Carole’s Country Store Blog

We arrived in N.H. around 2 a.m. on a Saturday, pharm at a wonderful little B & B. We were all very tired and couldn’t wait to hit the sheets! First thing in the morning, Carole knocked at our door. “There’s a huge antique show going on in the field across the way”!! I jumped out of bed and got dressed as quickly as I could!! We had our breakfast and off we went. There was so much to see. We spent a couple of hours there and decided it was time to be off to our destination.

Our drive was beautiful. Back roads all the way, winding and bending along rivers and streams. When we finally arrived and pulled into the driveway, no one was home. We weren’t worried though. The owner, Lynn, told me they had a wedding on the day of our arrival, and if they were not home when we got there, we should just walk in and make ourselves at home! Can you believe that! We were total strangers to her. We had never met, ever! Carole and I walked up to the door and knocked anyway. No answer.We slowly opened the door and poked our heads inside. We called out,”Lynn”? Still no answer, so we signaled to Bill and Ted, and we all went inside. It was the weirded feeling being in someone’s house that you have never met, and they are not there. We looked around and wondered where we would find the murals. As we walked down the hallway, we turned the corner, and there they were!! Oh, my, they were wonderful!!! Here we were in a house where Rufus Porter once stayed! The real Rufus Porter, our inspiration!! We were looking at murals actually painted by him!! Standing where he stood! It was so thrilling to us. They were in such beautiful condition. There were more going up the stairway and down the hall into the bedrooms! Just amazing! This was an experience that I will never forget. I am so grateful to Bob and Lynn, for inviting us to see them. Oh, yes, we did finally meet them. They pulled into the driveway, not too long after we got there. They were such gracious people. We so enjoyed their interesting stories about the house, and the spirit that once lived there.

This is part of the mural I painted in my dining room in 1999.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will visit my antique store and website, where you will find over 243 beautiful photos to choose from for note cards and prints. Carole’s Country Store has LOTS of wonderful things, so please stop by and take a look. Take care and come back soon. I always have something to talk about!

There are three favorites things that I love to do, drugstore decorating in early 18th and 19th century style, antiquing and painting murals inspired by Rufus Porter. Rufus was an itinerent painter, a renaissance man, but remembered today for his beautiful murals, originals selling in the hundreds of thousand of dollars and are found on the walls of historic New England homes. A couple of summers ago, I was invited by a relative of one of my clients, to visit New Hampshire. My partner, and I had just finished painting a mural in the center hall and dining room, in a lovely home in Media, Pa. When the murals were complete, they had a big party, in celebration of their new home. One of their guests remarked that the murals reminded him of the ones painted in his brother’s house in New Hampshire. He went on to explain that his sister lives in a home built around 1830 and that it still had original RP murals on several of the walls of their home. He told his sister about the murals that we had painted and a couple weeks later, I got a phone call inviting us to come up for a visit to see them. We were SO EXCITED and just couldn’t wait to go!! Next week I will tell you more about that visit and show you photos of those original murals. In the meantime I hope you enjoy seeing these photos of a mural my partner and I painted for a client in Chester County, Pa.

I have been tagged by Lynda–thanks Lynda! I have been told to pick the book closest to me and turn to page 28. Write about what it says and “tag” two other of your favorite blogs and ask that they do the same. As I sit the book closest to me is one of my very favorites called The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden. Is anyone familiar with this beautiful book? Edith was a British writer and art teacher. She was born in 1871 anad died in 1920. She became famous following her publication of Nature Notes. She taught school in Solihull. While collecting flowers on the river bank, order she drowned in the Thames in 1920. How very sad. To read more about her, viagra here is a link. This lovely book takes you through all the months of the year with the lovliest water colored painting and sketches. I could look and read this book for hours. Page 28 brings me to the month of March, where there are poems by Wordswoth, Wm. Morris and Tennyson, they read:

It is the first mild day of March
Each minute sweeter than before
The redbreast sings from the tall larch
That stands beside our door.
WORDSWORTH.

