How about some Christmas cheer for friends and family?
Whats that you say?
Its Valentines day?
Yes, if you have followed this blog you know you can expect a laundry list of Christmas pics after Christmas.
Wellllll….
This year, not so much. I was sick for about 2 weeks at the end of December. I wasn’t myself. This blogger spent half of Christmas break in bed. Not much fun AND not many Christmas pics of the kids for family and friends to share.
In fact just two…
Before:
and this…
Santa Sucks!
Skye actually said that!
She was asking for a Hoverboard. She saw one all wrapped up in the sack Santa left for Dylan but she did not see one in the sack Santa left for her.
When she saw D open her Hoverboard she cried,
“Santa Sucks!”
OMG!
Her demeanor quickly turned around when she dug a little deeper into her Santa sack.
No This After, or During…
Yes, it’s another Christmas Story
And that was it!
That was our Christmas.
Oh we did get a chance to watch the latest presentation of Dicken’s Christmas Carol at our historic (are you tired of that word yet?) Dock Street Theater .
This year the opportunity came via a 4th grade field trip.
Do you think a 4th grader can spell Shaperone?
We also made the ice cream. Drank the egg nog, the warm spiced wine (not together), and Chambord over ice cream. Set up the train. Watched the Christmas Story. Visited the Christmas lights. And adopted that darn elf again.
What’s her name, Lana?
She likes Cookies!
And one night she evidently helped herself to the dog biscuits, thinking they were Christmas cookies too and left us a nasty note, saying they were the worst Christmas cookies ever!
She also helped herself to the left over spiced wine one night that we left out on the stove.
And then helped herself to an extra toilet paper roll in the closest Necessary Room and just had too good of a time!
Le sigh!
But then there was the Happy New Year!
Sort of…
Especially if your kids never saw snow or threw a snowball before..
It’s not supposed to snow like this where we live!
And it snowed and it snowed and it snowed.
The next day we woke up to a bright and sunny snowy day.
The next morning. Guess whose house has kids?
Did I mention ‘bright’?
And cold!
We had 4 days in a row with lows at 18 degrees.
Again…
That doesn’t happen here!
So much for global warming.
I started worrying about my own little ill-equipped backyard escape with the cold temperatures and 6 inches of snow.
Good bye paradise!
Our little summertime gazebo started to lean under the weight of the snow.
And I had to be creative to keep that upright and the pool water from freezing in the pipes.
Still, others had it lots worse than we did….
South Carolina drivers DO NOT know how to drive in the snow!
Like the owner of this brand new, freshly waxed shiny Camaro.
Maybe its not a good time to go for a ride?
Most local drivers were ridiculously slow, er, careful.
I enjoyed the snow packed streets as I grew up in the snow.
Still others……ahhh…
It was funny, all the cars that were stuck in a ditch or crashed into a tree or sign, (we even had a car end up in a pond close by) were pick-ups or other testosterone fueled crafts; like the fellow above.
Another example, the road in front of me that allows me to get to work, was closed for 3 days as two First Responders were hit when a fast approaching fire truck hit a patch of ice on a bridge and slid into them.
Seriously!
It sounds like something out of Florida or a Griswald Christmas but it happened right here in our zip code.
Sometimes a good driver knows when NOT to go for a ride .
So we have this Museum Mile pass that I told you about last week and it is week two for acting a like a tourist in our hometown.
Last weekend we visited the Charleston Museum and then the museum houses of the Joseph Manigault house, the Heyward Washington house (yes, that Washington) and the Aiken Rhet or Gov. William Aiken house. And all within walking distance of each other.
So, for those about to tour / endure some old museum houses, we salute you!
Revolutionary War cannon guarding the Charleston Museum
The Charleston Museum was OK, great if you enjoy reading about history, wars fought, and the evolution of Charleston, entitled Becoming Americans. But the Natural History portion was smallish and not a lot of truly unique things to see.
We stayed there 3 hours.
There was a mummy and some old coffins from Egypt that stood out to me but that is about it.
The first two houses we toured we were not allowed to use our cameras, lucky for you and your post downloads. So I have some copied pics from their website, unless they are from outside.
One of Charleston’s most exquisite antebellum structures, the Joseph Manigault House, built in 1803, reflects the urban lifestyle of a wealthy, rice-planting family and the enslaved African Americans who lived there.
