rennes

Last week we read in the paper about a greenhouse in Walthman, MA - about a fifteen-twenty minute drive from Boston. It's part of a larger property called the Lyman Estate, which we had never heard of. It's free to walk around (both the outside and the greenhouse - though you can make a small donation if you'd like). It was the perfect escape from the drab grey winter. There were lots of flowers and interesting plants, and of course an added plus was that it was warm!
Back in Philly, one of the books I picked up was about conservatories. This one wasn't included, but it showed lots of them all over the US. I think it would be a fun goal, over time, to make a trip to each one of them. Conservatory road trip! Anyone?
One of my favorite details was the little bits of moss and grass growing in between the sides of the stairs. I can imagine little Kodama sitting on it. Plus, it's so fuzzy looking! They seem to have a few plant sales through out the year, so if you live near by I'd check it out. Jesse left with two little air plants, which he claims he won't kill because he only has to mist them.

 My friend has been riding horses at a stable in New Hampshire for the past seven years and she always asks me to go riding with her. Of course when I finally decided to do it, I seemed to pick a day where it would be ten degrees out: whoops. Despite freezing my behind off, I did manage to get on one of the horses, the brown one above. When I got off of him at the end I slipped on the ice and fell underneath him, but he didn't seem to mind and just stood there calmly like this was a normal and he was used to it.

 Riding was followed by clam chowder and biscuits, the only way I know how to combat the weather. Speaking of cold, I don't know how much more I can take of this. Vacation anyone? I can't seem to stop dreaming about some villa on Santorini or something like that.  Preferably with a veranda looking out on the sea.

Boston never seems to get any snow, or at least none of it accumulates (for the past 2 years at least) - but just little more than an hour away my parents got some! I kind of miss how much snow we used to get growing up. Photo from Mom.

Some fall photos from a quick trip out last weekend to Lexington. I'm not sure it's proper to call it a trip when it's only twenty minutes away. Hoping to have a sunny weekend before the storm hits on Monday or Tuesday (What is it with these Halloween storms?). Perhaps for this weekend a drive out to Mass Moca will be in order - what's MA without some foliage?

Nothing says fall like apple picking, so we went up to Ipswich this weekend to go apple picking with some of our friends. The place we went to is called Russell Orchards - I've been going there since I first moved to Boston. It was packed this weekend, I've never seen anything like it - they even had a security guard there - wtf?! I guess good things can't stay a secret forever can they? Watch out, a fight might break out in the pumpkin patch.

We just got back from a great weekend visit with Joyce and her husband Ben in Vermont. We had such a fun time! They took us to all their favorite places, including a farmer's market, Vergennes Laundry (a lovely bakery), Lake Champlain for kayaking, and an ice cream shop for "creemees" (also known as soft serve, though I like "creemee" better and am glad I learned this new word.)

I also might add, they cook the best Mac & Cheese ever! J + B have one of the most interesting houses I have seen - a Techbuilt prefab - we loved hearing about it and the projects they have been working on. It's always so fun to meet people who you've been blog buddies with, I can't wait until we get to see them again. Thanks so much guys!

A few photos from this past weekend at Old Sturbridge Village. I can still remember my field trip here in third grade. Awww. Except this time was more fun because the geek in me enjoyed asking questions and hearing the answers.

How cool is that carding mill? There was one that made roving and one that made quilt batting. And they still work after 200 years! It doesn't get cooler than that!

We visited one of my favorite places in the Boston area, World's End, this past weekend. It's one of the sites managed by the Trustees of the Reservation. If you are ever in the area, you really should visit. (I recommend the fall when the leaves are turning!) It's the kind of place that makes you feel like you've stepped into a Jane Austin novel!

Yesterday Jesse and I drove up to Gloucester, MA. We had heard about a place called Hammond Castle, built by John Hays Hammond Jr in the twenties for his wife. Somewhat similar in style to Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Hammond had a passion for Medieval and Renaissance antiquities and decided to build a castle to house his collection. His castle is a mish-mash of different architectural styles, including a little French, a little English, and some flying buttresses just for good measure. I can't believe we hadn't come here before, it seemed like a little bit of Europe tucked away on the North Shore. If you are visiting the area I highly recommend making the side trip.

Hammond was an inventor and researcher and had more than 400 patents at the end of his life. Most of them pertained to radio communication and widely impacted US and global naval operations. Today Yale seems to have most of his research equipment, which is too bad because it would have been great to see his lab.

Over the past month I've been trying something new : I've stopped carrying a bag around. Granted I don't need to carry books to school or bring a lunch to work, but when I do go out I've made it a point to go without anything I don't need. Of course, having a winter coat helps with all the pockets, but I like not having that extra weight on my shoulders. Right now I only bring my keys, a tiny card wallet, and my phone. I suppose I've gotten a bit lazy about bringing my camera around because of the lack of a bag, but my phone has, during these cold months, become a good substitute for this. If you'd like, you can follow me at @renneshandmade on instagram. I promise you there will be a lot of pictures of my bird.

1/ One of my favorite spots in Boston, a courtyard in the Boston Public Library.
2/ Muninseok Figures, 17th century at the Peabody Essex Museum.
3/ Playing Chess at Cafe Algiers in Harvard Sq with Orange Mint Hot Chocolate.
4/ Sewing orders last week.
5/ Cocoa hanging out.
6/ New Calendar in our kitchen.

After a day of reflecting I realized I wanted to expand on this. First I'll add that this post was cut short due to our desktop computer breaking. Luckily I live with a computer genius, and now all computer related activities can commence as usual.

Second, all the above pictures we took at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA. I don't know why I didn't mention this before, probably because I've taken and posted so many pictures from there that it seemed redundant. But, it's such a beautiful place that I can help returning there time and again. I've also been enjoying wearing my new sweater from Hetterson, thanks to another pretty awesome trade with Hannah - she even sent me a book on knitting machines - how cool is that? Now I don't have to email her every few days saying - "now wait, how do I do that?"

Third, I want to apologize for being vague lately. Lately I've adopted the motto "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all," otherwise I know I'd be complaining left and right, so most of the time I try to be positive. A little over three years ago I was diagnosed with an extremely rare type of posterior Uveitis. Uveitis causes inflammation of the retna and choroid, and is believed to be caused by an auto immune disorder. Uveitis causes blurred vision, flashes of light, and punched out blind areas. These blind areas don't usually go away once they are there and damage is permanent. (If you go to Pub Med or Wikipedia or anything don't look at the pictures of inflamed eyes - I don't have anything like that - it's all internal.) Since there isn't a cure for Uveitis, patients are often treated with anti-inflammatory drugs and immune suppressants. I've been on both, with limited success. There are good days and there are bad days, but all and all it's a rather annoying thing to have, and I often become frustrated with myself. There are discussions going on about the risk vs. benefits of the medications I've been on, and at the end of the day I don't know what the right decisions are. Right now in many ways I'm lucky because I haven't had a flare up in my direct central vision, thought it's come close. I've also had some other medical things going on in the background that may or may not be related, so lately I've become quite the hypochondriac - but with good reason I think.

We've also spent the last few weeks thinking about my Mom's surgery. Luckily it went well (thank you so much to everyone for your good wishes on that front!) and she is home resting up and getting better. I'm glad that I was able to take the time off last week and be in the hospital. I'm a bit behind on things now, but hopefully will catch up this week. I'm really excited about a few things coming up in December, and can't wait to share those with you. The shop is closed for the time being, hopefully I'll open it again in a little bit.