The "18thc. tea-arbor stone-top table" project~

When we designed and built the large twig arbor out front next to our stream a couple years ago, we did so thinking how nice it would be to sit under it with it's cooling green canopy of wisteria, and have a period style tea party in 18thc. clothing.
Yesterday we built a charming table under the arbor. We just love it, and feel it is perfect in every way for just that purpose, as well as looking wonderful in the arbor.
I told you in a post about a year ago about the 2 weathered, 'freebie' ladder back chairs we got from a neighbor, and in another past post, about the great thick stone slab we picked up for a song, and thought would make a great outdoor table top.

(*There are past posts about building our arbors, and the 'freebie' chairs.)

Yesterday we tramped up the hill into the woods and cut sections from a large downed tree that was in fine shape, already stripped of bark, and with no rot. We used 2 lengths as thick table legs, braced by an X shape of narrower tree trunks on each side. It looks like the arbor, and is stunning if we do say so.
We hefted the stone slab on top of this base, and finished off our "18thc. tea arbor" with the 2 salvaged chairs drawn up to the table, just waiting for us to have tea and treats there in period dress some Sunday afternoon!
We spent nothing, and it only took us about an hour to create the table you see here~

We'll have photos of ourselves in 18thc. finery having tea in our arbor later this summer~

Here is one of our own 'tea menus'. We love to have high tea in the summer in 18thc. clothing at various parks or historic sites. I make all our food from scratch~

We designed and built this arbor, and all our arbors and wattle fences with materials from our own property, and for NO money. You can read much more about them in past posts on this blog~

 The free chairs were a great find. Our neighbors had these chairs sitting in their driveway last summer. We asked if they were for sale and they said "Take 'em!"

Coming from the backyard to the arbor~

This arbor is right next to our brook. the little bridge crosses the stream~

Take a tour of our 18thc. house and see all of our period yard and garden photos HERE~

Sunshine, yard work, dogs with angel wings and 'ballet shoe' barrettes, and a contra dance tonight!

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, and the yard looks green and amazing. Adam mowed the lawn for the first time this spring on Thursday night, before we had his yummy birthday dinner. I didn't taste my homemade S'mores Ice Cream Cake, but it sure was a hit with him.

I took the dogs for a long walk yesterday, and stopped in at town hall and the library on my route. Call us silly, but yes, our dogs have a few outfits, and when we go 'out', we normally put them in a cute sweater, dog tee, or dress, with bows in their hair to match. Yesterday I spur-of-the-moment put them in their 'angel wings' harnesses and had the cutest hot pink ballet slipper barrettes in their hair. Everyone at the town hall and the library had to oooh and ahhh over them before we could get back to the "walkie".
When I got home I leashed them to the well sweep in the front yard so they could watch me weed the front gardens and walks. It was cool and sunny, and the time went by fast as I picked weeds and scooped debris into the wheelbarrow.
Summer is all too short, and even working outside is a joy because the sun feels so good, and the yard is looking so pretty. Red and white tulips are just making their appearance, and the lavender phlox is about to burst into bloom. All the native wild flowers and grasses I dug up along stone-wall-bordered roadsides last summer and transplanted across the front of my old house are up, and looking healthy.
We got out our bright red tandem out to clean it and air up the tires, and got the 'BOOYAH' bike cart down from the attic. This is the cutest cart that attaches to the back of our bicycle-built-for-two, for our dogs to ride with us!
They love it.

I snapped a few photos of the yorkie girls as I was doing the yard clean up yesterday.

"I need some sunglasses, ma"~

A couple years ago in a post I told you the story of our neighbors who lost their c. 1810 home to a tragic fire one November day. This house was just a few doors down from us and across the road. I told how they ended up buying the old house that came up for sale right next door to them---and directly across the street from us.
A house salvage contractor, Bob, ended up tearing down the old charred ruins of their former house for parts that could be saved. For a couple years now, the old granite stone foundation has been the only thing still left, resting quietly among tall grass and buzzing bees.
(We have 2 massive beams that were salvaged from this house, and given to us by Bob-the-contractor, and they now grace the ceiling in our "little sitting room"! I told you this story in a past post too).