Joseph Manigault was the brother to the man in the final painting in my previous post, Charles Manigault, the grandsons of the ultra wealthy, Peter Manigault. The house was also designed by his brother Gabriel, a ‘Gentleman Architect.
This house, and other Neoclassical houses of the time, were known for their ‘balance’. One side of the wall mirrored the other. If a door was on the right then a door was on the left, even if it did not open. As you go down through these pictures you can plainly see the dedication put into there balance.
See the balance on the outside of the house. The left is exactly the same as the right.
And so it went inside.
Still listing to the right a little
Descending from French Huguenots who fled religious persecution in Europe in the late 1600s, the Manigaults prospered as rice planters and merchants during the 18th century and became one of South Carolina’s leading families.
The house above was termed a summer house (they did not live here all year round) but in truth it was a winter house as the Manigaults inhabited the house during the winter months that were actually known as Charleston’s ‘social season‘. It’s just too hot in the summer here, to get dressed up not to mention too many smells.
The city of Charleston at this time was actually a walled city. A wall was built around Charleston to protect it from pirates, the Spanish, and the French in the 1700’s and early 1800’s. This house was actually on the outside of the wall. So they liked to be called ‘in the country’.
It’s too much to go into but you can imagine how many smells are contained in the walled city, or outside for that matter. Start with the horses in the streets, throw in no running water, livestock slaughtered on one’s property, maintaining livestock from horses, cows and chickens on many properties and so on. This is why most houses had dining rooms, bedrooms and rooms for entertaining on the second floors.
Affluent houses such as these had water management system, usually consisting of a well but later developing into a ‘cistern’ due to the well water getting contaminated.
Water management in colonial life
Such was life in the 1700s and early 1800’s
Joseph Manigault inherited several rice plantations and over two hundred slaves from his grandfather in 1788, and also married (very) well.
Arthur Middleton, father of his first wife, Maria Henrietta Middleton, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Following Henrietta’s death, he married Charlotte Drayton, with whom he had eight children.
If you ever visit Charleston two very well-known plantations to visit are the Middleton Place (Henrietta Middleton)
and Drayton Hall (Charlotte Drayton).
Note below the balance on the wall. A door on the right and one on the left. Pictures, tables and urns balancing each other out. The tassel on the left of the fireplace was used to call the slaves for service. The tassel to the right of the fireplace was just there for decoration.
It did nothing.
Balance!
Notice the tassels above and below.
The Drawing Room. Through the door is the Withdrawing Room. Notice the Balance.
Most homes of distinction had rooms for entertaining called Drawing Rooms. Sometimes the men would like to sneak out and smoke and talk business. They retreated to the Withdrawing Rooms.
Heyward-Washington House
Built in 1772, this Georgian-style double house was the town home of Thomas Heyward, Jr., one of four South Carolina signers of the Declaration of Independence.
A patriot leader and artillery officer with the South Carolina militia during the American Revolutionary War, Heyward was captured when the British took Charleston in 1780. He was moved to St. Augustine, Florida, with several other influential Charlestonians but was exchanged in 1781.
The City rented this house for George Washington’s use during the President’s week-long Charleston stay, in May 1791, and it has traditionally been called the “Heyward-Washington House.” The story goes many a wealthy Charlestonian wrote letters to George Washington to please stay at their house. Mr. Washington, in true politician style, could not, would not decide. So he asked the Mayor of Charleston to pick out a suitable dwelling for his week long stay.
Heyward sold the house in 1794 to John F. Grimke, also a Revolutionary War officer and father of Sarah and Angeline Grimke, the famous abolitionists and suffragettes.
The building on the right was the water management system. The large building on the left was the kitchen on the first floor and the slave quarters on the second floor. The building on the far left, where you can only make out the tiled roof, was the ‘Necessary’ room.
Three guesses on what was necessary.
And why wasn’t it closer?
Were there no prostate issues on the 1700-1800’s?
Why do you think the kitchen was not part of the main house in colonial times?
Past the Pirate Courtyard to some Ghost Tours
So now I had to take a pause. (not applause)
So these houses were bought and sold several times from their original owners over the years, how is it the furniture, paintings, etc. are legit?
Enter the phrase ‘ museum house’. These houses have been bought by the Charleston Museum and / or the Charleston Preservation Society and ‘restored‘ to what they may have looked like using family or historic documents.
