Archives
30/04:
Throughout Washington County New York and throughout southern Vermont are found some exceptional examples of "death heads" : carvings on headstones. Below is an examples of one of my favorite carvers, recognizeable by the "scroll" hair on the head, protruding eyes and the elaborative decorative elements that surround the angel. Examples of this sculptors work can be found in Arlington Vt, Burlington Vt, Hartford, Salem and Fort miller New York, and this one is in Argyle. Some have incredible floral elements, even more expansive than these, others have dainty little arms and hands, others buttons. There is a limited span of time that these were produced - 1790's through about 1805, when things seem to change over to the popular "willow" motif. Though there are beautiful examples of the willow none are as lovely as these Angels. The Angels were popular throughout colonial America, those in new england are often made from Marble (quarried in Vermont) or slate which withstands the elements extremely well. Sadly those in the south colonial headstones are often made of sandstone which deteriorates easily, and the acid rain is taking its toll on the marble headstones of New England and upstate New York, particularly if time has seen them tilt backwards - those facing the heavens are sadly being slowly desolved, if time finds them leaning towards the earth they are sheltered.
28/04:
An update. Last week we put an offer in on a house - a huge 1813 home that was once a stop on the underground railroad with ten acres - it turns out that someone else put the exact same offer in, and a bidding war was ready to begin. Well, it would have been a bidding war if we had wanted it badly enough. However, oil prices going up and the thoughts of heating a 20 room clapboard house were keeping me up at night. So our offer stands. And do we really need five silos and eight barns? With my collecting habits maybe we do, but, it seems we will not have them, as we have not heard from the realtor in a few days. In the meantime life marches on.
24/04:
Rain came down off and on through Saturday and into Sunday, but that didn't really keep us inside. We returned to the woods, did a lot of visiting, and went to see Mrs Webter, who has a beautiful spot on a dirt road not far from Mom and Dad, she introduced us to Annabelle, the Goat.
22/04: Spring Beauties
Due to a delayed wisdom tooth extraction, we were able to leave early for Argyle, and instead of having my teeth pulled, I spent the afternoon in the pasture woods - the best place I know of to see the spring wildflowers - Among the flowers blooming today were Squirrel Corn. Trout lillies, Blood Root, a beautiful clump of Round Lobed Hypatica, and the first of this years trillums. There is a subtle difference between Squirrel corn and Dutchmen's Britches - the Squirrel Corn has a slightly yellower and more heart shapped blossom, and the tubers are a brght red that are hard to miss on the Autumn forest floor. The Squirrel Corn was Lizzie's favorite, and she collected quite a few in her pocket, Zoe went to her favorite tree - one that has been hollow on the inside since I was a boy, and continues to keep growing maybe her children will play in it too. Wild Ginger is popping up around the stone outcroppings, Spring is well underway.
21/04: Cool it
The weather has changed - after a warm weekend Wednesday brought showers and cool weather, but the sky is blue, the daffodils are bloomng out, honeysuckle is leafing out, and best of all no mosquitos yet.
17/04:
Adventures in Fairyland •A seduction of a warm day in April lead us to play hookie from all those responsibilities that are piling up, and we spent the day outside, building a chicken "palace" (the girls are calling it), and making for the woods. We went to the "Grand Gulf" in the the early afternoon - a state park about twenty minutes north on the border. The park is famous in the family for fairy houses - stumps and rocks covered with mosses. The spring peepers were out, and were joined by a chorus of frogs in the swampy areas below the cliffs, with no mosquitos out yet it meant we were free to enjoy the sun-dappled rocks and trees - here are a few shots of the afternoon.
