A little creativity...

Above you can see a tiny art wall hanging I made for my friend's birthday which is this week. See those art supplies? Those are the rest of the gifts. For people like us, there is nothing better than tins of colored pencils, and art supplies. The little art wall hanging is a machine and hand quilted piece embellished with paper, embroidery and felt.

While I have been busy preparing for May...even changing the poetry at the top of the page...I was NOT paying attention to any weather reports. We turned the furnace down weeks ago since it has been strangely warm at times.

It was very cold in here when I got up this morning. I looked out and saw it was 30F on the thermometer. There is always a chance of frost even through May around here. Glad I resisted the urge to buy and set out plants too early. Such is spring in New England. As always,

enjoy the day!

A furnace in the woods...

As we were driving along a country road last weekend, we saw what we thought was a rather large fireplace in the woods.


It was actually Beckley Furnace with an historical past. At one time, this was a thriving industry. We could not help but wonder what life was like at the turn of the century if one worked at this furnace.

(click to see larger)

Built by John Adams Beckley, it was used for the manufacture of iron at the turn of the century. Luckily, it has been preserved. The grounds around it are quite wonderful and we will return there in the spring or summer to hike the trails.


There are so many hidden treasures that we come across that we are constantly amazed. Just when we think we have "seen it all" something wonderful will be revealed to us where we least expect it. True serendipity!

Tomorrow I am heading for the city. (That would be NYC.) It is the extreme opposite of this pastoral scene. But, you know what? There is hidden treasure everywhere in the city, too. I lived there when I was younger and was amazed how much I saw and found that other people didn't even notice.

The heat wave is over. It hit 70 degrees here yesterday. Tomorrow? Snow possible! Snow in the city, window shopping, bliss!

Enjoy the day...

and have a very happy weekend!