For instance, the Joseph Manigualt House was bought by an Esso gas station at one point and sold gas in the front yard. The third owner of the Heyward Washington house was a baker and turned the first floor into a bakery. The floors may be original floors but the paint color “may have been” or “what we think it was” using historical data.
There were several really incredible book cases in both houses.
Most of the furniture were ‘time pieces’, maybe not from that family, but a piece of furniture from that time period. The Rice Plantation bed on Joseph Manigaults room looked too good to be 175 years old. It was a dead giveaway.
So I wondered what would a house that was not made over look like? Did these restored houses lose their original integrity?
I had my theory answered as we walked over to the Aiken Rhett House.
This house is termed, ‘preserved not restored.’ And I tell you, walking through the dimly lit house, with the floors squeaking and the paint peeling off the walls, it was more than a little creepy.
It reminded me of the hotel in The Shining after it had been abandoned.
I will try to go faster here with a picture tour. If interested in this history take your time and read behind the scenes or just go at your own pace to stay ahead of the tour. Please leave your audio headphones at the cashier’s desk as you leave.
Here is why the house is called the Aiken Rhett house. And also thee Love letter. It is also known as Gov. William Aiken house.
Marble stairway entrance
Large two room divided living room downstairs
Very detailed moldings on the main living room chandelier
Leaving the living room, and chasing the sunlight, we went through some large open double doors onto a roomy piazza. The single hung windows (on the right border) transform into doorways that allow you to walk onto the piazza. These windows are advantageously placed to allow for a cross breeze through the house and are extremely common in the South. These roomy piazzas on three sides of the house.
The back yard or courtyard, completely walled in.
Kitchen and Slave quarters on the right. The stables and garage on the left
Remember the kitchen picture at the Heyward Washington house? Here is what the kitchen may have resembled had it not been ‘restored’
And this is what is left of the oven and stove
We took the worn down stairs upstairs above the kitchen to see the floor the resident slaves lived on.
There were 4 individual rooms up stairs. Each room had its own door with a lock for privacy and a window. At the end of the hall was actually a type of sitting room where the slaves could gather at the end of their day.
Going back out to the courtyard we noticed some nice trees and two Necessary Rooms (2 green doors) all the way at the end of the lot.
After viewing the stables and some very old but nice horse-drawn carriages we went back inside and to the second floor to Governor Aiken’s Drawing room.
Above is the picture in the brochure. Below is what I saw. I don’t even know if you could use the word ‘preserved’ for this room. But with the large airy room I imagine it could have been very enchanting in its time.
We toured several other rooms on the second floor including master bedrooms and bathrooms, all dimly lit with make-shift lights and electricity cords, all in disrepair. There was a small but well stocked library. And as we headed towards the end of our tour we opened the door to the only ‘restored room’ in the house, the Gallery….
We had to open the door to the Gallery as it was the only room in the house with air conditioning. And I imagine you needed the A/C to protect these beautiful works of art..
I couldn’t even afford the frames on these paintings!
My favorite piece, of course, was the focal piece, a sculpture by Italian Domenico Menconi of Mary Magdalene, signed and dated 1858.
She has her hands on the books of the Old Testament and New Testament.
To me, it seems she is looking to heaven, dreaming, in an expression that says it all.
So that was our weekend as we toured some more landmarks where we live. It is truly magical going on holiday for a day (wish it were longer) and reliving or imagining some of the history available in Charleston.
Thanks for touring these with us! We have one more weekend to sight see.
This month we ran across something that the Charleston Visitor’s Center is putting on for locals, the Museum Mile. In January, the tourist trade is down in our town so it is a great time to be a tourist with this Museum Mile.
This promotion gives us access to participating Museum Mile sites with the purchase of one low ticket price. With the Museum Mile pass, we can spend an entire month learning about Charleston’s rich history and culture; a place we read about, and our kids learn in school, but never find the time to experience.
There are over 20 museums, museum houses, and other historical buildings to explore on this package. This past weekend we decided to tour ..
“Through our complicated history, through light and shadow, we have persevered – humanity intact. Art is the reason.”
“When the Gibbes Museum opened in 1905, the nation celebrated what Charleston has always understood: the power of art – to inspire our imagination, heal our hurt, and nourish our souls.”
