Behind My Red Door

Monday, October 31, 2011

Snow> REALLY?? …and some primitive eye candy!

I won’t, I won’t, I won’t!! I won’t let the 12+ inches of snow we got mess with my fall!! I am not ready to be done with fall just yet!!!

It started even before Audrey and I got home from a shoot Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t supposed to turn from rain to snow for a few more hours. But it did anyway. The nerve! But I got us home here safe and sound and then Audrey made it home from here as well. Thank goodness.

And then it really began to come down and add up. It was surreal seeing it land on the foliage still on my maple trees out front and back. My pumpkins and mums were disappearing under a blanket of cold white stuff that does NOT belong in October. At least not in my world.

This is what it looked like at the beginning. Thankfully while I was at the shoot. Mr. Red Door quickly carried the deck furniture down to the patio under the deck. 544

We knew it was going to be bad. We knew that many would loose power. We could only wait and hope and pray.  It didn’t take long! First my son called Saturday night around 9 PM and said they lost power. They  couldn’t leave if they had wanted to in the middle of the storm so they put Lili between them and slept (if you can call it that with a 2 year old ) under 3 heavy comforters. Early in the morning, my sister called to say they had been without power since 3 AM but that she was going to cook breakfast for my parents on the grill and with the sun coming up, it wasn’t too too cold.  By the time the sun rose, the snow had stopped and the roads were melted in most places making it safe for family to head over.

But not before it left a multitude of damage behind. With trees still full of leaves, the heavy wet snow stuck and built up until the weight snapped many branches and limbs and even toppled huge trees. Power lines were down all over. Thankfully, once again we were spared the lose of power and once again our home would be the place for family to come for heat, food and warm showers!

While I waited for them to arrive, I surveyed the damage and was sick to see our maple out front 002

as well as our cherry tree lost at least 1/3 of their limbs.001

It looked like a late January snow storm – until you saw the foliage still on trees!005

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Thankfully these huge maples out back had lost most of the top third of their leaves, making them less susceptible to the snow.I think we would have lost more had they still been full of leaves. 007

I will say though that once the sun came out and the snow started to melt, the white along with the blue of the sky, made a pretty backdrop for the foliage!011

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Today quite a bit more melted and that is fine with me!! I am looking forward to green grass for several more weeks yet! My folks got power last night and this evening the kids were able to borrow a generator and go back home so now, except for a two small groups of “trick or treaters” earlier, it is quiet Behind My Red Door once more.  And while I thoroughly enjoyed rocking Lili to sleep last night, and seeing her sweet face first thing this morning was wonderful, and I didn’t mind sharing my banana with her at breakfast,

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this busy Meemee is thankful for some time to do grown-up things, like blog!

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This year many times I have had the pleasure of meeting online friends for the first time and meeting up with long distance prim friends once again. Last week was no exception. On Tuesday, my friend Laurie(who I initially met online and who’s home is in the premier edition of APP)  and I headed down to Newtown, CT to have lunch with Linda Manna, shopkeeper at Newtown Country Mill, and her daughter Michelle Manna Ferris, who helps in the store and also helps runs their online business ~ Country Mill Primitives. Click ~HERE~ for the website. If you have followed my blog for sometime, you will know that Linda and Michelle’s beautiful homes were featured in the first Holiday issue of A Primitive Place magazine. We had such a nice time during their photo shoots last summer! Yes – summer! Because the magazine was just beginning, they graciously agreed to decorate for Christmas in the summer! That’s what I call dedicated prim friends!!  And last fall when the Holiday issue came out, we did a magazine signing in the store and had a great time once again. A few weeks back Linda and Michelle invited us to come to lunch and it was just wonderful to see them both again. Laurie had never seen the shop or their homes so she was excited to get a tour of all three.  And of course we did a little shopping while we were at the store.

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The shop is a wonderful mixture of antiques and primitives! 011

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I spy some pewter!! 014

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They make a lot of the wooden pieces themselves and the displays are always changing! 017

I think it is just wonderful that mom and daughter enjoy the same decorating style and work so well together. It was just a wonderful day spent with great friends! Thanks again Linda for the yummy lunch and Michelle for inviting us!

Now here’ a little bonus -  some photo’s I took of Linda’s home last year:

My all time favorite vanity! The pumpkin color prompted me to paint a few things in my home in tones of pumpkin.  When Laurie saw this vanity, she agreed with me that is it stunning!395

They converted their garage into a huge family room with tavern bar…408

And more from around the house…283

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Wasn’t that just a treat to see?? I think so!! And the next time I come back, I will share some pics of Michelle’s home as well!! 

Now I just have to show you what I got at Newtown Country Mill, 160 Sugar St, Newtown, CT (203) 270-3441

I got this thermostat cover to hide the thermostat in the living room. I love it!

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I got the antique plate there as well!016

I also got this sweet little pewter plate. 009

You’ll never guess who likes to play with this little gem…036

Now you know I didn’t take all those kernels off the corn…. it’s the same little sweetie pie that lined up the bears and snoopy. And by the way, the Indian corn WAS under the antique fly screen until Lili got here the other day! LOL 034

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As I mentioned earlier in the post, we had another photo shoot Saturday and I did a blog post with plenty of sneak peeks over on the APP blog ~here~! I promise it is worth hoping over there to see them!  Here is one little tease…

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And speaking of worth a hop… How about this…. Give a gift – receive a gift!

Order a gift subscription of A Primitive Place and Country Journal magazine for a friend or family member and receive a FREE A Primitive Place & Country Journal notebook! Click ~here~  for more details!

Well that is all from this very tired Meemee! Until next time~  prim blessing, Linda