June 2009 News and Views
News & Members' Contributions from Countryside Connection Village
The response has been so wonderful since I began sharing excerpts from our members' monthly newsletters! After enjoying this month's issue, you will be able to read all of those from the past year that you might have missed by accessing the individual links. May 2009 News and Views April 2009 News and Views March 2009 News and Views February 2009 News and Views January 2009 News and Views December 2008 News and Views November 2008 News and Views October 2008 News and Views September 2008 News and Views August 2008 News and Views July 2008 News and Views and June 2008 News and Views. I will continue to provide access to future issues in the same way so that you will not miss any of the news from our village. To enable you to enjoy past news and members' contributions from our Countryside Connection Village please simply click on the link to the appropriate month each time you visit our site.
Please Note : As one of our members, Artist Linda Leonard Hughes from Maine advised in our February 2008 issue, you will be wise to prepare a pot of your favourite brew before beginning so that you can sit back, relax and enjoy all of the exciting news as well as the latest adventures and offerings our members have shared.
I hope you will enjoy the excerpts from our Members' Newsletter. If you have a small business in Britain or America that you would like to see featured on our site and enjoy the full benefits of membership in our unique networking community, please send me an email and I will be delighted to make contact with you and answer all of your questions. Send your request to enquiries@countrysideconnection.com ~ I look forward to hearing from you, Heléne
Dear Visitors to Countryside Connection Village,
May was such an incredibly busy month for everyone – two long holiday weekends in Britain and Memorial Day Weekend in America where it was also Mother’s Day last month; children in Britain on half term and older students preparing for their crucial exams. The weather has been varied, with almost all members experiencing extremes of wind and rain as well as warm sunshine. Unfortunately for many, the balance of rain filled days and those which brought the return of sunshine and warmth was not as one would desire but it certainly has not kept members from their joys in gardening and for many, caring for newborn animals. As June is often very unpredictable in New England and Britain, with weather extremes ranging from a weekend enjoyed sitting outside with a cold drink to help with the heat only to be followed by the next one huddled in front of a warm fire, it is difficult to plan for events and activities. In an email received in May from member farmer Sara Ridsdale, they were enjoying their new woodstove and in another from Dottie Musser of Bradford Place Inn in Sonora, in Northern California, they were very grateful for their wonderful eco-friendly private climate control system for each room as they were having temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. You will find lots more about Bradford Place Inn later in this month’s newsletter.
Many people in America without children in tow travel in early June before summer holidays begin in the middle of the month. As the children in Britain are still in school until mid-July the pattern here is quite different. However after last year’s incredibly wet summer when so many events throughout the country had to be cancelled, this year we are ‘assured’ we should prepare for ‘a long, hot summer’. This encouraging weather news has been repeatedly heard in between the unfolding events of political scandals and ongoing economic concerns so I was quite fascinated by the honesty shown in the brochure we received through our letterbox on Saturday regarding this year’s annual local show in our village on August 22nd. The letter from this year’s Show President for The 105th Gargrave Show focused on the devastation everyone felt when the 2008 event had to be cancelled because with the lengthy periods of intense rain throughout the early summer months it was impossible to use the sodden fields. The closing paragraph made it clear that I am not the only one with a ‘wait and see’ attitude about the coming summer weather “I can promise you there will be a Gargrave Show this year as we are working on a contingency plan and I really do want to see you all on 22nd August”.
Hope this is the start of a wonderfully warm and dry summer for one and all!
And now, on to the news shared by our members . . .
I have also missed my own personal deadline and am writing this month’s issue later than usual so I laughed aloud at the start of one of this month’s emails from Artist Penny Lindop www.pennylindop.com and blog : http://cardartnorfolk.blogspot.com and then wrote back with appreciation and explanation:
Dear Heléne
I don't have a lot of news this month, and I've missed your deadline anyway, but this is what's happening in my world at the moment:
Both girls are on study leave now preparing for the exams which continue with a vengeance next week. I'm planning to visit some of my customers on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast this week as I have some new designs which I hope they might like - beach huts mainly. But typically, now that it's school half term, it's raining in East Anglia . A lot of the shops I've been talking too are feeling the pinch at the moment, with a lot of stock on the shelves, but I'm getting a very positive reaction and think that orders will come in gradually over the summer - maybe not as many, and not as big, but that's ok. As long as they all still like what I do, I'm happy!