(shhh…I’m getting all these sayings right off their website)
So if you are interested in taking a brief tour through a historical art collection with some pretty interesting things found in art, subjects, expressions, mediums, or stories behind the scene, read on.
I copied some of the tags of the art work that accompanies these gems in the museum so the real story of the paintings does not get lost in translation.
So grab a chair or beverage, and lets stroll through some of the rooms of the Gibbes and see some great works of art that I found very interesting. I am sure there is something at the Gibbes for everyone.
Now I do not know much about art; maybe two things.
Art is what you like, not what others like.
Art, true art, great art, should make you think.
Like this provocative painting from the 1920’s
Does this remind you of someone? What could she be thinking about?
First thing that you might notice is….. I am not a Photographer. It seems I am listing to the right on all these pics.
I am not sure what it makes me think of other than how did they do that and will it start to decay?
Here is my other daughter, Skylar
But there were several other exhibits besides this natural one.
SCULPTURES
I
Is that an authentic facial expression or what? Have we all been there?
First, I have to tell you, it seems all good sculptors from this time period came from Italy. Many a good American sculptor went to Italy to learn their craft.
I found by the early 1800s, Neoclassicism was a style that was at its height in sculpting. American-born artists were beginning to make their mark in the art world. They traveled to Italy to learn their craft.
Wiki says, “Neoclassicism was an art style that celebrated physical characteristics in the spirit of Ancient Greek and Roman art. To 18th-century Europeans, the human figure in Greek art, with its cool, unemotional appearance, was the ideal and a means of conveying a sense of timelessness and reason.
And I think you can see that in the young lady’s expression above.
Second, it seems people in Italy at that time never button their shirts, if they have one on at all. And everyone must have bench pressed at least 250 pounds.
Below was my favorite piece in the whole museum..
No, not of the Edmond Fitzgerald
Marble again. Love the detail. Love the story
I was amazed at the detail put into carving up this block of stone. You really can’t see it below but great care was put into the man’s hair, the dangling rope, his pants and even the lines on his drooping socks to make the art look real.
Now maybe my kids didn’t find these sculptures as interesting as I. Thankfully the museum had some staff to keep a watch over them while we appreciated the art work and the stories behind them
I bet that lady was from Italy too..
PHOTOGRAPHY
I love that,
“Magic In The Mundane“.
Does that make you think?
I would be interested in your ideas of what message the artist is trying to convey there in the Comments below. I have one or two interpretations.
Mostly, it reminds me of what great mothers do. But if you look at it, there is so much more going on in that pic, isn’t it?
Next is another, piece of art; a memory!
A memory recorded down over the ages.
This ‘memory’ or story was sitting beside a painting of some slave shacks from the Boone Hall Plantation in Charleston.
Do you remember when I did a POST on my oldest’s field trip there two years ago?
Slave Street
Well I thought this piece of art below interesting as an example of possibly one healthy way that slaves from that time used to help endure their bondage. To me, it really makes you think.
No, not talking of history like this below, although it is a good snapshot of an important moment in the US history.
‘Bombardment Of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor 1863‘ oil on canvas 1886 by William Aiken Walker
I mean like Historic Art that comes from the period it represents.
The Gibbes Museum had a series of portraits, old portraits from some Charlestonians over the years. It is not that these people were so famous or important (most were) but it is what they were wearing, their expressions that were captured, and the background that struck me.
The authentic clothes were from the time of the paintings. The looks of people were from that time. Their clothes and hair styles authentic. Their homes or decor. Anything that was in the painting would be authentic. This is how people lived in these time periods.
Take a look at these dates on these paintings. They are legit museum pieces of art.
So this was an American born young man wearing British style attire. Did you catch that?
The date shows before the revolutionary war when the Carolinas had their ‘Governors’ appointed by the King at that time. Also I see he married his cousin. That’s one way to keep the money in the family.
Was that a toy bow and arrow? Or a real one?
Remember the old Christmas Carol, Up On The House Top, where a boy dreams of
” Here is a hammer and lots of tacks.
Also a ball and a whip that cracks.”
That Christmas classic was written circa 1857.
In one picture of some kids from the 1800’s in the museum there was a young boy holding a little whip with a kinked knot or two on the end of the rope.
