A Country Inn Day “Country Day”

July 21, 2018July 21, 2018 carolannmccarthy3 Comments

Country Inn Days are days when I take a break from my ordinary life. I may host a tea on such days or enjoy a day of spa activities. I might linger around the inn relaxing and partaking in favorite activities or I might enjoy an outing day. That’s today. Outing days take all forms. They could involve nature, culture, shopping, adventure, city sites or country pleasures.

Today it’s Country pleasures. . .

as I return for the umteenth time to Hale Homestead and its surrounding historic village. As you can see from the sign out front The land for this Homestead was purchased in 1810 and the house built fifteen years later. When I come here I not only feel I’m off in the country, but I also feel I’m going back in time. I love the old world so visiting historic properties is one of my favorite things to do.

I enjoy Country Inn Days off by myself for this way I can stroll around at my own pace, stopping here and there, thinking and reflecting upon all I see without distraction. To be in nature is always a treat, but especially on a beautiful Summer’s day. I don’t know what it is but every time I come to Hale I keep hearing strains of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” in my head. Thinking about people long ago forging their way through untamed nature, creating homes and farms and lives in unsettled territories – it’s awe inspiring. Could you do it? I wonder if I could.

My Dad grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and he would take my Mom, sister and me back to the country every July. I know it was July because the day lilies were always in bloom along the roadsides. Dad loved the country and so did I and so do I yet today. The smells, the space, the animals, and all that gorgeous nature; it’s like heaven on earth.

I love getting close to the animals

Here we see some newborn lambs with one older fellow to help them feel secure

It’s hard not to think of pork chops when I see this fellow. Pigs sure like mud.

I’m sure my grandmother had one of these speckled chickens or is it a hen? Whatever it is it sure is pretty.

And look at this big fellow – a real work horse or shall I say ox

I do love getting close to animals. I love animals and this reminds me of what a penfriend, a Hindu nun, used to say. She said, “Love animals. Don’t eat them.” Are you a vegetarian?

If you are a vegetarian or simply if you like to garden you would enjoy seeing the gardens at Hale. There’s a big one at The Goldsmith House and small gardens here and there. I love to garden. Do you?

I peek inside the fences and try to identify all the plants.

My Dad told me he went to school in a one room schoolhouse so I’m always interested to visit such places. Imagine what such an education would be like. I stroll down the path to the school house and I like to imagine I’m back in time, my father’s time or the time of the Hale family.

And here it is

On another visit I’ll take you inside the schoolhouse.

It’s easy to feel I’m going back in time when I can talk to people dressed in period clothing telling my about the details of daily life back then. Take this lady . . .

Earlier I visited a lady who was spinning. She explained what yarns were used for what, but this lady talked all about how yarns were dyed. Today I go into a yarn store and find a million yarns in beautiful colors ready for my knitting projects, but long ago it wasn’t that easy. First you sheer the sheep, then you spin, then you dye the yarn and finally you begin your project. Nothing was fast or easy back then. How easy we have it now.

I love needlework. I knit, embroider, do counted cross and needlepoint. Do you enjoy needlework? Growing up my extended family would get together for dinners regularly and after the meal the men would congregate in one room playing cards while the ladies went to another room and pulled out their stitchery. That was great fun. We loved seeing what each of us was making. We’d talk and stitch and the time flew by. . .

so when I saw this embroidery inside one of the houses at Hale it brought back memories from my own life. I still enjoy needlework but now the young women in my family busy themselves with other things – tennis and taking their children here, there and everywhere. They have no time for stitchery. I now stitch on my own. It’s still fun, but I miss the old days.

And when I came upon this dining table set beside a window in one of the old houses it reminded me of a sweet lady I used to visit down the road from my grandmother’s house in the country. I was about six years old then and Nora was a retired school teacher She had the most beautiful flower garden outside her window. When I asked her how she created this garden she said it was easy. When the bouquet of flowers on the table drooped she’s opened the window and tossed the flowers out. Apparently they’d go to seed and automatically create the prettiest scene. I should try that.

I do love old houses. Do you?

“All houses wherin men have lived and died are haunted houses.” These are the first lines of a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The houses are still here, but where are the people who inhabited them? I can’t help but wonder.

To walk inside the very rooms where people of the past enjoyed daily life is magical to me.

“The stranger at my fireside cannot see the forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear; He but perceives what is; while unto me all that has been is visible and clear.” That’s a little more of Longfellows”s poem “Haunted Houses”. I love that poem. Google it. Maybe you’ll love it too.

Of course the one thing about old houses that never did appeal to me was the lack of a proper bathroom. I’ve had personal experience with the alternative, the Outhouse.

This particular outhouse, freshly painted, looks pretty cute, but I recall as a little girl going out in the dark to the outhouse at my grandmother’s place… the wet grass, wondering what you might be stepping on in the dark. . . and then the smell. It’s been a long time but that experience is pretty hard to forget. I think near the end of my Grandmother’s life she did have indoor plumbing and I bet she loved it!

