princess turkey feather

Went to the Museum of Natural History to see the horse exhibit last week. While it was amazing, it was also amazingly packed with crying kids. I preferred the solitude of the "Hall of North American Birds", the owls are so enchanting.
Great Blue Herons will always remind me of home and the Chesapeake Bay.

Elmwood has this amazing Audubon print of a wild turkey with a vase of wild turkey feathers. I love that this house is so rooted in nature, even inside.


In New Hampshire I saw at least 3 flocks of beautiful wild turkeys and was lucky enough that they left some feathers behind for me to scavenge.

The smaller breast feathers inspired me to make a feathered headband, after all as a girl i was in the defunct YMCA program Indian Princesses (like a father daughter girl scouts but you pretend to be a native american tribe).

You even got to make up a very un-pc indian name, mine was Princess Jumping Jackrabbit.
First I striped the feathers of their down, just leaving the smooth tops.

Then I tightly wrapped each feather on my headband with matching thread.

It reminds me of a little girl's dress up indian princess crown. What fun.

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Ella, the great great.

Here's a little elmwood snapshot of a letter sent to my great great grandmother Ella Averill while she was in Cape Town, South Africa.


My great aunt Winky recently found Ella's journals and had them transcribed and bound. I can't remember ever enjoying reading something more (and that's saying something).



Wellesley College Sunday, Nov. 24th 1878

"A rousing indignation meeting was held in Chapel Thursday evening incited by the piece which appeared in the Harvard Advocate on Wellesley College and its girls. It is true that some "preps" have not behaved in a very ladylike manner over there, and some disgraceful things have been said and done in hotels, restaurants and on train cars. Well free speech prevailed- opinions of many from each class were expressed, some rousing speeches made and finally a motion was carried almost unanimously to discount everything unwomanly and not fitting for young ladies who were seeking a higher culture."


Wellesley College Saturday, Nov. 23th 1878

"Mollie Bingham has gone home- the oculist fears that her eyesight cannot be saved and that in a very short time she will be totally blind. A letter from her father was read in Chapel thanking students and teachers for the kindness towards her, saying that he wished her last looks might be upon the scenes of her childhood and her friends and family, and asking the prayers of the College that if it could be the Lord's will, a little ray of light soon might be left to her for the remainder of her life."


Wellesley College March 23th 1879

"Our costume party came off with great success Friday evening the 14th. I went as one of the fates. About every female character in poetry was represented, from Mother Goose to Queen Elizabeth. We decorated the gym beautifully. Each of the four beams being draped with the class colors, flags over the windows, Chinese lanterns, statuettes, busts and flowers scattered about promiscuously."

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the old mill

ok, now moving from elmwood to the second family masterpiece, the mill, my grandfather emerson's home.

In the 70's he and my ingenious grandmother converted the second oldest operating mill in the states into their home. I will never be so cool.

The house the is amazing. Jacque Cousteau once rented it out, too. Double amazing.

He drives a jaguar e-type convertible from the 1960's. still. at 87. what a class act.


Fully open windows in an old house, nothing like it.


The sluiceway that runs underneath the house. From the kitchen you can actually see through the glass section of the floor down to the water and old mill turbine.

Grandpa emerson also raises ducks that live in the pond.


The fireplace that actually burns tree trunks, not logs.

All the saws are from the mill's operating days.


Cast iron pans and a stone wall in the kitchen. the stuff rustic dreams are made of.


I also love that the house was done in the 1970's but the mill itself dates from the 1740's. It's a great balance, not too fussy. Amazing old wooden floors, mill stones, a groovy sunken living room, industrial spiral staircase and a wall of windows.

so basically, emerson/merrick souls manifest themselves in old houses.

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more more more...

only a few more new hampshire posts, i swear.

that is until i go back next month.

A local secret garden. My grandmother used to rent this little place when she wanted to have a quiet escape from the hustle and bustle of family summers at elmwood. love love love!

A rambling and fallen victorian garden and trellis. If fairies exist, i think we would find them here.

A pink lady slipper, the best of the best. my father's favorite and also new hampshire's state wildflower. Never knew some states had official wildflowers in addition to their regular flowers.

And because i'm sure you were wondering, nh's state flower is the lilac, my personal favorite!

i have only tipped a canoe once in 24 years. A frog jumped in the canoe with me a couple years ago, not that i'm afraid of frogs, but i don't handle surprises well.

misty night.

My great grandma's treadle sewing machine and button collection. Love the wallpaper in master bedroom and i love that it reminds me of my sweet chelsea rose.

What would a vacation be without a home improvement project? Mom and i repainted the hallway and stair floors. Forgot to get a good before shot, but they were ick.


My faaaavorite thirft store in the whole world. saturday mornings in the hancock church basement. Nothing over a buck and they consistently have "ali mcgraw in love story" stuff and amazing men's things.



Oh yeah, and now i want a back yard so i can have goats along with a garden. not too much to ask?

