May 08, 2024

A Weekend Away

May 08, 2024/ Meryl

Recently I visited Washington, D.C. with my sister for a family celebration. We managed to sneak in a bit of time to tour the National Gallery of Art and Mount Vernon.

We only had an hour at the National Gallery of Art. We chose to visit the West Building. We quickly made our way through an incredible collection of Furniture to the Impressionists, then we viewed the Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de' Benci and finished with the Dutch Masters. Both the art and the buildings architecture were equally enjoyable.

Sunday we headed out of DC to Mount Vernon.

I hadn’t been to Mount Vernon since I was quite little maybe 5 years old. I was super excited!

When we purchased our tickets we picked the timed option for the Mansion Tour. I would suggest allowing at minimum 20 mins at the Ford Orientation Center prior to your tour time to get acclimated, look around and make sure staff reviews your ticket. We paid for Guidebooks we didn’t receive. Then we made the 10 min walk to the Mansion entrance line. We didn’t understand we would not be reentering this building. After your tour you are led to the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center - which you should allow time to visit. Our schedule was getting tight once we were done touring the grounds and we quickly made our way to the Food Court and Shops before heading home.

We were on property for 3 hours but, easily could have been for 4 or more.

A Brief History

1674: The property was granted to George Washington's great-grandfather, John Washington, by King Charles II of England. John Washington and his friend Nicholas Spencer were awarded a 5,000-acre land consisting of the peninsula in the Potomac River, bordered by Dogue Run and Little Hunting Creek. The land would be divided equally between Washington and Spencer, but the entirety of the land would one day become Mount Vernon.

1698: Tenants living at what was then Little Hunting Creek Plantation.

1726: George’s father Augustine Washington acquires the property from his sister.

1734: Augustine Washington resides at Hunting Creek Plantation with his second wife Mary and children including George. The home is a story and a 1/2 in height with 4 rooms of equal size off of a central hall. This is still the center-most part of Mount Vernon.

1754: George leases Mount Vernon from his half-brother Lawrence’s widow. The structure was continually modified and added to until 1787.

Mount Vernon website has amazing images and a virtual tour.

The New room is currently closed to visitors for preservation work. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been maintaining the Mount Vernon Estate since they acquired it from the Washington family in 1858.

**The New room is closed. this image is from their website.**

Green paint was very expensive and was made with copper. This let guests know you are very wealthy. Notice the woodwork is painted as well.

We were told the fact that George and Martha always had visitors and had not eaten dinner by themselves for 20yrs.

We learned the meal schedule at Mount Vernon: Breakfast at 7am, Formal Dinner at 3pm and Tea at 6:30pm and often times tea was taken in the bedroom. This is why we see dining chairs in the sleeping chambers.

**Garret Bedchamber on the 3rd Floor Where Martha moved after George’s death**

So many blooms; the Irises, Peonies and Snapdragons were beautiful.

The Shops at Mount Vernon had a variety of wonderful treasures.

Both my sister and I came home from the weekend with a post card of the van Gogh painting Green Wheat Fields, Auvers and a copy of the Guide Book. The snafu of our buying them twice has been rectified. This little book packs a ton of details and I highly recommend. You can also purchase on-line.

If you have a trip planned to the area I highly recommend visiting both. Til next time friends be well and I’ll see you over on the Gram!

September 06, 2023

Truly Magical!

September 06, 2023/ Meryl

Friends we closed out summer 2023 with a trip to Orlando Florida last week. We were fortunate that Hurricane Idalia didn’t impact us.

We visited Epcot, Universal, Hollywood Studios, Typhoon Lagoon and the Magic Kingdom. We stayed at the Beach Club Resort which is close to Epcot. We like to be close to Epcot during the annual Food & Wine Festival so we can pop over just to walk around and eat and drink from the many kiosks they set up or at one of the regular restaurants. We also had delightful lunches in the parks.

Here’s a peek at our trip. (I took over 400 photos!)

Beautiful Sunset our second night from the Pool

Hollywood Studios

after dinner we walked around and shopped until the fireworks

Our Last Day was spent at the Magic Kingdom

Disney is not for the faint of heart and I’m glad we only visit every five years. We have my sister and niece to thank for all their planning. My sister could be a travel agent for her exemplary attention to detail she started planning this trip a year ago. My niece stepped in with her first hand knowledge of Lighting Lanes; having visited the parks recently and got us onto every ride we wished to enjoy some more than once!

If you’re wondering my favorite ride is a tie between Peter Pan’s Flight in the Magic Kingdom and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in Epcot. A fan favorite with the rest of the family was Tron in the Magic Kingdom.

These trips are what memories are made of! I feel truly blessed to have had such fun!

Til next time friends be well.

August 30, 2023

Picture Postcard

August 30, 2023/ Meryl

This week I’m sharing a bit of history by way of postcards. Although times are different in 2023 - I still buy them - there is just something about this bit of card stock I can’t say no to.

On February 27, 1861 Congress passed an act allowing privately printed cards to be mailed. That year John P. Charlton copyrighted the first postcard in America. On May 19, 1898, Congress passed an act allowing private printing companies to produce cards with the statement “Private Mailing Card, The words “Private Mailing Card” distinguished privately printed cards from government cards.

In December 1901 the Postmaster-General issued Post Office Order No. 1447, changing the words to “Post Card” from “Private Mailing Card” on the back. Private printers were now allowed to omit the line citing the 1898 Private Mailing Card Act. However, messages were still not allowed on the address side. By this time, the front of most postcards had images, which eliminated space for messages. Because of the absence of message space on the address side, this Period is known as the Undivided Back Period.

On October 1, 1907 the Universal Postal Congress decreed cards could have messages on the left half of the address side, thus starting the Divided Back Period, which spans from 1907 until 1915.

There are additional periods including the White Border Period: 1915-1930 Printers saved ink by not printing to the edge of the card and leaving a border, these cards had a description of the image on the address side.

The Linen Period: 1930-1945 a new printing processes allowed printing with high rag content, which gave the cards the look of being printed on linen instead of paper.

Photochrom Period: 1945 - Present Modern photochrom-style cards first appeared in 1939 when the Union Oil Company began to carry them in their western service stations.

I still have my own copy of this Bermuda postcard purchased in 1974.

I’ve found a ton of postcards of my hometown. Here are examples of our Business district including President Grover Cleveland’s birthplace he was born here in 1837.

In the early 1900's people could have postcards produced with their own home as the subject. The postcard below was mailed in 1906. Since this was during the Undivided Back Period the message is written on the front: This house has just been completed by us at Essex Fells. Cost $40,000, 100 ft. on front. The home is located at 131 Rensselaer Road. Which still stands today.

This card is also sharing a residence.

Ocean City, NJ has been our beach destination for years.

I love thrifting cards and added Greetings From Florida to my collection. I was gifted the vintage Ocean City and Horse Track cards for my birthday.

This is similar to one I have from a trip with my parents when I was a kiddo.

My uncle had a vacation home in Normandy Beach.

“postcard: (NOUN) a card for sending a message by mail without an envelope, typically having a photograph or other illustration on one side.”

Residential cards from my hometown.

A local swim club that operated from the 1940’s into the 1980’s. Once sold the property now includes the famous home of character Tony Soprano.

More local cards. The Avenue, Summer Resort: The Monomonock Inn, County Park and the Movie house.

Bloomfield Ave at Business Center, Caldwell, NJ.jpg

I have a large and always growing collection of Souvenir Post Cards from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sometimes I frame a card - The Little Mast by James McNeil Whistler hangs in our bath. I have Post Card books too.