One thing I am noticing is how many phone calls I'm getting from the advertising world, and how their rates are dropping. I think that must be a very difficult industry to be in right now.
I'm making good progress on my new work, a set of 8 postcards, which I'm planning to launch at the Harrogate Home and Gift trade fair in July - the photography is done, which is a great step forward. I'm pleased with the photographer's work, so I hope it will look good once printed. With luck the postcards will be ready to trial at the Royal Norfolk Show at the beginning of July.
Meanwhile I have a stand at a local nursery next weekend - they are holding an open day when we can view their amazing fields of irises. They supply their plants to one of the Chelsea Flower show gardens and I think it will be a good event. I'm looking forward to it and hope for good weather. As well as displaying some of my work, I shall be trying to sell some crocheted flower brooches that I've been making - one of the many fund-raising efforts to get Nicola and her 9 other students to Sri Lanka in October. They are going there to visit the primary school that they are twinned with, and will do some work within the school. For Nicola it's also part of her Duke of Edinburgh gold award. This is all very exciting for my mother - her father worked in Ceylon in the 1940's and 50's, she lived out there for a while when she left school, and then she took my brother and I out there for a year when we were tiny (I don't really remember much), so it's great that Nicola will be going too.
I shall look forward to hearing how Morgan and Nicola get on with their email correspondence - I think they may have quite a bit in common, so that will be a lovely Connection that you have made - thank you, Helene
Take good care, and I really hope we can meet up in the summer
Penny
The Tale of Bradford Place Inn – the first of two parts:
Member Dottie Musser, Owner of the enchanting Bradford Place Inn and Gardens in Sonora , California is a natural storyteller. Her emails are filled with descriptive phrases that enable the reader to visualize exactly what has been shared. From her first email asking about becoming a member and my initial visit to her website www.bradfordplaceinn.com, I knew that she was one of those special innkeepers who keep visitors returning again and again, as much for her company and personal attention as for the wonderful environment she has created in an inn that is reminiscent of the finest small boutique hotels found in towns and cities around the world.
As with many members I have yet to meet in person, through our email exchanges we have come to think of one another as old friends and have shared personal tales and experiences. As you all are aware, I never pass along personal details without the assurance that they are meant for all members and visitors to our site before including them in the newsletter. In the past month, in a series of emails, often received on a daily basis, Dottie has shared some very personal news and recent events that have been both heartbreaking and yet poignantly uplifting at the same time. They were, she confirmed, meant to be shared as and when I chose to do so.
In this month’s issue, we have agreed to introduce her story prior to the full feature which will appear in an upcoming issue of our newsletter. As you will read, Dottie will soon be re-listing Bradford Place for sale. Once the new arrangements with the real estate agent are in place, we will share the full exciting details. Dottie has explored selling her beloved Bradford Place Inn for the past ten years. However, due to recent health scares – ‘no, innkeeping does not necessarily make a person ill’ - and the realities of her love for John and the married life they long to finally share, she is now preparing to sell in earnest. Here, in Dottie’s own words, are some of the reasons why the opportunity for someone to become the new owner of Bradford Place Inn and Gardens has finally arrived.
Hello Helene ~
Thought I’d check in with you! Business is flourishing in March, April and May this year. About Bradford Place , actually it has not been listed for sale since 11/30/08 . I think you knew that already. However, I will be listing it again with a B&B broker/realtor very soon. And I will be offering “seller financing to qualified buyer.”
I will be 60 my next birthday – its hard to believe. I am having more and more difficulty keeping up with the guests, the laundry, and everything else. John is a huge helper and we are doing much better – he and I as a team – than when it was just me and my 3-hour-a-day housekeeper who was afraid to run the washing machine, the clothes dryer and the dish washer at the same time, even after having worked here for 7 years! I had to let her go the end of 2008.