And finally I thought, and found out, this a particularly interesting one:
Two very big names in early Charleston, Manigault and Heyward
In this painting the family Manigault was vacationing in Rome. There were no cameras or cell phones of course. So the happy family just had to have someone paint a picture of them to capture the memories and bring them home. Tough life.
Beside this painting in the museum was a portrait of Mr. Maniqualt that was captured ‘in Philadelphia on his way to a 6 year trip to China.’
I can’t even imagine this type of life. A 6 year trip to China in the mid 1800’s? What would he use for currency?
His Grandfather, Peter Manigault was the wealthiest person in the British North American colonies (Wiki says), He practiced law, became a successful merchant and banker, and managed his family’s over 200 slaves and extensive plantation holdings. His net worth of approximately £33,000 in 1770 is equal to approximately $4 million in 2016.[5]
Think about that for a second.
If it cost about $26 to build a house back then, how much was $4 million worth?
And so, as I thought, I realized this most be art. A painting on the wall that makes Magic from the mundane.
So what about you? What types of art do you like?
Enjoy your own art this week and weekend.
I hope you make some of your own!
“We believe art is the difference between merely existing and being truly alive.”
Every now and again you run across some company that you think is an evil, money-grubbing outfit, that appears harmless enough, but then cracks you over the head with some surprising billing that you feel helpless to stop.
….and a web site, service or product you feel you should warn others about!
Let me introduce you to iFit.
Buyer Beware!
A few years ago I bought a treadmill. It was a nice one that even came with a modem to connect to the Internet. They suggested using the iFit website as a way to track my runs as well as download some trails from around the world. I thought, OK, cool!
I bought a one month membership. And then another. At the end of the year they were giving away some nice gifts if I would buy a Yearly Membership. I was tired of rebilling all the time. We had some nice taxes coming back that year and so I thought why not. I paid $130.20 on 12/31/2016 for a 2017 membership.
I know, crazy, right? That much money to track how far you run?
Well this January I received this message in an email:
Your Premium Membership has expired.
Hi Andy,
We couldn’t auto-renew your iFit Premium annual membership as expected.
To continue your iFit Premium membership, visit your Account Billing in your settings to upgrade your account to Premium.
If you have questions, we’d love to help. Simply email us at support@ifit.com.
Keep Moving, TEAM IFIT
Well, I don’t use the treadmill much. If I use it two times in a month it was a good month. Some months I don’t use it at all.
I even write down all the data from my runs in Journal form.
The little 3 inch TV screen on the treadmill is not very motivating when I am running through the woods in the Ukraine so those advertised runs are not very motivating either.
So I thought, no I am not renewing it this year.
It is such a waste of good money!
So I did not renew.
In-fact I did nothing. The email suggests they can’t bill me. Let me just right this poor, expensive fitness training off and manage the tracking of calories and distance on my own. ( I have a college degree after all )
So then the next day I was shocked to find this email in my Inbox:
Thanks for your purchase!
Please retain this billing receipt for your records. You can access your complete billing history in your settings.
Order ID: 2351041
Order Date: January 15th 2018
Item
Amount
Coach 1 Year Auto Renewal – AUTO
$180.00
Subtotal:
$180.00
Estimated Tax:
$16.20
Order Total:
$196.20
What?
I didn’t do anything, least of all ask for another overpriced fitness membership. ( do you see where the price for this Premium Membership went up $66 or 33% in a year?)
And I may be mistaken but I am pretty sure I changed the credit card number I used last year to a new one, hence the first email I received from them saying they could not renew. Hmmmm?
Now I have gone through all the refund links on their website. Twice. I still have yet to hear from them.
Other than the ol’ take a number routine:
“Your request has been updated. Reply to this email or follow the link below:”
Meanwhile $196 just was stolen from my checking account by this shady iFit web site.
I started a dispute for this charge with my bank now. They have been good in the past about not paying for money not earned by some service (internet web site). But it really frustrates me that there are crooked outfits like this that stay in business and take people’s money when they have not earned it and through some shady business practice.
So I thought you should know. If you ever get an offer to join iFit, whether it be for a Fit Bit, treadmill, stationary bike, Stair Stepper, Nordic Track, anything….
Buyer Beware!!
If you see a promotion for anything from iFit I hope the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and you run, not walk, but run far away from the offer.