Coming to Hale Homestead is always a Country Inn Day “Country Day” that is a real treat for me. I shared with you just the tiniest bit of my experience there. To be out in nature on a beautiful day communing with plants and animals and looking back through the window of time at houses and their interiors, chatting with people who looked to be of the period – a wonderful thing. Much to reflect upon and as Lord Byron said, “A life without reflection is a sad affair.”

I hope you have opportunities to go off to the country and to explore the past as well.

Step out of your daily routine now and then and give yourself permission to enjoy any or all of your favorite things. – Focus on beauty. It feels wonderful. Then share the joy; for sharing doubles the joy. I’ve sure enjoyed sharing my Country Inn Day with you.

So till next we meet

Love from Carol Ann, Lady of Letters

The Joy of Letter Writing

August 2, 2016August 2, 2016 carolannmccarthy6 Comments

When was the last time you wrote a personal letter for no reason other than to let a friend or relative know you were thinking of them? I wrote two letters a few hours ago. This is a daily ritual with me. It feels great to take my mind off my own life and focus on the life of someone else. I have my regular pen friends, but I also enjoy sending letters off to relatives and local friends, people I like who I don’t have the opportunity to see often or ever!

I enjoy pausing in my busy day to reflect on life for if I go, go, go and never stop life becomes one long “to do” list offering me no chance to ponder and appreciate those very things that I’m doing. I double my fun by “doing” things and then “reflecting” on those things. Lord Byron (one of my “dead friends”) had it right when he said, “A life without reflection is a sad affair.” I think reflection is important. It gives us a chance to stop and relax in between activities.

I could reflect and keep the reflections to myself, but I truly believe sharing doubles the joy, so I share my reflections in the letters I write to my pen friends. My pen friends then share their reflections with me. It’s a wonderful cycle.

I know I could use the telephone as my way to reach out to others, but I might call at an inconvenient time for my friend. Just because I’m in the mood to share doesn’t mean my friend has the time just then. A letter is polite. It arrives, but can wait to be read at whatever time is convenient. It can also be kept and read again and again and again. A letter is lasting. Why would someone want to reread a letter you ask? Well, if we write letters full of kind thoughts, compliments and beautiful ideas our friends might like to reread our letters when they need a lift.

Besides all this, there’s art involved in letter writing, not only the personal art of our handwriting, but also the opportunity for us to enjoy a little art play as we create our stationery. Creativity is very therapeutic and good for the soul. There are plenty of machine-made items in the world today but how many handmade articles do you encounter daily? A hand written letter will always stand out because not only is it personal, and handmade, but it is also quite rare in these modern days.

I love writing letters but I get equal pleasure from receiving letters like this one from my pen friend Sarah in Viroqua, Wisconsin. With lots of pen friends the whole world becomes your friendly neighborhood. As you write to all sorts of people with all sorts of interests and experiences your life is enriched.

My pen friend Sarah is a real health food person. She shares all sorts of healthful recipes with me and whether or not I make these things I enjoy reading about them – things like her snacks of yogurt with carob powder and sorghum. Sarah eats sorghum morning and night. She says it digests slowly and is a good fuel source. Did you ever eat sorghum?

Sarah buys grass fed beef hot dogs, chops up 2 eggs right out of the shell, adds celery seed with a liberal pad of butter, some spinach, parsley or cilantro, and cooks it all up to create a lunch she loves. Well, it’s not exactly a lunch I would love, but I enjoy the subject of food and discussing it in letters is interesting to me. Would you find this subject interesting too?

Sarah said she doesn’t eat much bread but if she does indulge it has to be Sprouted Organic Ancient Grains – The Queen’s Khorasan. Ever hear of it? I hadn’t. It’s made with sprouted khorasan wheat, an ancient grain that entertained Egyptian royalty more than 5,000 years ago. Who would know? Pen friends teach me all sorts of things about food and about many other subjects as well.

I may not be able to hop on a plane and travel to far off places, but because I have pen friends in those far off places it’s easy for me to enjoy virtual outings whenever these friends write to me sharing their world. One such special friend is Joanna who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Besides her beautiful handwriting and her Scottish news I love to see the stamps on her envelopes.

Joanna also shares picture postcards from her travels. These post cards always contain lovely descriptions and lots of background information. I could just read The New York Times travel section (which I do read) or National Geographic, but there’s something special in getting a friend’s personal reaction to a place. Do you recognize the picture above? It’s a picture of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Joanna visited it recently and found it interesting that in any other Renaissance building most people would spend hours admiring the painted ceilings, the immense collection of classical sculptures and the portraits of European monarchs of the 16th and 17th centuries, but she noticed no one was paying any attention to any of those features at the Uffizi Gallery because they were too busy looking at the other paintings. I too love art and my pen friends help me see things I would otherwise not have a chance to see.

