Category: Americana
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Christmas Village 2025
In motion Everybody loves to see the action, but I needed some help to maximize the fun so my grandchildren, Sam and Annabelle, helped out. Improved track configuration Each year my fans look for what is new in the Christmas Village. Some years the changes are subtle, but not this year. The small hidden trolley…
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Christmas Village Fun 2024
“Wheels are rolling!” Open House Season It has been a joy for my wife and I to welcome about forty people to our home in the various open house events that we have hosted. We love to have our friends and neighbors visit anyway and the Christmas village set provides the attraction. JoAnne and generous…
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More Flower Fun
A Cup of Gold A week ago, just before the hard frost, I rushed out, despite having arrived home after dark, and grabbed armloads of marigolds. I put them in five gallon buckets filled one-third with water and brought them inside. That set the stage for more flower arranging fun. I completed a fall bouquet…
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Marigolds in a Real McCoy!
A vase from Grandma In one of my visits to my sister, the topic of conversation turned to our grandmother’s flower vase and pot collection. We reminisced that grandma had some pots and vases by the classic pottery maker named McCoy. I guess that’s where the old idiom came from, “It’s the real McCoy.” Long…
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Daylily Clumps
Let those daylilies multiply! As daylily lovers, we get used to pictures of perfect single blooms. Catalogs tout them; proud growers post them. Plus we take plenty of those kind ourselves too. But, what really impresses in the garden are the daylily clumps that have been tended for years and are producing a truly beautiful…
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Nostalgia filled puzzle
A picture that evokes memories Puzzle season is in full swing at our house. I just finished this gem. It is a favorite these days because it reminds me of so many things from my childhood. Take, for example, the big stove. While the style of this stove is from an earlier generation, we had…
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Christmas Village Fun 2023
Plus five ideas for a great Christmas village Let’s get started with some pictures. I always have fun trying to take close-ups in the Christmas village. It’s not easy as I need to hold the camera very low to get a good angle. But I like the result. The fun part is to let the imagination take over and…
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Uncovering History in my Garden
Hitching Posts At our home in the historic section of West Granby, CT, the old granite hitching posts standing in the rail fence line are immediately obvious. The remaining granite sentinels with their broken rusty metal loop tie hooks remind me of the mid nineteenth century mill origins of this part of West Granby. I…
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Rose Arbor Delights
Climbing roses reward hard work Rose arbors have a history in our family. My maternal grandmother had a rose arbor. Here’s a picture of my Grandfather and Grandmother, Samuel and Jessie Isaman in front of their home rose arbor. The arbor was still there when I was a child but the roses were no longer…
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The January challenge
January is jigsaw puzzle season at the Jones household. I don’t know if it’s the cold outside or just that we need a change of pace from the business of Christmas. But each year when January rolls around, we dig out our stored boxes and pick some of our favorites. Sometimes we have dueling puzzle…