Shop Update

Based on the lines at the bakery, I'm pretty sure school starts this week. 

Work at our new shop is percolating right along. Ken has the POS installed on the new computer and the scanner, iPad and barcode printer are all hooked up and working! Here he is, back in his little office working happily away. 

The shop is partially staged and we hope to have it mostly done by Thursday so we know what to buy over the weekend. 

The inventory room works like a dream compared to our home set-up and soon we'll actually know exactly where everything is! 

 

I still can't believe all this stuff once lived in our house...

So relieved to have our home back and now back to work!

Sitting on the front porch before the sun is up over the trees. It is unbelievably peaceful and belies the craziness of this week for sure.

 We're 95% moved into our new space on Meadow Street. Gotta get it all in an organized so we can ship from there tomorrow morning. Then the adventure really begins!

Merrywood

We are just back from a sweet weekend away in the Berkshires. We stayed in Lenox, MA where I once spent several wonderful summers teaching at a small music camp just down the road from Tanglewood. 

I loved it there. Loved the rickety old shingled "cottage" with its numerous sleeping porches, slanting floors, ginormous kitchen and carriage house. As faculty we weren't much older than a lot of the campers. We saw them every day for lessons, trooped into town with them for laundry and pain au chocolat, delighted in their ridiculous pranks, skits and traditions and threw ourselves into music making like there was no tomorrow. It was heaven. Truly. The friendships I made there more than 30 years ago remain some of my closest today.

In the early 1980s the owner of the camp passed away and despite heroic efforts by some to keep it going, Merrywood closed its doors forever. The property soon fell into a state of disrepair and eventually was abandoned all together. 

 I'm so glad I got to pay it a visit. Grateful for the memories.

June

Happy high summer from our little slice of heaven. 

Our morning coffee was accompanied by a serenade raucous bird song and the soft, soulful sound of wind chimes in the breeze. It's gonna be 90 degrees today and we're already conserving our energy.

After suffering through not one, but two severe hard freezes this spring I thought my beloved hydrangeas would keel over and die straight away. They are hardier than I thought. 

 

I'll take whatever I can get!

The oak leaf hydrangea we received as a wedding gift from J&J is another story all together.

 

It seems to thrive through the worst of times. A sweet metaphor of our lives together.

We've been tending to our humble little farmhouse much more this year. The paint's still peeling but the porch is cozy and the galvanized garden is happy. 

It's been a banner year for fireflies. 

 Attempts to capture the nightly fireworks show have failed so far.  
But that doesn't mean I won't keep trying.  

Ah, blissful, sweet summer.

Strawberry Moon

The asparagus is starting to wane and the strawberries are coming on. Welcome Summer Solstice.

If the stars are correct we're in for quite a ride. It is a heady time for us right now and hard to imagine the ride becoming rockier, but we're ready to embrace it for all it's worth.

May this season be a time of clarity. A time to look forward and hold tight to the possibilities in front of us. It's time again to be brave, act with courage and strength of conviction. I'm ready. Welcome Summer Solstice. Welcome Strawberry moon. 

Happy Monday

Hudson Valley

 
We've just returned from the most wonderful weekend away in Rhinebeck, NY at the Country Living Fair. 

I love the Hudson valley and can't wait to get back and really explore. 

The CLF was inspiring and invigorating, and we returned with a head full of ideas for the show we're doing in September. 

The garden was busy while we were away.