The other morning (May 1 to be exact) at 1:30 in the morning, I drove my self to the hospital because I could barely breathe due to asthma. And certainly, I could not speak. I gave my driver’s license and medical insurance card to the receptionist and mouthed the word “asthma.” Almost instantly there was a wheel chair for me and they went to work on me immediately. After almost two hours, my blood pressure had come down to 146 over 120 and it was normal before they released me at 3:38 in the morning. I was cooking in the kitchen by 5:30 as I had 3 business women needing breakfasts at 6:30 (nurses doing training at the hospital I had just been to). I’ve never before been treated for asthma but it seems it had been creeping up on me – for a variety of reasons. The attending physician in the Emergency Department told me that had I not gotten to the hospital when I did, I was on my way to having a stroke or a heart attack. I knew I was feeling way beyond having “just asthma.”
Well, I’d better start laundry! Three rooms check out today and two rooms check in! By the way, one of my corporate clients just called – AGAIN – booking more rooms. It is our local hospital and one of the recruiters said that they are doing a tremendous amount of hiring in Sonora . And Bradford Place takes care of the lodging for the hospital – it is wonderful business relationship of over 8 years!
I met briefly with the City Planner at the City of Sonora last week. His name is Ed Wyllie. He cannot do enough it seems, to be of help to any future new owner of Bradford Place who wishes to keep the business operating as a bed and breakfast. The location of Sonora to the major metropolitan areas of San Jose/Silicon Valley, San Francisco , and the entire Sacramento Valley could not be better – Sonora is two to three hours from over 5 million people. Then, you have the location of Bradford Place within the very cute historic downtown area of Sonora , just one, two or three minutes to cool dining, trendy boutiques and fun antique shops lined up one side and down the other of Sonora ’s main street which is called Washington Street .
The main reasons I must sell are: John and I want to marry and I don’t want to have a fatal heart attack before we say “I do!” I can barely keep up with the pace of this inn. Which leads to the question as to why this 4 room inn is operating at such a fast pace, when other B&Bs have fewer guests than I have, and one neighboring B&B in Sonora has hardly any guests whatsoever!
Sonora is a town that is ‘lodging challenged,’ meaning there are no real hotels in Sonora . None! Zippo! Okay, there are some budget to moderate priced motels, but that is the sum total. There is no lodging property within 50 miles where you may sleep and have breakfast delivered to your room at the time you choose except Bradford Place . There is no B&B that offers a breakfast menu Bradford Place . There is no B&B that offers late night self-check in Bradford Place . There is no B&B that is set up to permit eating in the guest rooms Bradford Place . There is no B&B that has a direct dial telephone in each guest room for guests whose cell phone might not be working, or possibly has no reception, or perhaps are international guests whose cell phone does not work in the USA , you guessed it, Bradford Place . There might be one or two B&B small hotels in the area that have a TV in each guest room. The TVs at Bradford Place are flat panel and each is also a DVD . We also have an MP3 player/CD clock radio in each guest room. I replaced all of the box TVs in January with flat panel TVs in order to keep up with the times, and “the new look.”
I am at the point (now that all bathrooms are remodeled and the new carpeting is installed) where I can ramp up the occupancy. But my health is going to deteriorate quickly if I do so. John and I are working the inn very well together, but we have no time to get married. He does not sleep at the inn. I do. He has a house 25 minutes west of Sonora , except yesterday it was more like 2 hours because of the holiday traffic leaving Yosemite National Park! The California Highway Patrol were directing traffic to keep things moving.
When I sell the inn, I will be living less than 30 minutes from Sonora and Bradford Place . Because I will be financing the inn, if the new owners wish to utilize my experience, expertise and knowledge of the visitor market and demographics, I will be very close. If they wish me to innsit from time to time so they can take a few days vacation, a week or two or what have you – maybe they might need to go back to the UK to visit friends or relatives or to check on “things” for a few weeks, or perhaps they would need someone responsible to take the inn one day each week, I think that could possibly be arranged with me. But all of those details can be discussed later.
What I need to do is to SLOW DOWN and take a few steps away from the inn. John and I want to get married and to start a life together.
