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A Day of Beauty, or Saturdays are for Road Trips, part 1

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Lisa

What better way to celebrate the arrival of an out-of-town friend than to organize an all-day art tour? That’s what my friend Cynthia did, and Trudie and I were fortunate to be invited along. The day was full of many wow!s, beginning with a tour of C’s house and gardens, and an al fresco breakfast served on the porch. Sun hats provided by the hostess!

Did you notice that that’s a repurposed grill from which a butterfly garden now spews forth? Clever!

Rose petal and blueberry ice cubes for our iced blackberry tea were an elegant embellishment to the menu:  Tomato Frittata  –  Scones and Corn Muffins with Lemon Curd  –  Strawberries dipped in Yogurt. The rose petals were freshly picked, too. It would have been easy to linger on the porch, but we had places to go! First stop, apotheca flower shoppe & tea cart, a feast for the eyes and heart, in a charming train depot in Goffstown village.

There were so many handmade and vintage delights to admire here, not to mention an astounding number of beverage choices. But we had many more artful destinations in front of us.
a secret gardenAs C pulled up alongside this path, we all called out “photo opp!” in unison. Talk about Vitamin N — this was pure intoxication. After experimenting with various camera settings with which to capture the most sumptuous range of greens, I resisted temptation and got back into the car.

Stay tuned for more photos and Part II of our Saturday Artist Tour of southern New Hampshire.

6 thoughts on “A Day of Beauty, or Saturdays are for Road Trips, part 1”

  1. snydeen says:
    August 26, 2011 at 7:34 pm

    I love Apotheca! Megan worked there the spring semester of senior year and on through the summer until she left for college. It continually changes around. Gorgeous.

    1. snydeen says:
      August 26, 2011 at 7:35 pm

      What a gorgeous idea. I LOVED Cynthia’s garden and the tea party. The hats were fun!

      1. myartfullife says:
        August 28, 2011 at 10:16 am

        The hats were so much fun — Cynthia gave me the one I wore that day and ever since I have been keeping it as a sort of ‘decoration’ in my car! Pretty reminder of an adventurous day with friends.

    2. myartfullife says:
      August 28, 2011 at 10:15 am

      Small world! Of course you would already have a connection to this wonderful place!

  2. Lisa says:
    August 25, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    Dean, I cannot *wait* to rush out and grab my very own copy of the Fall issue of COUNTRY GARDENS (a fav mag, by the way)! Congratulations! I miss your company and admiring your work more than you can know. Photos of your garden get a lot of activity on my flickr stream.

  3. Dean says:
    August 25, 2011 at 9:59 am

    Lisa, I love this post! Particularly the photograph, in which you look beautiful. Would love to see you sometime soon. Life is short and it’s jetting by!

    There is a piece out on the garden in the new (Fall) issue of COUNTRY GARDENS that I’m really pleased with. Anne Raver, from the TIMES, wrote it and the photos are really good.