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LG Represents at InfoComm 08

LG showed off it's DisplayLink network display enabled monitors at InfoComm o8 with some interesting demos and this cool 'Daisy Chain' graphic.

Look for the LG Flatronwide L206WU displays in both the US and Europe.

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Spin Art Tutorial

Here's a great, fun and good for all ages tutorial - SPIN ART! - Create your own! Perfect summer activity to keep boredom at bay.

Let's get started!

Materials:

Cheap salad spinner (I purchased mine for under $3.00 at the grocery store)
Acrylic Paint - in various colors
Paper - construction works great!
Pencil/Pen
Scissors
something to cover your work area - newspaper, cheap plastic tablecloth, etc
optional: disposable pan or disposable plastic lid

Step 1: Cover your work area. This is a good activity for indoors or outdoors.













Take out your middle basket piece, place it on your paper and trace around it.


Step 2: Cut out your circle pieces of paper. These will fit in the spinner. I like to stack several pieces of construction paper together when cutting so I get several circles of paper ready to go! I also cut just on the inside of the line I traced just to make sure I have a good fit.

Step 3: Place your paper in the middle basket piece and place that back into the salad spinner.

Grab your bottles of paint and let your little ones squirt the colors on the paper in any pattern - or no pattern at all!

Step 4: When they've put on all the colors they wanted, replace the lid on top and start spinning!

optional: you can place our salad spinner in a disposable tin dish or disposable plastic lid as I have used here. When you start to spin the paint will eventually build up on the inside and start to drip out the bottom of the salad spinner. I like to place my spinner in a pan/tray/lid to catch the mess later. Then I just keep it and re-use it for more spinning projects.

Step 5: Lift off the lid and take the first look at your newest masterpiece!

Step 6: You can now add a few more drops of paint and spin again if necessary. To remove your art I simple tilt the middle basket piece to the side and shake gently. The paper will scoot out and be easy to grab. Or you can just simply reach it and grab it! Place somewhere flat to dry and spin another!

These are great for entertaining your kids this summer, for parties or get togethers! You could even make some patriotic ones this upcoming 4th of July! Enjoy spinning and creating with your kids, grandkids, family and neighbors!

Be sure to upload your photos from this project into the Brassy Apple Projects Flickr group!

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hello and welcome inside elmwood.

the house has 3 attics, some plastered with old posters. these are dream attics with family relics galore.
family doctor bags, family photos and school papers. i found some paperwork dated 1875 from wellesley college listing my great great grandmother Ella as enrolled in their first ever school year.

it's a lovely thought to know these things have been in the attic for over 100 years and will stay there for another 100.


all of the fields were filled with daisies. delightfully simple.

the family history hand written on a chalk board in the kitchen.

the wood stove works. nothing tastes as good as scrambled eggs cooked in a cast iron pan, on a cast iron stove heated by a fire you start yourself with wood you've split yourself.

hand delivered from our nearest and dearest neighbor straight from the coop that day. this is the same neighbor who sweetly names his pigs after members of the emerson family and has done so for my whole life.

i like that a lot of these old bottles entered the house as new and just never got thrown away.

this simple, clean and sunny room is more impressive and inspiring to me than any manicured interior.

the family has collected a lot of brown transferware china. i like that is isn't all in a big cabinet, little pieces are hiding everywhere.

oh boy, there is still more to come....

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Cookin' away......

I had my 5 month ultrasound last week and this little baby seems healthy and just cookin' away! We got to see the baby yawn and even saw the tongue - so fun! My favorite picture was of the cute little tiny feet paired right up next to each other. We looked away so we wouldn't see what the sex was though I was REALLY tempted too! Everything seems good. I still feel pretty limited energy wise and the Dr. said my iron was low. I tried to up my intake like he said but I found myself getting really sick! ugh! So it's been and up and down week as I try to figure out when the best time to take the extra vitamins are before I bag them all together! ha!

Hit the neighborhood pool with the kids this week - eek! But hubby snapped a shot of me as he said I was actually looking pregnant in my suit. I'm being brave and sharing it with all of you. (be kind please [wink])

I've also been trying to get cookin' on a few projects this past week as well. Details to be shared soon! But I'm very excited to get them under and shared with you!!!

And speaking of Cookin' in the HOT weather - don't forget about my Hot/Cold "therapy" bags Tutorial aka wheat sacks. These can be made with rice or wheat, whatever you have on hand or whatever is easiest to get. Make up a couple of small ones and throw them in the freezer! They are a great way to cool off in the summer heat! We love ours!

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home again, home again.

well, not quite home. stopped over at grandfather's house, but connected to modern civilization (and wireless internet) again. just offloaded photos, i have hundreds and now feel just completely at a loss of what to show. everything was so perfectly new hampshire and emerson family that i could barely stand it.

heaven.

canoed out to my favorite spot to read. the sunlight was simply perfect.

she's a good old girl, my lady love.


my bedroom.


moose brook runs along side of our property and then empties into powder mill pond next to the house.

i can barely believe my mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great-great grandmother and on and on.... have been rounding this bend and seeing this view for hundreds of years.

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