The other day our neighbors put a large hand painted sign up on the lot. they have decided to turn it into a neighborhood community garden, and are having a big clean up today! Everyone is invited to come with hoes and rakes, clippers, tillers, wheelbarrows, or whatever they have. The land around the old foundation will be cleared of the grass and weeds and leftover debris, and raised beds will be built. This will all be done by donation or labor provided by us---those in the little 'historic area' of our village. All manner of vegetable seeds will soon be planted, and everyone can help tend them.
What a great idea for our neighborhood, and for using the land that was just sitting there with an old cellar hole on it.
Adam is working at job #2, LL Bean, today, but I plan to walk down the road with my wheelbarrow and rakes, etc., later for a bit.

Tonight there is a pot luck supper and old time New England contra dance at Tin Mountain. Our friend and dance 'caller' extraordinaire, Byron Ricker will be calling the dance, to old dance tunes played live on fiddles, dulcimers, and more.
We plan to go, and are really looking forward to it. I was quite the contra dancer, dancing sometimes 3 times a week when I was single. We haven't been to many of late, and are looking forward to tonight, and to getting back into the 'New England dancing groove'.

Tonight there is a New England country dance. Many old friends are musicians at the contra dances~

We had a period 'contra dance' reception at our 18thc. wedding. Byron Ricker called the dances for our wedding, and he'll be calling this evening. One dance we did was the 'Virginia Reel'. We had about 50 people doing it, and it lasted 45 minutes!

Contra dancing at our wedding in 2007~

Adam and I were thrilled to have gotten scholarships to Pinewoods Dance Camp in Plymouth, Mass. for a weekend in 2006.

...We had the best time!

Birthday plans~

Thursday is Adam's birthday~

"We love ya, daddy"!

Mother's Day night ended with an awful experience. Adam started to throw up repeatedly and was doubled over in pain at 10 PM. He suspected a kidney stone, but things only got worse, and he couldn't go to the bathroom. I drove him to the hospital at midnight where he was seen and quickly put on an IV of fluids and several drugs. He was in bad shape. Hours later they were finally able to get the pain and nausea under control and said I could take him home. He was shaking uncontrollably as he walked to the car, but was able to sleep during the 20 min. drive home. He did indeed have a large stone. We were up all night, not arriving home until almost 4AM. We fell into exhausted sleep. I was able to get a few hours, but he felt so terrible he slept all day yesterday. Really scary and stressful experience.
The stone is not out yet, but hopefully close, and he went to work today. He's not feeling very well, so we'll have to play the birthday plans by ear...

I feel pretty tired, but I did a work out this morning at 6:30, and now I'm doing a little 'special cooking' for Adam's birthday.
I am making a new recipe---'S'Mores Ice Cream Cake', all from 'scratch'. I don't eat sugar, etc., but I know Adam will love this little treat. It has to be frozen for a few days, so I'm putting it all together this morning.

I am making a favorite of ours for his birthday dinner on Thursday. I shared the recipe with you a few years ago in THIS POST. The weather is supposed to be lovely this Thursday, so we can BBQ the steak for the salad, and maybe take a bike ride with the dogs after dinner.

This photo was taken last summer in our taproom when I made 'Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad with Grilled Beef'---What I am planning for this Thursday~
Happy Birthday Adam!

If Adam is feeling better and up to celebrating, maybe we'll eat with candles lit out in our taproom. We have a little Shiraz left for a birthday toast with dinner.

I saw a movie about 8 years ago that was a British-made film and it was really charming. Doing all the gardening on Sunday made me think of it and I mentioned it to Adam. He said he'd never seen it. I couldn't remember the name but I remembered that it was this really cute movie about these prisoners in a jail in England who began gardening to bring some meaning into their lives, and ended up participating in a prestigious Brit garden show.
I did a little research online and easily found it---It's called 'Greenfingers'.