    xxDean

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lisa_allen_artist

Joyspotting enthusiast. Blogging at LemonadeandSeashells.com

Morning thread work has been a favorite way to sta Morning thread work has been a favorite way to start a day since I was a kid. My first sewing lesson was at age 4 or 5, when my Aunt Mary let me help hand stitch a flannel bed jacket for my new baby sister. My impatient grandmother tried to teach me how to knit when I was 5. The instructions didn’t stick but I figured it out on my own after falling in love with mini skeins of angora at the 5 & 10 store (remember those?!), and immediately went into headband production! One after another, all in garter stitch. For me, stitching in quiet solitude is a form of meditation. A perfect setup for the day. #embroidery #mornings
I am determined to finish this story panel sooner I am determined to finish this story panel sooner rather than later. Started during #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn in class led by @suzettesmarttextiles , I am having fun riffing on the idea of home. Today it meant a front garden of beach roses. #embroidery #dailyart #dailycreating
Thanks to @jonehallmark and @twohandspaperie I’ve Thanks to @jonehallmark and @twohandspaperie I’ve been introduced to paper cutting. Playing with combining pretty paper cuts with watercolor backgrounds. #2&3&5are Jone’s designs, my snips. #1&4 are my first attempts at branching out on my own. #dailyart #weekendlearning #papercuts
Sunday painting session with @innerpeaceartstudio Sunday painting session with @innerpeaceartstudio . The prompt was painted blobs. Despite cat #1 looking like a jazzed up potato, I could not stop! At some point in the flow I got the idea to paint some of the cats of my childhood. In the winter we burned paper trash in the fireplace to supplement what served as central heat in our very old house on Nantucket. Our (many!) cats and kittens would join us, huddled on the bricks to warm themselves, too. This funny little painting feels like the beginning of that writing project a couple of friends have been nudging me to start. Here’s looking at you @dianelesbecquets and @bettinacaserta ! What a fun — and surprising — day of painting. #artforwellness #watercolor #cats_of_instagram #memoir
Stitching under a half moon in Vermont. It’s the f Stitching under a half moon in Vermont. It’s the final night of #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn ‘26 when it’s tradition to stitch into the wee hours. #collage #embroidery #crafting #vermont
Happy chaos. Storytelling with fabric. #frenchgene Happy chaos. Storytelling with fabric. #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn #vermontlife #sewing #embroidery
Morning sky watch. #porchlife #vermontlife #french Morning sky watch. #porchlife #vermontlife #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn
“Gardening in no-man’s land”. Morning painting pro “Gardening in no-man’s land”. Morning painting prompt: article in Boston Globe about Maine’s prison system. #dailyart #hortitherapy #garden #prisonreform #watercolor
Finding flow with happy colors and unrestrained br Finding flow with happy colors and unrestrained brushstrokes. Best relaxation ever. Love the dense hues of @kuretakejapan paints. In search of a better paper that will tolerate multiple layers of water and paint. #healingart #artasmedicine #yourbrainonart #ilovecolor #dailyart
Leaf study / after-dinner painting. #dailyart #wat Leaf study / after-dinner painting. #dailyart #watercolor #naturestudy #learning #recoveringperfectionist
Sunday collage. #paperpaintpen #collage #weekendvi Sunday collage. #paperpaintpen #collage #weekendvibes #circles #dailyart
“A Mother’s Story” told in four walls with needle, “A Mother’s Story” told in four walls with needle, thread and memory bits and found objects. These four walls are an interpretation of my mother’s life experience. The cloth houses were a craft workshop project, intended as decorative objects. Hand stitching is like a silent moving meditation for me. The motion of the hand stitching was the spark that launched this piece. So caught up was I with the storytelling bug that I stayed up stitching until I had completed two of these ‘memoir houses’.
Morning harvest. Unbelievably delicious. Feeling l Morning harvest. Unbelievably delicious. Feeling lucky. #homegrown #homegrownfood #peaches #grapes #fresh
A homegrown peach is a wonderous treat. #august #p A homegrown peach is a wonderous treat. #august #peach #freshfruit #homegrown #eatingclean
Dressing up the office. Freshly cut from my garden Dressing up the office. Freshly cut from my garden this morning. A summertime joy. #gardenerofinstagram #zinnia #cutflowergarden #officedecor #pink
The family that vacations together, crafts togethe The family that vacations together, crafts together. #tiedye #retrocraft #makingmemories❤️ #ilovemyfamily #vacation
Hot days are better with a garden filled with zinn Hot days are better with a garden filled with zinnias. And I love how easy they are to grow from seed. #inmygardentoday #gardensofinstagram #pink #zinnia #joyspotting
Susan’s patio garden. Drawing and visiting, visiti Susan’s patio garden. Drawing and visiting, visiting and drawing, celebrating her new book, “Nearly Native A Nantucket Story of Adoption, Love and Luck.” Not to mention our friendship that dates back to 4th grade, when my family made the island our home. We made stamps with pliable erasers and found impressionable surfaces on her patio to ink. The green ‘dots’ in first pic were made by pressing the putty eraser onto a decorative metal shelf.
Learning how to watercolor adds new possibilities Learning how to watercolor adds new possibilities to my favorite season. Here, today’s attempt at iris, thanks to instruction by @crystaltanart , all the way from Australia.
#august #sunflowers #garden #lovemygarden #summer #august #sunflowers #garden #lovemygarden #summer
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