The Tale of Bradford Place Inn will continue in the next month or two , just as soon as all of the specifics for the sale are in place and a current formal real estate appraisal has been obtained. Until then, I would seriously encourage everyone to visit Dottie’s website www.bradfordplaceinn.com and ask that you please help to ‘spread the word’ to anyone you know who might be interested in this exceptional opportunity. Here are just a few of the wonderful images to help you to see what the excitement is all about: By the way, Dottie was invited to be one of five consultants to help write the latest book on innkeeping. The author is Mary White, founding president of www.bnbfinder.com. Just released in April, 2009 the book is titled “Running A Bed and Breakfast for Dummies” and it is available at www.amazon.com
The welcoming front porch:
The Bradford Suite Bed with demi-canopy:
I am so grateful that my request for newsletter contributions by the 20th was noticed by so many and my apologies for running late this month. Again, I was reminded in the preface to one of several emails from Jackie Miller who departed with the Book Bus Group for Zambia on Friday, the 22nd of May. I checked and left a note on her blog (26th of May) but no new entries since the 30th of April. As you will read, she is hoping to have access at the hostel where they are staying. (*It is now the 1st of June and I have again checked Jackie’s blog only to find that the 30th of April entry is the last one. As she has yet to respond to my email, I am assuming that internet access has not worked out)
Received on 4th of May:
Heléne
I’m probably far too late to be included on list for my blog for Zambia but just in case its: http://jmillerstale.wordpress.com/ perhaps I can have an add on before I go at the end of May it would be good to keep in touch with my friends at countryside connection. I will send something for June’s newsletter before I go. Hope you are enjoying the better weather hopefully we will be able to meet in the flesh on my return from Zambia. Kindest Regards Jackie
Received on 18th of May:
Heléne
I take off for Zambia on Friday so would like to say ‘au revoir’ to everybody at countryside connection before I go. Just how I’m going to get all the wonderful stories and gifts for the Zambian children into my ruck-sack and have any room at all for personal essentials, like a tooth brush and a few pairs of knickers, I have no idea. Perhaps I can transform myself into the witch in Julia Donaldson’s splendid book Room on the Broom it would certain save on the air-fare not to mention reducing my carbon footprints. Heléne if you have time please e-mail me with your favourite story and I will tell it to the children with love from you. I will e-mail you from the internet cafe at the Jolly Boys Hostel in Livingstone when I get there and hopefully will be able to make contact via my blog .
Kindest Regards and best wishes as ever Jackie xx
Received on 22nd day of departure
Dear All
Thanks for the lovely Bon Voyage card (I sent a card from all of us to Jackie wishing her well). I have in my heart all your good wishes and will certainly be reading Heléne’s favourite Dr Seuss “Oh! The Places You’ll Go!" to the children.
Please keep in touch via e-mail: millerj1374@yahoo.co.uk or on my blog: http://jmillerstale.wordpress.com/ I’ll be picking up my messages from the internet cafe at The Jolly Boys Hostel in Livingstone, hope it lives up to its name. At the very least I’m sure there will be a tale to two to tell on my return.
Kindest Regards Jackie
Jackie had written to remind me that she was still waiting for me to settle upon a favourite contribution for her readings. As I wrote to her “One of the first books Morgan and I thought of (we collaborated on this) was Dr. Suess's brilliant book 'Oh! The Places You'll Go!’ It is such an uplifting and life affirming message.
The author, Theodore Geisel (Dr Suess) lived near my family home in Southern California and our local bookshops always had a special section featuring his work. Almost all American children as well as many others around the world grow up reading his books and listening to them at home and at school. As an adult, for my birthday one year I was given a copy of his ‘Happy Birthday To You’ by a fellow graduate student. His messages are always quite profound and as meaningful for the adult as for the child – they truly are for everyone and this particular one is one of the most common readings given at graduations and other important events celebrating rites of passage. I personally would love to see it prominently placed in every home with young children as it reminds us that through good times and bad our personal attitude and approach to life is crucial to how we live and thrive – there may be loneliness, slumps, bumps and frights but if you have brains in your head and feet in your shoes you can go anywhere and do anything. Dr Suess’s reminder for people of all ages:
Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
by the incomparable Dr. Seuss
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
You’ll look up and down streets. Look’em over with care. About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.
And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.
Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.
You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed. You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.
I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.
You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.
You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.
And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?
And if you go in, should you turn left or right…or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place …for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.
No! That’s not for you!
Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!
Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.
Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t.
I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.
All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.
And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.
But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.
You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)
Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So . . . get on your way!
