Daffodil front and center

This is my kitchen window today.

This windowsill might be the best part of our house. Especially at sunset.

All of the rocks are from places we've been: Athens, Normandy, Dover, Wales, etc. I even have a few pieces of coral from Antigua.

I collect feathers sometimes too. You know, for fun.

Today I finally let myself pick a daffodil and I picked the very best one.

A post about Mount Vernon

I'm backtracking a little bit because apparently all the exciting things in my life happen all at once. I had better get through some more of these D.C. pictures before I forget to post them for a year and let's face it, it's not really very interesting anymore after all that time. It is still interesting now though, right? 

I'll assume you just said yes and now we'll move on.

Right, back to Virginia we go. This post is about Mount Vernon, if you couldn't tell from the title. Mount Vernon was the home and estate of our very first president George Washington and if you didn't already know that, I hope you are either in 3rd grade or not American. Probably most third graders knew it too. 

We spent all day there because it was so cool. And because we had to take the bus to get there which seemed to take half the day anyway. The weather was finally pretty warm and we were in the mood for some history! All of the exhibits were really well done and the museum had some very interesting old artifacts but I think the part I liked best was the woodland walk and the sheep. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the house which is silly and I was actually in the mood to obey some rules that day, I guess, because I didn't even sneak a one. We zipped through the house first because that's kind of the whole point and then we hit the exhibit and the museum. I was pretty excited about the 4D movie that we got to watch in the exhibit. It snowed on us, guys. 

Really the only bad thing about going to these types of places (e.g. ..places with gardens?) in the off-season is that nothing is in bloom. So the gardens are pretty uninteresting unless you really like bare branches. But the rest of it was definitely a great experience minus the thousands of school groups. I realize that there aren't actually any kids in my pictures but that is just what I like to call good timing (and maybe some photoshop). You'll just have to take my word for it. 

A lot of pictures up ahead.

 

 

 

Our First Auction

Going to an auction is something I keep telling myself I will do while I am in England but never do. It's stupid really because I mean, hello, cheap antiques in abundance over here! So we finally went to one and realized that we aren't very good at them. And when I say we, I mean I. I start sweating profusely when the auction man gets close to an item I want and I can't even do the bidding myself. Forrest told me that he gave the evil eye to a guy he was bidding against. And he won, so. 

Something I really want to take back to the states is some type of antique furniture. Maybe a writing desk or an end table, even an old trunk, but something. I want it to be something I can pass down to my children and grandchildren and tell them that their mother bought it while living in England wayyyyy back when she and their dad were having the time of their lives without kids. Because we are. 

Anyway, I (or maybe Denise who also reeeally wanted it) found this antique monks bench that I positively needed. 18th century with lions as armrests and the seat opened for storage. Best thing I have ever seen. No one really seemed that interested in it because a lot of people go to these auctions for new furniture which they have in abundance.

So we waited. We bid (bidded?) on a few things with no luck. Apparently we have great taste because most of the things we wanted started out way too high for our pocketbooks. There was even a teeny tiny stuffed owl and a stuffed mole(?!?!) that we did not bid on but watched in disbelief as some people walked away with it minus £30 or so.We waited and waited and waited for number 508 to be called. The thing is, I wasn't really prepared for how much it would go for (about £300 or $500) nor was I prepared for how much others like it were selling for online (£1500 whaaaaat??) I have been kicking myself right in the kneecaps for letting this beautiful bench slip out of my grasp. I would have taken a better picture of it, but I was just that confident I would be taking it home myself.

"Next time," I have told Forrest over and over, "Next time we will be prepared."

Oh, here's what we took home.

Kilmainham Gaol

Kilmainham Gaol was built in Dublin in 1796. During the Great Potato Famine, it was stuffed to the rafters with prisoners who purposefully committed crimes to score some free gruel. There were a lot of political prisoners held in Kilmainham over the years too.

One story in particular has really stayed with me since our visit. A leader of the famous Easter Rising, Joseph Plunkett, was arrested and held in the jail. But he was allowed to marry his lady friend Grace Gifford in the prison chapel. They were then allowed to spend 10 supervised minutes together later that night, but only talking. When asked what they talked about, Grace said that they couldn't think of a single thing to say. He was shot the next morning. 

I can't even imagine how heart-wrenching that must have been for both of them, but especially Grace. She had to live without him the whole rest of her life. I can't even let myself to think about it very much. She knew he was going to be executed in just a few short hours, but she wanted to marry him anyway because she loved him that much. 

P.S. Recognize the big room? You probably saw it in the Italian Job.