The Meaning of Life for September

Phew! Things are really hoppin' these days now that school is in session and FOUND has opened its doors for business. There's hardly time to think most days but I'm trying my level best not to let things get so busy they pass me by completely. As my dear friend Sandy says, "It's all good". That phrase came to mind when I came upon this today.

Connecticut Hill

On Saturday I managed to sneak away from renovations at FOUND for a lovely on site estate auction only a few miles from home.

The site was an old family farm, home to a beautiful old Greek revival farmhouse

and several outbuildings.
At one time the farm was two or three hundred acres.
Today most of the land has gone back to forest and the few
acres next to the house are being farmed for hay.
The view was amazing. The house is perched high in the hills of Newfield, on the opposite side
of the valley from us and has been in the family for generations.
Today a young family with two little baby girls lives there -
a grand niece of the woman whose worldly goods we came to buy.

They had the typical kinds of things you find at a farm auction. The rake is specifically for removing small stones from the field.

The also had non-traditional items as well. An hour before the auction a member of the auction crew picked four large boxes of pears from the trees on the property. They auctioned them off mid way through. Three dollars a box. That's a lot of pears for three dollars. Evidently they were pretty tasty. I came away with some beautiful Victorian prints in frames, some lovely turn of the 20th children's books and lots of great old farmhouse kitchen items including a countertop food safe. I also bought more chairs - two bucks a piece! Now all I need is a little time to get things cleaned and ready for the shop. Wish me luck...school starts tomorrow and soon I'll be spending my days sequestered in an ivory tower.

I used to cook...

and I used to cook everyday. I really love to cook. I read recipes for inspiration like they were novels (though I almost never follow them), love to plan meals and I even like to do the grocery shopping. Lately with renovation happening 24/7 at FOUND and a soft opening scheduled for August 28th, a home cooked meal has become a thing of the past. I'm not proud of the fact that the only food in my frig right now is in take out containers and it all looks and smells like a science experiment gone horribly wrong. At the suggestion of a home-cooked meal the other day Ken replied "You mean we can eat food from our house at home?". Yep, it's that bad. Still all in all we're ecstatic that we have a space for FOUND and we can hardly wait to open our doors! We are having big fun there,

as is often evident!

After spending the day at the shop yesterday we zipped out to auction last night to find a hall full good stuff but a crowd in the mood for a buying frenzy. Bad combination. Prices were crazy high and we didn't get much until the last hour or two of the the auction. I'm happy to report though that it was mostly worth the wait. We came home with three perfect 100% wool camp blankets in the most beautiful plaid colors I've ever seen, a vintage medicine cabinet with great old green paint, stoneware bowls and a lot of them, a really nice Art Deco framed print, plus lots of other great smalls. Sadly there was no furniture to be had, what with folks willing to pay crazy money for things. Guess we'll have to wait for auction on Sunday to try again for larger pieces. The dining room has disappeared again under the weight of all our treasures and I expect the living to go under when we return from auction on Sunday.

I'm almost a week late to post about our annual Nail Soup potluck and music evening held at Phil and Mary's secluded manse in the Harford hills east of town, but here goes anyway!

It was a lovely summer evening
with good friends,

good music,

a roaring fire,

s'mores,

and two sweet six week old kitties to snuggle.We hardly ever see our friends these days and just want them to know
how much we miss them and that we will be back, we promise.

Mecklenburg

Saturday was one of those perfect late summer days. Cool, dry, crystal clear sky. Perfect day to be outside searching for treasures out in the hills of Tompkins County. This estate sale featured the contents of an 1820's Greek revival farmhouse in Mecklenburg,

former home of the Furcha family.

The thirteen room house sits on six heavily wooded acres bordering a stream.

It has two porches, a kitchen with a huge fireplace,

and is one of the earliest (if not the earliest) homes in Mecklenburg.

Each room had lace curtains and was beautifully wallpapered.
Someone had obviously loved this place at one time.

It'll take a lot of love, imagination and big
money to get it back to its original splendor.

The property also includes a small general store, the contents of which will be sold in September. Can I get in line now?

An enormous barn with remnants of a huge mill are part of the property too.

The Furcha family evidently lived in this house for many years. Art Furcha was a well known fiddler who played weekly square dances in the area. His wife still lives nearby. She is known for her piano playing and for being the very first female fire fighter in New York state. She served for 50 years. The house was packed full, but it was the stuff outside that really captured my imagination.

A crowd gathered around the dumpster to hear stories about the neighborhood and the history of the house from a neighbor.

A lifetime of greeting cards and bills had been thrown away.

There was some dumpster diving (or should I say,
dumpster reaching - no one actually got in there).

In the backyard an old tombstone was leaning against the basement door.

Who has a tombstone lying around their backyard these days?
I found it a little creepy.

There were tools,

and toys,

and all manner of things scattered all about the lawn.

