Wordless Wednesday ~ July 7th

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!

A beautiful day in the mountains

It was a gorgeous summer day yesterday, just perfect for a drive to the White Mountains of NH for my friend's birthday bash!

A Saturday drive to Western Maine

[North Fryeburg, Maine]

Last Saturday, my friend Julie and I traveled to Western Maine in search of my roots. OK, not in search of them, exactly. It was more like a trip down memory lane for me and a chance for Julie to see where I come from. My father's family is from the Fryeburg area, and there is a farmhouse and 2 summer cabins there that used to be in my family. We took our time driving around, with me pointing out the highpoints. We also went up into Evans Notch, part of the White Mountain National Forest that overlaps the Maine-New Hampshire border.






[This is Julie at the Cold River Overlook in Evans Notch]


Although we had a gray and rainy June, Julie and I were treated to some sunshine and big puffy clouds as we made our way around the beautiful backroads of Maine and New Hampshire.


We also glimpsed some wonderful wildlife, including a beautiful deer dashing into the woods at the side of the road and a family of wild turkeys. Neither of us had ever seen baby wild turkeys before -- they were really quite a sight! Once we got up into the mountains, we seemed to see butterflies everywhere we went. I wish I had photos of these special animals and insects, but they were all too quick for me to capture with my camera.

[The ferns are huge now, due to all the rain we've had.]

Driving from Stow to Chatham, we came across the remains of a yard sale outside the lovely Hidden Meadow Farm. Among the odd's and end's marked free were these two items: a vintage bread box that someone had repainted and a shabby wooden chair. I scooped both of them up. I have a project in mind for the chair. The bread box I may try to decoupage, or it may end up being donated to Goodwill. We'll see.

I'll undoubtedly have more photos of Western Maine for you later in the summer... It's one of the areas of Maine that will never stop calling me home.