“Pure country” described this past weekend to a T! Although the weather didn’t cooperate, with overcast and showery skies, we still made it to an amazing auction. An estate was being auctioned off including a beautiful 136 acre farm, a wooded parcel, and a huge amount of antiques and household items. It was our first ‘real’ country auction and we were there only to watch and learn. Yes, it was tempting to bid…I had my eye on some boxes of Depression Glass that would have looked beautiful in our kitchen…and a few pieces of furniture that needed refinishing….but I think I prefer yard sales and antiques malls. At least there the price is firm and you can’t succumb to “auction bidder’s fever!”
After the auction, we went to Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson’s retreat near Lynchburg. I was disappointed because I thought the house would be a mansion with furniture and grounds and stuff. That’s more my ‘thing’ as I love to tour old homes and see how they’re decorated. The house had been in private hands since Jefferson’s grandson sold it, and they of couse changed it around to suit their tastes and add indoor plumbing and such. The conservation group that bought it is restoring it to Jefferson’s time. The architecture is neat, of course, as the house is an octagon. That’s where John got his inspiration for our octagonal rooms, including my office, where I’m writing this now. I can’t look at an octagon and not think of home, which is a weird association to make.
A skunk visited the woods by the compost pile around 6am. Pierre and I smelled our visitor together, all the way up from the office. By 7, the smell had dissipated, and now around 10 am it’s gone entirely, but it sure is unmistakeable.
Thanks to all the rain we have an incredible diversity of mushrooms and fungi growing in the woods. I’ve never seen so many! They are truly beautiful works of nature.
