PLUMMER HOUSE OUTDOOR TOUR

It has been awhile since I've shared Plummer House photos and happenings. It is such a beautiful day that I thought I'd go out and take some photos. If you don't know about the Plummer House, go to my "Plummer House" page for more information. Warning: lots of photos ahead...And yup, we live here...well, in the "west wing" of the house to be more accurate.

                                   THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE...THREE BLOCKS LONG!

This stone wall formerly housed the greenhouse.

Path leading to the former greenhouse. Planning on rebuilding this to its former glory.

                                         


                                                SOME FLOWERS ON THE GROUNDS

Across from our driveway

                                         PORTIONS OF THE BACK OF THE HOUSE

The three windows on the top right are in our living room

Our living quarters extend from the end of the house to the left to the third window dormer above.

The view as we look out our living room windows...lots of birdies show up to bathe

                  MANY STONE HANDMADE STAIRCASES AND PATHWAYS ON THE GROUNDS

This one is made from wood...

Our daughter came down these stairs on her wedding day as do many others. This is a popular wedding destination.

Backdoor leads to the lowest level of the five story home. This part is underground in the front of the house.

                                           

                                          

                                          
                                             AND SOME INTERESTING DETAILS...

Door under the greenhouse... once housed the swimming pool's dressing room. But I love the neat architecture...

Three story repunzel-like tower. Formerly the family's water tower. Our daughter and her husband had a romantic outdoor wedding dinner here with caterers cooking beef and chicken kabobs huge grills.

Stairway next to the tower...leading to a path through the woods

Stone archway beside our garage... a favorite place for photographers

Looking towards the house from the tower...

A lot of unique antique fixtures but the city required the ugly new lightbulbs!

The old drive way that winds through the woods is now not in use. Our kids, grandkids, and neighborhood kids enjoy sledding down this long trail in winter. The surrounding woods bring out many deer, fox, turkey, and other interesting wildlife that we find walking the grounds often.

One of two ponds with fountains on the property. Every year our grandson, Charlie, finds tadpoles in the water and shortly thereafter, tiny little frogs hopping about. A few make it to adulthood and find their way to the top of the hill where Charlie is thrilled with the big Daddy frogs jumping around. Our daughter had her wedding ceremony in front of one of the ponds several years ago. And our son as well a few years before that. Many family memories made here.

We feel immensely blessed being able to live here. We have been here 24 years now as Resident Directors. There are 11 acres of property here but we get to just enjoy it without all the work as there is a grounds crew that takes care of everything, including plowing us out in winter.  We also have a cleaning staff and a maintenance man. We DO have to oversee what goes on with everything, however.
We have made many family memories here! But it DOES keep us busy as it is rented over 200 days a year, we have Open House on Wednesdays during the summer, and we also give group tours. We help "oversee" these events but oftentimes give the Group Tours ourselves. And now we are working with consultants to get the house back to its 1920's heydays, which is a very fun project! I also started a little gift shop during Open House days where Plummer House related treasures are sold.

Living here has increased our interest in our community's history. Les has now joined a group of like-minded people who meet and share local historical new tidbits they've learned about. They call the group,The  Fossils. Or is it that THEY are the fossils. I'm not sure. Two of the men have written books of local historical interest and one gives walking tours of historical areas in the city. We have both learned much about history in general and have enjoyed our many years of living here. We are richly blessed!

MY FALL/AUTUMN BUCKET LIST

I'm now ready to fully embrace FALL! It took me a while longer this time because the summer seemed so short. Having a big snow storm in May might have added to the desire to prolong summer. I know many of you have been "into Fall" about a month now. Yeah, I'm getting a late start. But just to make sure Fall doesn't come and go without embracing all the beautiful things Fall has to offer, I'm making a FALL/AUTUMN BUCKET LIST.

Here are a few things on my list:

                                                  Buy some Mums
                                                  Take a drive and enjoy the Fall colors
                                                  Walk through the woods
                                                  Make apple pie and apple crisp
                                                  Decorate for Fall

                                                  Roast marshmallows over the fire pit
                                                  Bring out the sweaters
                                                  Tailgate party at a football game
                                                  Rake leaves and jump into them ( or let the grandkids jump into them)
                                                 

                               

                                   Bring out the ginger, cinnamon, and pumpkin scented candles
                                   Make bread and butter pickles
                                   Buy some pumpkins and bittersweet
                                   Go to the Fall Farmer's Market
                                  

           

                    
                                                    Go to the Fall Junk Bonanza
                                                    Make chili and corn muffins
                                                    Make caramel apples
                                                   Make caramel corn

                               

                          
         One more thing...It wouldn't be Fall without taking my Mom to a church lutefisk dinner...a    Scandinavian tradition  with all the many Norwegians and Swedes here in Minnesota.

So what's on YOUR Fall Bucket List?

SELLING CUPS AND SAUCERS

While out rounding up some inventory for our next sale I found two beautiful teacups. I can't decide whether to keep them or sell them. I would love to keep them but I say that for everything I buy so where do I draw the line? Oh, decisions, decisions... Well, here's the first:

                                      It's a Royal Staffordshire with delicate flowers...isn't it pretty?

 

 With some flowers and a cupcake left from Mother's Day, I enticed myself to keep it.

                                   I might regret this but my decision is....It's FOR SALE! But I WILL eat that cupcake! (Another decision I'll probably regret! Hah!)

                                                             And that's my final answer.  The other teacup? You'll have to wait until next week to see it. I'm joining the following parties:

Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations
Tea Cup Tuesday at Martha's Favorites
Tea Time Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage
Tuesday Cuppa Tea at Antiques and Teacups
A Return to Loveliness at A Delightsome Life

SPRING IS IN BLOOM...FOR NOW!

WHERE MAN SEES BUT WITHERED LEAVES, GOD SEES FLOWERS GROWING. ALBERT LAIGHTON

I was just thinking that Spring had finally arrived when I heard our friendly local meteorologist report that we'd be having more SNOW this week... on May 2nd and 3rd!!!! So just in case we're skipping some seasons here and are already moving into another WINTER,  I thought I'd get out and see if I could spot a few little signs of Spring! I DO have some  babys breath and  carnations left over from a baby shower we had so it helps having pretty little bouquets like that around the house INSIDE . But I've been getting rather jealous of all the photos I'm seeing on blogs of Spring popping up while  we were still experiencing WINTER! Finally this week the warm weather came so I trekked around the grounds to scout out some bits of Spring.                                    

                                               INSIDE FLOWERS MAKE ME HAPPY

                            

              

BUT OUTSIDE FLOWERS MAKE ME CHEER!

They bloom right through winter's dreariness like HOPE shines bright even in the midst of difficult circumstances.

I hope you are experiencing the warmth and hope that Spring brings!

Linking up with In The Moment