Slayer of the winter, art thou here again?
O welcome, thou that bring’et the summer nigh!
the bitter wind makes not thy victory vain,
Nor will we mock thee for thy faint blue sky.
Welcome O March! Whose kindly days and dry
Make April ready for the throstle’s song.
Thou first redresser of the winter’s wrong!
WM. MORRIS.

“The roaring moon of daffodil and crocus.”
TENNYSON.

If you don’t have this book, do yourself a favor and get it. I have bought this for many friends, it’s just that kind of a book.

NOW I AM TAGGING 2 OTHER BLOGS THAT YOU WILL ENJOY:

Nancy

AND

OH MY GOSH! I AM GOING CRAZY TRYING TO GET THIS RIGHT! I know this is wrong, I am sorry, but right now I need a break. I am new at this and I have been working on this for almost 2 hours! I’ll be back and fix it later. Click on the name Nancy and the word “AND”.

Remember the trencher I talked about on May 16th? I kept thinking about it and wondered why I didn’t buy it. Have you ever done that? It wouldn’t be the first time for me, thumb and usually when I go back, cialis it’s gone, ambulance but this time it was there. It’s wonderful, and I think it looks great filled with rag balls. It also has a gray-green paint underneath, I didn’t notice that before. Afterwards, I decided to drive into Gap, Pa., it wasn’t that much further and I hadn’t been there for quite a while and I was excited to see if I would find some nice early antiques. I did! I bought some beautiful baskets, and this fabulous toleware bread box. The mortar is a very early piece. It didn’t have it’s pestle, but I like how it looks filled with the strawberry emeries. I’ll be putting them into my store this weekend. Please stop by, you never know what you might find there. Have a great weekend, and stay safe. Until next time. Almost forgot, yup, that’s a redware bowl. A nice early one.

HAVE A SAFE AND FUN HOLIDAY WEEKEND. PLEASE REMEMBER TO PRAY FOR OUR BRAVE SOLDIERS AND THEIR FAMILIES, THIS WEEKEND AND ALWAYS.

Do you love historical towns? If you do, rx you will love Old New Castle. It is a lovely quaint little town that sits along the Delaware river, mind and has a fascinating history. In a nutshell, shop it was established in the 1650′s, when the land was bought from the native americans by the Governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant. Trouble arose when it was discovered that the same land was already sold to Peter Minuet, representing the Swedish crown. In 1663 it became English territory and was given the name New Castle, but in 1674 it was recaptured by the Dutch and the history of this little town continued. If you are like me, and you love old houses and 17th and 18th c. antiques and collectables, you would love it here. I feel fortunate that it is only about fifteen minutes from where I live. Sometimes on a sunny afternoon, I’ll drive over to sit by the river and watch the ships go by. I love to walk along the cobblestone sidewalks, wondering what it was like for the people that lived here so long ago. I love looking in the storefront windows, and always take the time to go inside the antique shops. Today, as Bill and I walked down the center of town, we could hear the firing of the cannons down by the river’s edge, and we had the feeling that we were going back in history. I love looking at the architecture of these lovely homes and envy the people that live in them. As we walked the narrow streets, the sounds of the church bells rang and a young girl sat playing the flute. Each house we visited was charming, I especially love all the old built in cupboards and the gorgeous moldings and mantels. After touring about a dozen homes, we had seen enough, but before leaving, we walked through the old cemetary and read the names of the people that once lived there, all long gone, as though they, and their families had never existed. By now we were ready to head home. We enjoyed our day and we were glad we went. If you are ever in Delaware, be sure to stop by Old New Caste, you will love it there. Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you will come again.

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Oh, view I can’t wait until Saturday! Bill and I are going a ‘A Day in Old New Castle’. It’s a house and garden tour in Delaware’s oldest city, sovaldi where William Penn first set foot in North America in 1682. It is a close knit community of neighbors who take great pride in their historic homes and the tour is in it’s 83rd year, the nation’s longest running tour! I have been there many times and always look forward to going. Be sure to check back this weekend and I will have lots to show and tell about this beautiful and very charming little town. Happy day!