Another member, Carla Boulton, has been inspired and joined the rest of you twitters:
Yoo hoo!
Well I thought the time had come to sign up to Twitter and use it properly. The deed is done, read about my first week of Tweeting.
Find this and my previous posts about Google Streetview and life as a graphic designer and artist . . . on my blog at:
http://naughty-mutt.blogspot.com
Hope you enjoy the read - all comments welcome on the blog or by e-mither.
Please let me know if you don't want to receive my occasional emails and please do forward on to anyone.
Onwards and artwards
Carla
- -
www.carlaboulton.co.uk
www.naughtymutt.com
Artist Member Linda Leonard Hughes www.lindaleonardhughes.com sent along a beautiful new painting as a reminder of the joys of this season’s gardens and landscapes. As I have just added some new, but still small begonia plants to our garden, I am now very impatient for them to grow!
In this month’s contribution Jinsy Robinson, of Penyrallt Farmwww.penyrallt.co.uk sums up as beautifully as ever life as we leave one month behind and enjoy the delights of the next. Here in most of England and Wales, the final days of May and early June brought much longed for sunshine and warmth after a great deal of wet and gloomy weather. Sadly I know that many parts of America where our members reside had the reverse happen and after days, sometimes weeks, spent out in the sunshine, they were having very wet and damp weather. We all have to enjoy the pleasures of nature as they come and remember that without the rain none of us would enjoy the breathtaking countryside we often take for granted. How wonderful that these children were given the chance to spend such a joyous and life-enhancing day at Penyrallt. I am sure the memories and experiences provided by David and Jinsy will remain with them and inspire them to new adventures and explorations.
Dear Heléne,
With the glorious weather outside I am sitting in my office at the computer composing my latest missive to you...my conscience has got the better of me, so my sunshine fix will just have to wait.
That said, my menfolk have been very busy making the most of the wonderful sunshine for the last couple of days with the silage harvest. The weather is perfect and the grass is ready so we are full steam ahead and a fortnight earlier than usual. While they are busy rushing around on tractors with mowers & wagons I spend a lot of time making sandwiches and cake and filling flasks with tea or making jugs of fresh lemonade.
Silage making means long hours and the constant drone of machinery though the end result of a full pit and the knowledge of enough fodder for the winter is very satisfying.
A couple of weeks ago we had another school visit from a primary school in Carmarthen . We had about 90 children over two days and the best visits we have yet undertaken.
Most of the children came from very deprived backgrounds and had no connection with the countryside whatsoever; the joy of small boys just being allowed to run through a field of long grass, throwing themselves down in it and revelling in the freedom was wonderful.
A couple of days before the visit David had found a hedgehog in one of the polytunnels so had kept it in a large cage so the children could see a real live hedgehog...they were fascinated by it. To see such a creature at close quarters is so rare.
In one of our ponds there is a large quantity of clay so David had all the children digging out handfuls of clay to take back to school to make pots. He also showed them how to make a plaster-of-Paris cast of a cows hoof print which was duly taken back to school.
We had a lovely couple of days with these children and felt that we had really given them some memories that they will value. I hope so anyway.
Well, the silage is all in now and with the weather being so great I think we are all off down to the beach with a picnic supper!
Hope you are enjoying the sunshine too.
All best wishes,
Jinsy
Browsing through the net this month, here are just some of the fascinating things I have found on members sites, blogs, etc. . .
Karen and Mark Rogers of Rokeby Guest House www.rokebyguesthouse.co.ukin the ancient cathedral city of Salisbury in Wiltshire have a beautiful new website. Why not have a look and make sure you recommend them to anyone you know who is planning a visit to that historic part of England . They are close to Salisbury Cathedral, Bath , Winchester , Stonehenge and so many other wonderful attractions. Visitors rave about the accommodations and the warmth of their hosts; the images on their site will show you why they are so enchanted by this wonderful Edwardian home.
On www.countrygategardens.co.uk Cally Smart wrote about ‘Be Nice To Nettles Week’ and provided a recipe for making your own Nettle Beer. Later in the month, she wrote about a recent visit to Lacock Abbey (home of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films) and shared ten favourite herbs with simple and creative ideas for using them.
