wife continued to summer there after she remarried, and when she passed on, the caretaker's cottage went to D's family and the big house went to the president's wife's children from her second marriage.

I could go on and on about this house that D owns. The porch! The view of the mountains! The family memorabilia! I did take many photos of the outside of both houses and a few inside hers.


[huge ferns this year, due to extremely rainy summer]


[fading hydrangeas on the bar table]


[painting of D's house]

In fact, I took so many photos that I think I will do another post this week about the Grover Cleveland summer property.

Whatever you did this past weekend, I hope you had as much fun as I did! Sending out a big thanks to D for having me at her home!