Well I guess you are wondering what these photos have to do with my day in Honey Brook. Remember I mentioned a couple of weeks ago we are rehabing my parents house in Honey Brook, buy viagra Pa.? Bill and I were on our way up there, no rx we usually go twice a week. On the way, we pass an antique shop on rt. 322 West, it’s called The Iron Gate. It’s a coop, and there is one dealer that usually has something that temps me. Today she had this bowl. It’s called a trencher it measures approximetly 25 in. length, so it’s a nice big size. It does, however, have a crack that runs through it and one end has a piece of tin nailed on to give stability. The bowl is actually very sturdy, and I love the tin patch, it really gives this bowl tons of charater, don’t you think? Now, here is my dilemma. I am thinking of buying it to sell in my country store, BUT I don’t know how my customers would feel about the crack. It doesn’t bother me because it does not take away from the strength of the bowl, and the tin patch adds so much character to the bowl. I think it’s just wonderful, and if I had a spot in my house to put it, I would buy it and keep it in a heart beat, but I already have two large bowls, so there definetly is no room for another. I love it! I want it! What should I do? Would you be interested in buying it, even though it has such a long crack? Tomorrow I am going back to Honey Brook to work on the house again. I’ll be passing by the shop and I know I will be thinking of that wonderful bowl! Please visit my site-http://www.carolescountry.com/ for lots of photos of antiques and a country store.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers. I want to share with you, case some photos of my mother, buy and my family. My mother is a very special person to me, there and I love her very much. She has given me so many wonderful memories from childhood, and many from when I became a mother. Always there for me when I had my own children. I feel so fortunate that I still have her today. Sadly, today, she suffers from dementia, and she is confused at times, but we can still talk about all the good times we have shared, and that is a blessing to me.This is one of my favorite photos, it was taken when I was 2, and she was 25.That was about 61 years ago, and today she is 89, and I am 63. Happy Mother’s Day mother! I love you!

Today I am a wife, mother and a grandmother. I have a husband, Bill, two children, a son Bill, a daughter, Melissa, and a granddaughter, Emily.

Did I mention that I have a wonderful husband!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THE MOTHERS!

I love bringing fresh flowers into the house from my garden. Lilac, buy cialis tulips and bleeding hearts are my favorites.

As I mentioned on May 5th, pills a very nice older man, hospital invited us into his lovely 18th century home, viagra in Smyrna, De. As we walked through the front door, we entered the center hall, and I felt that I had gone back in time. The first thing that caught my eye, were several 18th c. portraits, hanging on both sides of the hallway. Standing all in a row, along one long wall, were about 15 WONDERFUL Windsor chairs. I guessed he had a “thing” for chairs, but they looked wonderful, all lined up like soldiers standing at attention. On the opposite wall stood a magnificent grandfather clock. As we walked into the living room, there was a lovely damask Sheradon sofa, a Queen Anne tea table, and two damask wing chairs in front of a huge fireplace. These beautiful portraits hung above the mantle, so you can imagine how large it was. In one corner there was a Philadelphia Chippendale desk, signed and dated, 1804. Everywhere I looked were, samplers, Staffordshire plates, pitchers and three lovely statues, Faith, Hope and Charity. On each side of the fireplace were two Hepplewhite chests. He seemed very proud of them and told us they were made in Wilmington, De. in the early 1800′s. As we walked through an archway, flanked by two 4×9 ft. faux grained doors, we entered the dining room. There stood a huge 19th c. Hepplewhite dining table, complete with matching chairs, about 18 of them! As my husband, Bill and Mr. Ellis chatted about the house and it’s architecture, and I was taking pictures, suddenly a voice from upstairs called down, “John, who’s here?”, which he replied, “some visitors to our town.” She said, “oh, alright”. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be very thrilled if my husband invited total strangers into my home, but she really didn’t seem to mind. I did feel we had taken enough of his time, so we thanked him for his hospitality, and left. Later, this Summer, I would love to return to this little town. Who knows, maybe I’ll see him working on his yard again, and he’ll invite me in for another visit. Oh, I hope so! Happy day everyone. Come back soon.

I loved this painting. I have seen pictures in books of these kinds of paintings, but I have never seen one in person. These were very popular in the 1700′s, painted in memoreum of the death of a family member.

This is the Philadelphia signed Chippendale desk, c.1840