And please tell your friends and family too. If you get a membership they keep your credit information on file and bill you again when your membership is up whether you ask for it or not.
I had to sit down after the big feast and holiday weekend we just had.
Phew!
Did you have a good Thanksgiving?
Me, I’m bloated.
And I seemed to have eaten so much that I can’t get my darned fave green vest closed anymore.
All us turkeys in 3D made it through last week with ease. Our B&B was only partially filled with family and friends this past holiday so it was not quite as hectic. And while we did miss seeing the normal faces around here it was nice to sit my big turkey butt down and have complete access to the…
remote control.
This turkey got smoked and then I was accompanied by some mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, some .50 stuffing and dessert.
Ahhh, dessert! That was my favorite class in school.
We made two pies all set for me to gobble for Thanksgiving.
Then,
our friendly neighbor from across the street, the one that my girls have not alienated yet by their basketball running through her flower bed, brought over her delicious, mouth-watering, too-good-to-be-true-that-I-must-have-died-cause-this-must-be-in-Heaven pumpkin pie.
Mmmmmm!
With a capital Mmmmmm.
Well how can you decide on a holiday made for Thanking and Feasting which pie you should have after the big gobble-wobble?
So I made a healthy decision and didn’t have any pie after the feast!
Oh really Daddy?
I had a piece of all three!
Its true (insert frowny-face emoji)
But then…
As plump and ripe and tired and satiated as this Turkey’s family was after the feast there was still some squawking in the coop about the Christmas decorations needed to go up this (past) weekend.
What the @%&(!?
And as my friend from last week, Donald Trump would say, or tweet,
“I beg your pardon?”
Apparently, it is a Tom Turkey family tradition to put up the Christmas decorations the weekend of putting the bird away.
The relaxing 4 day holiday weekend.
The college football rivalry week weekend!
Well I told Mrs. Turkey I never ever @$%^@! of such a #%&*@ thing!….
…under my breath.
So now my living room looks like this:
Now listen….
I am Not that bad of a photographer.
Despite what you are thinking. It wasn’t my phone, er, camera either.
It was just…
ahhh…
I had just had a glass of Drambuie
(after yet another shameful piece of pumpkin cheesecake)
and my sight may have been a little bit, ahhh…
blurry.
Just saying….
But the decorating is done and I like it and I don’t have to stress about decking the halls for anymore weekends this year.
Its done.
Cross it off the list.
It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here…
..But the prettiest sight to see
is the kitchen clean as can be
As my dog cleans the floor..
Yes it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.
Everywhere you go
We took a train to the Grand Hotel.
One in the park as well,
The ancient kind that doesn’t mind there’s no other place to go-o-oh..
Ok… I’ll stop.
Sorry that last Christmas Carol was just a little forced into this blog, wasn’t it?
I’m sorry.
You see, I do a lot of driving for my job and I have been listening to too many Christmas Carols all day I have been told.
Everyone I meet just seems get ambushed by the last Christmas Carol I heard that gets stuck in my head.
Does that happen to you?
You can’t get the last carol out of your head?
Like this morning …
I texted my wife, who was about ready to leave for work. The traffic was in a snarl again and so I wanted to advise her to leave extra time to get to work.
But when I spoke into my text’er machine it came out:
“Oh the traffic outside is frightful
and your bed is so delightful.
And since it moving so slow…
stay at home, stay at home, stay at home…”
Much to the amusement of my two young turkeys in the car on their way to school at my surprise Christmas rap to their mom.
Geez, I need some more material.
I hope you all had a WONDERFUL, PEACEFUL, THANKFUL Thanksgiving!
Thanks for dropping by for some of these Thanksgiving leftovers.
I’ll try to do better next time knuckleheads.
Do you have a favorite Twisted Christmas Carol like the butchered one above?
I would love to hear your version of your fave.
If you do leave it in the hardly used, almost brand new Comment section below.
I know we have a good handful of great poets that have (in the past) subscribed to this blog.
Lettuce, er, let us hear Your original twisted carol.
Love ya!
Next its time for some Christmas leftovers from Christmas reposts of Christmas past.
(cause I have finally hit my 100% memory in my media file on this post and I may have to do a fundraiser to get enough money to Upgrade with WP for some extra picture space until then~ le sigh)
Why do you think the kitchen was not part of the main house in colonial times?
OUR LIFE IN 3D 