Home Again

One of the wonderful things about travel and seeing something new is how it makes the details of your own life stand out. Crossing the threshold to home, everything seems just as you left it, but it can never be the same.

 

 

   

When I come back from a journey, I return to the scene of my flawed life with a sense of renewal. The invisible becomes again visible. I'm often filled with inspiration as my foray into the bigger world leaves its mark.

 

 

 

 

This time I am inspired by a beautiful fall in New England. The colors have reached into my soul and painted a vision there. It helps that I visited people that I love, and that for once nothing went wrong along the way! It all stacked up perfectly. No delayed flights, dings to the rental car, or lost baggage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

It's further helpful to have toured a home or two from a genteel time, and a homey sensibility. Standing inside the very rooms of genius and beauty leaves a trace on you that you want to carry with you always. But unfortunately (or fortunately) this kind of inspiration has a certain shelf life, and you have to feed it again and again.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

The travel souvenir developed to fulfil this very purpose. This time I brought home these transferware dinner plates from an antiques shop along a Vermont byway in the hills. They are already busy finding  their places among my things.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The minute I saw this page from Country Living Magazine waiting in my mailbox I couldn't wait to unpack, and lay things on the table.

 

 

Before I left, I thought I would pass on this little tea tray to someone else, but it welcomed me home more than anything else sitting here waiting on my dining table.

 

 

 

 

How could I have missed before that it was painted long ago by someone named Rain?

 

So I'm settling in. Letting the afterglow wash over me before the mundane sets in. There are bills to pay. Calls to make. The stepping into my routine once again, which carries its own blessing.

 

 

 

But for now the beautiful details stand out. Life is sharper. I'm mulling over lines about apple picking time, and roads traveled, and Yankees from Connecticut and such. It's all stewing warmly and deeply, and emanating a pleasing savor. . . .

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much to all of you who stopped by with a word while I was tramping around in the woods! I'm looking forward to getting back to you all.

 

Good to be home.

 

Jacqueline

 

The Charm of Home~Home Sweet Home 

Common Ground~Vintage Inspiration

My Romantic Home~Show & Tell

Between Naps on the Porch~Tablescape Thursday

French Country Cottage~Feathered Nest

Two Roads Diverged In A Yellow Wood. . .

 

 

 

 

 

We visited the home of Robert Frost today, and listened quietly for the sound of the muses in the room where he wrote Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. I was awesome. No surprise that Vermont should provide the inspiration for such poetry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stone house.

 

 

 

 

The dutch door. 

 

 

 

 

A window in the room where Robert Frost sat on a June morning recalling a snowy Vermont winter.

 

 

 

 

 

The grounds.

 

 

 

 

Frost is buried in this churchyard on the road to a two-hundred foot high Revolutionary War monument. Twenty-two stories tall.

 

 

 

 

A view of the same church from the top of the monument.

 

 

 

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Robert Frost

 By contrast, we've been taking some rather well traveled roads, and loving every minute!

So nice that you came along too!

 

Jacqueline

 

 

2805~Potpourri Party

 

The Four Chimneys Inn~ Bennington, Vermont

 

 

 

 

 

It's our first visit to Vermont. Something we have long dreamed of doing. October is the high season here for the foliage, even though we are a week or two late for the peak. It's been an unusual season. The colors have developed differently this year due to temperature or moisture over summer. In fact we found the weather much milder than we expected. Warm, and just a little drizzly. Driving through the Berkshires of Massachusetts in the rain made us feel like we were locals. And absolutely nothing could be more gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

Inns and guest houses are much more common than franchise hotels in Bennington, and we are better for it. The historic Four Chimneys Inn is a cozy and wonderful way to take in the joys of a fall visit to the beautiful State of Vermont.

 

 

 

The grounds are just lovely. I had no idea that hydrangeas could grow like trees! These turn a breathtaking pale pink just in time for June weddings. In fact everything on the property is perfect for celebrations of all kinds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

An excellent breakfast is included with the stay, and we also found the evening dining superb! Two separate dining rooms provide wonderful views all times of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

There's even a scenic pond in the back!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all of you who have been stopping by!

I won't get to visiting much until I get back, but I hope fall is beautiful for you wherever you are. . . .

 

Jacqueline