Random Bits

The Captain has Thursdays off, and we often spend the day wandering around , checking out new places or revisiting old favorites.   Combine the wandering with a few real errands, and we can check something off the to-do list and feel productive!

 First stop - Applecrest Farm Orchards .  They recently built a new building for their farm store,  gussied up considerably from the old one and have up -scaled the displays as well.  Love the fancy new slate signs.   Who could resist these gorgeous colors?

Note the price PER OUNCE of these fancy mushrooms - pricey but yummy.

Then we checked out a local brewery, Earth Eagle Brewings.   It's a small, friendly spot with a great lunch menu.  

I 'm not a big beer drinker, but when in a brewery, best not to ask for wine!  I had the 'Merican Revolution, intrigued by the addition of Early Grey Tea.   

The beer was good, but the sandwich was fantastic - applewood smoked bacon, date spread and Manchego cheese all melted into gooey goodness.   

Love this sign in a storefront:

And a funny tee:

And for a palate-cleanser from the idea of a Trump presidency, this peaceful scene on the way home:

Have a great long weekend!

Return Visit to the Adair Country Inn and Restaurant

Our house was so quiet after the kids all left.  I tend to get all sad and weepy at that point, so this year I booked a stay out of town to stave off the crazies.   We live near the ocean and decided that a trip to the mountains was just the change we needed,  and that meant staying at the Adair Country Inn located in Bethlehem, New Hampshire.    This was our second stay  - I blogged about the first here.  It's nice to explore new places, but it's also fun to return to favorite haunts.

Dorothy Adair Hogan

The house was a wedding gift (shh, don't tell the kids about this extravagant gifting!) to Dorothy Adair Hogan.   She and her husband were famous for entertaining high society - presidential hopefuls, actors, Supreme Court Justices - you know, your average dinner guest types!   The Adair remained Dorothy's residence until her death in 1991 and became an inn the following year.  

Mrs. Adair's hat collection decorates the upstairs landing and many of the rooms.  The landing library is pretty sweet, too.

The house is all that you'd expect from an old, well -loved and preserved estate.

The hosts, Barry and Kimberly Hunter are the perfect blend of friendly, helpful, funny and not intrusive.   We felt welcome from the minute we entered the door.

The restaurant at the Adair is outstanding.  We had dinner and breakfast there.  Dinner was superb - I had the most delicious mushroom ragout over crisp polenta squares and was too busy enjoying it to take pictures!   Breakfast is my favorite, though, because of these:

Early morning coffee on the deck is the perfect spot to enjoy the misty morning.

And the grounds - 400 acres of beautiful trails and gardens.

 I get to travel with the Most Interesting Man in the World.  He doesn't always sit in gardens,but when he does...

I'm not a fan of spiders, but I'm fascinated by their webs.  I caught this one decorated with all that morning mist.

The Captain, consulting the map of the grounds.  Silly me  - I thought we should just follow the big red arrow !

Love the little fern's shadow.

Crazy melt-down averted - mission accomplished.

Paris Trip Book - Finally

I can't believe our Paris trip was five years ago.   Or that making a book of that trip would take five years!     In going though my stash of journals and notebooks, I came across a notebook with pages, tags and embellishments that would work with my Paris pictures.

I needed more pages , so I raided my stash and found paper and stamps that worked with the pages in the notebook.  I already had a candelabra  and a harlequin stamp,  lots of vintage- looking and French-inspired papers.

My goal was to get this book put together with stuff I already have - no new supplies.   I've been following a group on Facebook called Shop Your Stash - it's all about using all the stuff we have instead of buying more.   Lots of FB groups are full of enablers - always enticing us that we need, NEED every new supply out there.   I don't need more stuff - I hardly have room for what I have.  It was fun to challenge myself to do this project with what I have.  In fact, it's a bit frightening that I can put together a book - covers, pages, embellishments just by rummaging around in my own "shop"!

I actually started this book while we were in Paris, so I have some small pages from that book, too.  I toyed with the idea of re-writing the journalling on to bigger pages, but left that crazy idea behind.  This is the first book I've made with different sized pages and I love the mixed-up look of it.   I had this flour de lis paper and stamp and repeated it throughout the book .   Talented Boston Daughter made the card announcing my birthday gift - tickets to Paris!

Another look at all those mis-matched pages.    It goes without saying that I'm not a scrap-booker.  While I love the perfectly planned and coordinated pages I've seen others do, it's just not my style.

The notebook pages also included several tags.   I attached this one with some washi tape so it can be flipped to read both sides.

I added some scrapbook paper to the edges of some of the small pages to avoid having to punch holes through the journalling I did in Paris.  Again, I repeated pieces of the same paper throughout the book to tie it all together.

I glued the envelope that came with the kit to the inside of the back cover to hold extra photos.

I used the covers from an old book to make covers for the new one..   First I cut the pages out , making a cut along the spine and then cut the covers off the spine.

Then drilled holes for the rings.    Turns out the covers were too thick to actually set the grommets, so I banged the little points flat and glued the grommets (front and back) to finish off the drill holes.  Thanks to DC son for the new craft knife- much nicer than my old cheap-o one and to Boston Daughter for some of the French-inspired ephemera.

   Next up,  Scotland!