Paul & Carol Mitchell proprietors of The Wheatsheaf in Wensleydale in Yorkshire www.wheatsheafinwensleydale.co.uk have a page called ‘Our Secrets’. Read about some of the famous guests from years gone by who have stayed in this historic inn. A definite recommendation for visitors to the north of England – the perfect base with excellent rooms designed for ultimate comfort and food and drink to entice the most discerning guests and locals.
Artist Penny Lindop www.pennylindop.com will be returning to The Royal Norfolk Show on the 1st and 2nd of July this year. If this is within a reasonable distance from your home or holiday destination, why not enjoy a day out at The Norfolk Showground? If you do, be certain to stop and talk to Penny!
Wendy Blair of Rose Hill B&B has an Events Calendar on www.bandbrosehill.com that confirms June is one of the months when a visit to Roanoke , Virginia proves this is a city that offers something to please and enchant everyone. Visitors to this very special B&B have the option of attending a Wine Festival, Horse Show, Theatre, The Symphony and Music in the Park – just to name a few of the events being held this month.
Why not tour some of America ’s historic south and also stop for a visit with Fred and Carol Halton at The Bridle Path Inn in Asheville , North Carolina www.bridlepathinn.com ? See why Atlanta Magazine wrote “Renting a room at The Bridle Path Inn is like going to visit friends who just happen to live in a mansion.” While you are there, enjoy a round of golf, climb the Appalachian Trail or simply relax on the verandah and enjoy the views.
A visit to farmer Sara Ridsdale’s twitter site http://twitter.com/farmingfriends was an incredible reminder of how often we tend to overlook the implications that the letters www. we are all so familiar with using as a preface REALLY do imply WORLD Wide Web. On one page alone, she had exchanges and offers from her home county of Yorkshire as well as Thailand and suggestions for guinea fowl eggs “ You need to register to send livestock/hatching eggs to France & get a certificate & have vet check” .
The month of June finds members Debbie Bamford ‘The Mulberry Dyer’ and John Stoker at one event on the 6th in Coventry for Ravelry Day – workshops and market and another on 26th and 27th in Cockermouth Cumbria – for the ‘Woolfest’. A visit to their Event Calendar Page on their site www.mulberrydyer.co.uk will help you to find them throughout the year. It is no wonder they have had such difficulty in finding time to locate the new home they need!
A recent visit to Chuck and Martha Nighswonger’s Florida Night Swan website reminded me how beautiful music enhances everything I am doing. Visit www.nightswan.com and sit back and relax as you view their incredible surroundings. What a blissful place to visit and as it is on the market, it is also a place that you can dream or consider owning and calling home. A look at the category Things To Do shows an extraordinary range of nearby attractions (as if the location itself wasn’t enough) – A National Wildlife Refuge, Gardens, Parks and Lighthouses.
Summertime thoughts . . . The new 160’ Intracoastal Waterway Dock at Night Swan
With the sun shining in the windows and the garden calling, I will close this month on a ‘playful’ note. On Morgan Leichter-Saxby’s blog: http://playeverything.wordpress.com/ you will discover the May 26th entry entitled “Adults and Dens” about her recent visit to Evergreen Adventure Playgrounds where she delivered a conference workshop on den-building. “. . . at Evergreen there is already a thriving children’s culture of den-building in which children of all ages and abilities scavenge materials across the site and build places of their own in its forgotten shady corners.
In the workshop I shared some images of these dens, asking the playworkers there to challenge their expectations of children’s building and to see the signs all around them of children’s dens. Then I sent them outside to scrounge materials and build their own, either in groups or alone.”
The images of some of the final creations are so enticing, I found it very difficult to select just one to share with you and urge you to visit the website and enjoy them all. Morgan’s closing line on that entry sums it up perfectly:
“There’s no other way to really understand the power of play to transform a table into a wall, a punctured sheet into a skylight, or a scrap of playground into a home that’s exactly right for you.” It makes you smile to see the look of pure joy on the face of one playworker as she sits on the hammock she has created within her den.
The playworkers who created the den below, “refused to come back in when the session was over, but instead grabbed more cups of coffee, biscuits and bits of string before heading back out, giggling.”
Hoping that June is filled with lots of play and giggling for one and all. Warmest thoughts always, Heléne