After Many Deep & Profound Brain Things Inside of My Head...
The above title is an example of irony, as it's 6 am and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet.
Even though today is Ryan's day off from work (and we don't have any B&B guests to worry about), we are still up early in the morning. The reason: we promised my Grammy we'd take her yard sale hopping today (or "slumming" as I like to refer to it) to get her out of the house and away from Grandpa. She's hoping to find a dresser, and Ryan and I are hoping to score some more books for our library.
I have started making some "Healing" salve this week. I have been harvesting calendula, comfrey, and chamomile in large amounts out of my garden this month, so yesterday I put 2 parts calendula/comfrey and 1 part chamomile in a jar with olive oil and set it in a sunny window. I will leave it there for three weeks, at which point I will strain out the herbs, mix it with Beeswax and a little Vitamin E, and have a wonderful skin-healing salve! I also need to get started on making my herbal shampoos (rosemary) and facial toners (sage & apple cider vinegar). So much to do during harvest season! Speaking of harvesting, Ryan and I harvested our first crop of asian pears yesterday. So exciting! I love being able to live almost entirely off of our land!!
Well, on another note, Ryan and I made the first step toward expanding our art collection!! Those who have been to our B&B realize that we collect original oil paintings. I inherited an enormous number of original oil paintings from relatives several years ago, and Ryan and I have always said that we want to continue adding paintings to our collection. Because we are generally stretched to the wire money-wise, we really haven't been able to afford more than two paintings in the 3+ years we have been together. There was the oil painting of the old barn that Ryan bought for me for our first Christmas together! There's a sweet story in that painting: on one of our early dates, he took me to an art gallery (because I do so love paintings), and walked around with me and asked me which paintings I liked best and why...well, several days later, he went back to the gallery and bought the only painting that I liked that he could afford (he spent his entire paycheck! Lovestruck, anyone?) - a small oil depicting an old barn. He even got a chance to meet the artist while he was paying for it! So that was the first painting we bought (it now hangs over our bed in our "Innkeepers' Quarters"), and the second was a beautiful painting of a milk can with flowers that I saw & fell in love with at an antique store. Ryan didn't adore it the way that I did, but he let me buy it anyway. That one now hangs over my computer desk. Those were the only two paintings we had purchased thus far...well, last week Ryan and I went browsing at the Antique Mall in Medford, and fell in love with a GORGEOUS 7 foot long oil by YW Leung. I will forever remember the moment: I had been awestruck by the painting from the minute we walked into the booth. Ryan had been so focused on an antique knife on a stand under the painting (just like a man! *laughing*), that he didn't even notice the artwork. He said, "I love this knife!" and I replied, "I love this PAINTING!" At which point Ryan stepped back and looked up and gasped. That is the moment I will always remember. We both decided that we absolutely had to have it! This was the first time in our life that we BOTH loved a painting (it's usually just one or the other). The enormous oil is of a fleet of Chinese ships at sea, and the artist used reds and oranges in such a way (so it's either dawn or dusk) as to make it appear as though the ocean was on fire! And the painting is done in the style that I ADORE (the same as the "Three Ballerinas" in our dining room): big, thick brush strokes that look like chaos when you stand close, but from afar show an enormous amount of detail! The picture is going to look breath-taking on our deep red livingroom wall!! Anywho, the price was more than fair, but even so, we had to put it on layaway and will be making payments on it. I can't wait to bring it home!
The above title is an example of irony, as it's 6 am and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet.
Even though today is Ryan's day off from work (and we don't have any B&B guests to worry about), we are still up early in the morning. The reason: we promised my Grammy we'd take her yard sale hopping today (or "slumming" as I like to refer to it) to get her out of the house and away from Grandpa. She's hoping to find a dresser, and Ryan and I are hoping to score some more books for our library.
I have started making some "Healing" salve this week. I have been harvesting calendula, comfrey, and chamomile in large amounts out of my garden this month, so yesterday I put 2 parts calendula/comfrey and 1 part chamomile in a jar with olive oil and set it in a sunny window. I will leave it there for three weeks, at which point I will strain out the herbs, mix it with Beeswax and a little Vitamin E, and have a wonderful skin-healing salve! I also need to get started on making my herbal shampoos (rosemary) and facial toners (sage & apple cider vinegar). So much to do during harvest season! Speaking of harvesting, Ryan and I harvested our first crop of asian pears yesterday. So exciting! I love being able to live almost entirely off of our land!!
Well, on another note, Ryan and I made the first step toward expanding our art collection!! Those who have been to our B&B realize that we collect original oil paintings. I inherited an enormous number of original oil paintings from relatives several years ago, and Ryan and I have always said that we want to continue adding paintings to our collection. Because we are generally stretched to the wire money-wise, we really haven't been able to afford more than two paintings in the 3+ years we have been together. There was the oil painting of the old barn that Ryan bought for me for our first Christmas together! There's a sweet story in that painting: on one of our early dates, he took me to an art gallery (because I do so love paintings), and walked around with me and asked me which paintings I liked best and why...well, several days later, he went back to the gallery and bought the only painting that I liked that he could afford (he spent his entire paycheck! Lovestruck, anyone?) - a small oil depicting an old barn. He even got a chance to meet the artist while he was paying for it! So that was the first painting we bought (it now hangs over our bed in our "Innkeepers' Quarters"), and the second was a beautiful painting of a milk can with flowers that I saw & fell in love with at an antique store. Ryan didn't adore it the way that I did, but he let me buy it anyway. That one now hangs over my computer desk. Those were the only two paintings we had purchased thus far...well, last week Ryan and I went browsing at the Antique Mall in Medford, and fell in love with a GORGEOUS 7 foot long oil by YW Leung. I will forever remember the moment: I had been awestruck by the painting from the minute we walked into the booth. Ryan had been so focused on an antique knife on a stand under the painting (just like a man! *laughing*), that he didn't even notice the artwork. He said, "I love this knife!" and I replied, "I love this PAINTING!" At which point Ryan stepped back and looked up and gasped. That is the moment I will always remember. We both decided that we absolutely had to have it! This was the first time in our life that we BOTH loved a painting (it's usually just one or the other). The enormous oil is of a fleet of Chinese ships at sea, and the artist used reds and oranges in such a way (so it's either dawn or dusk) as to make it appear as though the ocean was on fire! And the painting is done in the style that I ADORE (the same as the "Three Ballerinas" in our dining room): big, thick brush strokes that look like chaos when you stand close, but from afar show an enormous amount of detail! The picture is going to look breath-taking on our deep red livingroom wall!! Anywho, the price was more than fair, but even so, we had to put it on layaway and will be making payments on it. I can't wait to bring it home!
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