No money again this year, but I thought maybe I could find the dvd secondhand online and get it for Adam's birthday present. Amazon had it, but too pricey. I found a used but perfect copy elsewhere for only a few dollars, and it should be here in time for me to wrap up and put by his dinner plate Thursday evening~

'Movie night' at the Spencer's for Adam's birthday!

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme---lavender, bee balm, blue flax, sweet annie...and the Saturday morning Tamworth Farmer's Market~

UPDATE~On Thursday May 16th we made the cover of the 'Mountain Ear'~ Our yorkies ("the ambassadors of peace and good will") in their pouches always attract a lot of attention, and a photographer took our picture at the Tamworth Farmer's Market!

It's Mother's Day, and after a rainy start, it's sunny, warm, and gorgeous as only spring in New England can be. Peepers are peeping, and I can hear my neighbor's cows mooing.

This is one of those spring weekends we love. We finally got much needed rain at the end of last week and on Saturday, and in just a few hours the grass was green, the myrtle was a blue flowering carpet on the hill out back, and the trees popped with new, bright green leaves.
Saturday morning was cool and a little drizzly, but that didn't stop us from going to the Tamworth Farmer's Market. We dressed the yorkie girls in bright yellow daisy printed dresses and hairbows, and put them into their front packs. We took our canvas tote, and had a great time at the market chatting with all the vendors from local farms, and buying a few treats---homemade barley bread from Sunnyfield and some heart shaped homemade dog biscuits.

A reporter from a local paper, the Mountain Ear,  approached us at the farmers market, drawn, he said by our 'cute dogs'. This happens alot, and Adam always refers to them as the "ambassador's of peace and goodwill"! He asked if he could photograph us, and put us in an article for the paper on Thursday.

We stopped off at home, dropped off our goodies, and changed into sweats and wellies---And it was off to our favorite nursery out in the country. Every Mom's Day weekend for years and years I have gotten my seeds and plants for the garden, and planted them. We had the dogs in their pouches and I had a list of what we needed. Adam pulled the wagon.
We both combed the greenhouses and meandering outdoor paths lined with pots and flats of herbs, flowers, and veggies of all kinds. We found what we wanted and piled them onto a garden wagon. Tomatoes and cabbage for the raised beds, along with some bee balm, blue flax, lavender, and a few other things to join the mint, sweet annie, and other herbs we already had in the other raised bed.

Adam and Deladis at Spiderweb Gardens with our wagon full of plants~

The herb garden, enclosed with the wattle fence, gate, and twig arbor we built last year already had many herbs from past years that were starting to come up, but we added some that need to be replaced each spring. We got little pots of basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme,  tarragon, and dill to keep company with the lady's mantle, indigo, chives, sweet annie, sage, and many other herbs already there.

Today turned warm and sunny before noon, and I spent a very happy 2 hours planting pea and bean seeds, squash seeds in the 'grapevine'-arbor garden, and all my herbs and veggies in the raised beds and the herb garden. I took all these photos today, because everything looked so green and pretty!

One of our gardens, Mother's Day morning, 2013~

I planted both our raised beds this morning~

This is my favorite time of year~

The view from my kitchen window today~

This garden may look small from this angle but it is actually well over 15 by 20 feet. We made all the wattle fences, gates, and arbors ourselves.

The old granite bench in the garden~

Adam had to work at job# 2 today, but for a special treat he brought home an on sale bottle of Shiraz. I have a homemade 'Spring Vegetable Pie' in the oven for our dinner. It's a wonderful concoction of roasted fresh asparagus, red pepper, and onion in a pie crust with low fat ricotta cheese and a little egg and milk, and a few bits of fresh chopped tarragon from our herb garden. The whole thing is topped off with slices of fresh tomato.

Mmmm...well, it's about ready, so I want to wish every mom and grammy out there a very happy Mother's Day!

My veggie pie just came out of the oven and I snapped this picture~