Off in the woods we could just make out the chicken coop,
and out back was this lovely one-seater,
with a beautiful roof line. It was for sale too. Only $300.

So much history and so many amazing family stories.

A perfect morning.
Now time to get back to the shop and start painting!

Shop 'til You Drop

We spent the day at auction today but this time it was a little different. Today we were buying specifically for our new space at FOUND. It was thrilling! We mentioned our new venture to anyone within spitting distance of us and may have even recruited a new dealer or two in the process. There is such good energy and enthusiasm about the shop and the dealers we speak to seem genuinely excited about the possibility of a new place to sell their treasures.

Today Ken and I came home with a neat old jelly cupboard with original paint
(and original dust),
a lovely solid oak Mission style dining tableand a host of other goodies including linens, photographs and prints.

Favorites of the day include a milk glass hanging lamp with a clam shell shade,
a pair of wonderful old fireplace andirons (now we just have to find a mantle!),
and a vintage cake carrier.I want to to keep this...rats.

I was totally bummed to be outbid on this sign.

When it was all said and done BOTH carswere packed to the brim inside and out.

It will be wonderful to finally move into our space...because soon the garage will bust.

Despite my utter neglect, the garden continues to produceand what a welcome sight it is at the end of a long day.Ahhhh, home.

Cows Gone Wild

We've had stray cows in or near our yard five times in less than two weeks and it's starting to get a little weird. The first three sightings were fairly commonplace - a cow on the wrong side of the pasture fence, just a little too close to the road. The fourth sighting was on a whole new level and gave a new meaning to the phrase "Sweetie, there's a cow in our yard". This time Buttercup had parked herself in our driveway like she was a house guest. Tonight a whole bunch of them were seen cavorting in the yard just next door, their very frustrated owner scampering behind them down a steep embankment trying to herd them home. Why those sedate looking Newfield farmers even used their pickup trucks like old time cowboys. They went speeding around the pasture, their bumpers, horns and headlights serving to "encourage" the ladies back into a safe corner of the field. I think a "yee haw" or two might've even been exclaimed. Big excitement in these parts that's for sure.

So I discovered yesterday that the gray stuff in my hair is not drywall dust after all. It's my true color showing through. Oh well, guess I'm a little behind on more than just the laundry and the grocery shopping... Renovation at FOUND is consuming every second of every day but we're making tremendous progress and we'll finally start painting the walls today! Some time soon I'll get to the grocery store to restock our bare cupboards, but have no fear, we will not starve. The Covered Bridge Market is right down the road so we can also stock up on cheap beer, lottery tickets and other legal vices, and get caught up on all the latest wild cow gossip while we're at it.

Photos next post, I promise.

August Already?

August 1st...will the "Back to School" ads please just give it a rest already!
Oy veh...

I'm not sure how it got to be August but like it or not, it's here. Now that we're in the thick of renovation for FOUND, time is speeding forward at an even quicker pace than usual. The renovation is formidable but the daily progress is astounding these days. Last night after a very long day spent priming the walls we stopped off at the center of the universe (Wegmans - only a block from FOUND!) and picked up two rib eyes and two limes. Sounds like dinner doesn't it?!

After I scrubbed the Kilz out from under my nails and in my nose,
we feasted on steak, potato salad and of course gin and tonics the size of our heads (of course).

Pre-dinner festivities began with guacamole and chips,but we're not talking any ordinary guacamole,
we're talking Deb's Best Guacamole.
Okay, if you insist...

Deb's Best Guac

1 nice squishy (but not too squishy) ripe avocado
Juice of half a lime
Two small garlic cloves
Big pinch of kosher salt
Two or three good sprinkles of chipotle powder (to taste)
1/2 - 1 tsp ground cumin
Extra virgin olive oil (the fruitier the better as far as I'm concerned)

I like my guac creamy so I use a food processor. Place avocado, garlic, lime and salt in the bowl and process the heck out of it. Add in spices and process until blended. Drizzle in the olive oil until the consistency is the way you like it (I'm guessing I use between 1 and 2 tbs). Usually I pour some good bottled salsa into a bowl (I like Amy's Organic) and then plop a big mound of the green stuff right on top. Last night we had some ripe Sungold cherry tomatoes all ready to pick so I halved them around the rim instead.

Yum beyond compare (if I do say so myself).

We spent the day at auction today trying to buy for our new booth space in FOUND. We'll have twice as much space there and as of now, we have about half the stuff we need to fill it. It turned out to be a pretty fruitful day for us today. We bought chairs, smalls, frames, photos, more frames, and a cool shooting target with ITHACA embossed on it (I want desperately to keep this item). Did I mention chairs? We bought chairs...That's right, for the first time in a very long time, I just couldn't quite get everything shoved into the car. It's kind of a "Beverly Hillbillies" look don't you think? All we needed was granny to ride along on top.