of all the flea overseas markets i’ve descended upon in the last few years (Marseille, Dublin, Beunos Airies, Madrid, Notting Hill street market in London, some teeny town in central Greece, an obscure village outside of Oaxaca, and one smelly one by a fishing village in Hong Kong) i have discovered that the most important tip when hitting the flea markets in the Czech Republic is not to carry a $5 cup of Starbucks if you expect to negotiate for anything under $10. I learned this the hard way. COUNTRY LIVING Magazine also has a great story on shopping for antiques in…
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Don’t laugh. I am attempting to teach myself imovie, so y’all are the guinea pigs. so i am unapologetically subjecting you to my first attempt at a book trailer (but let’s be honest, it’s a glorified slide show). that said, all things are sooo much better when you add a little Chet Baker. we are on the way to our dear, frozen lake wandawega now to see if we have any squatting critters that need evicting. stay tuned…
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please, in the name of all things holy cant we get to spring already? i know i said i wasnt ready for the mudfield we experience in a Wisconsin spring, but now i’m so tired of being frozen inside the chicago driveway i’ll take it. it’s always a crapshoot with spring at camp, though- in that you never know what disaster awaits. last year we discovered that Wanda (the 14′ runabout) had sunk to the bottom of the lake. the year before that, we had a motherload of a early melt that created a tsunami into the house. that was…
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Our little cabin haven is blessed to have so many friends who are also photographers. every couple of weeks, i’ll show off one of them. This is David Elliot’s work. Check him out at: davidrobertelliot.com. Here are a few of my fav CABIN SHOTS: his hammock friend Nathan, our cabin mascot ‘Wanda’ (the boat) + the tree canopy overhead the cottage. ENJOY! (thanks, David)
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WHEN IS SOMETHING TOO FAR GONE? An old car, a decrepit piece of furniture, a rusty old tractor, an abandoned cottage is never beyond hope. They just need to find someone who’ll believe in them. Tom Surratt believed. He didn’t see a worthless geriatric farm machine that was too far gone (like so many elderly people we pass by every day). He had a gift to see the youth, the former self, the beauty in everything. He saw his grandson one day driving that tractor down Main street in the annual Beardstown Fall Fun Festival Parade. He didn’t see a rust bucket of a pick-up…
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