Did I just say I love art? Yes I did, all kinds of art, so you can see why I enjoy finding creative letter envelopes in my mailbox. This one is from my pen friend Kathy who lives in York, Pennsylvania. Kathy loves cats. She often draws a cat on her letter envelope among other things). I love seeing her art work. She especially loves her cat Alice, but Kathy loves lots of good things that I also appreciate, especially her love of classical music and singing in a choir.

No, this isn’t Kathy’s Alice, but I wonder if Kathy would dress Alice up in this way. Kathy tells me there was a “dress up your pet contest” and this cat pictured was a winner. I wonder if Alice would put up with a hat and earrings. My dog would never have heard of such a thing. But to each his own. I have some catnip in my garden and I’m planning to send it to Alice via Kathy. I never had a cat, but I do love animals, and any friend of Kathy’s is a friend of mine, a friend deserving of a little present now and then.

Letters are wonderful. I can’t imagine living without them. Some letters are serious and others are whimsical. Some letters educate and others just share simple pleasures. Letters add so much to my life and I know they would add as much to your life too.

I hope you are a letter writer. I hope you have lots of lovely pen friends as I do. I hope you enjoy art play creating your very own stationery. It’s all so good! The Art of Letter Writing is not a lost art. It still exists. All it needs is You! Write your friends and relatives. Join The Letter Exchange if you need a few new interesting pen friends. Leave a comment on this post. I’d love to hear from you myself.

Just Write!

A Winter’s Country Inn Day

February 21, 2015July 7, 2015 carolannmccarthy2 Comments

IMG_8633[1] — The Jeremiah Brown House 1853

On some Country Inn Days when the weather is cold and snowy it’s nice to stay all cozy and warm at the Inn not venturing out at all. That’s today! Though it’s a bit gloomy outside, inside the Inn is bright and buzzing with activity for the Innkeeper, the Inn chef, the Inn maid, the Inn gardener, and the Inn guest are all keeping quite busy… and all those people are me!

As you may or may not know the magic of Country Inn Days has the power to transform me into all these characters as I use my imagination. What fun I have! I hope you are in the habit of using your imagination too.

IMG_8667[1] — One of the Inn’s new rooms

The Jeremiah Brown House, my 1853 Country Inn of imagination, is where I spend much of my time, and its been undergoing an addition ever since last Summer. The Innkeeper, me, has been busy buying furniture and designing the new rooms. Today I stroll this and other rooms imagining how it soon will look for workers are coming in a day or two to sand, stain, and finish the floors and once the floors are finished the furniture will be delivered and then it won’t be long till guests can be entertained at the Inn once again. I’m anxious for that day to come because I can’t wait to host my sharing teas and dinner parties once more. This place is not for me alone. It must be shared with friends and family. Sharing doubles the joy.

IMG_8693[1] — A few garden books from the Inn’s library

As Innkeeper I study the new rooms, but as Inn gardener I have other things to do. A gardener can’t work outside when the snow is a few feet deep and the temperature is only 29 degrees, but she can study the gardens found in books to give her ideas and that’s exactly what I’m doing on this cold Winter day.

One particular book with lots of lovely old fashioned garden ideas is “Grandmother’s Garden” by May Brawley Hill. It features gardens popular from 1865 to 1915. Though my Inn was built earlier, it was still around in those later years too, so this book just might have some fine ideas for me. I do love old world ways and the Jeremiah Brown House needs old world ways to keep hold of its historic character.

There’s never a dull moment on a Country Inn Day. So many things to do. As Inn maid I always seem to have ironing waiting at the Ironrite, the ironing machine I inherited from my mother. It makes ironing table linens a breeze. And of course the Inn always uses fresh, crisp linens in its dining room.

The linens have to be prepared but the Inn cook, me, has other work to do in the kitchen. Busy, busy, busy! A new kitchen is being designed here, but until the new kitchen is ready the old kitchen works just fine. It will become a butler’s pantry when the new kitchen is finished. I’ve always wanted a butler’s pantry.

Here in the old kitchen I’m preparing a menu of chicken with wine accompanied by a pasta containing carrots, mushrooms, and caraway seeds. This pasta is seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika. There’s also an asparagus flan in the works.

This flan combines asparagus, bacon, eggs, milk, and heavy cream, with parsley, salt and pepper. It bakes in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees – very French!

I hope the Inn guest, me, enjoys the meal. I’m sure she will. After all, she’s been enjoying the whole day free from her usual music work. All regular daily activities are aborted on Country Inn Days in favor of other playful and relaxing Inn experiences. One of the Inn’s wonderful relaxing experiences is snuggling up with a good book. Today that book is Jane Austen’s “Mansfield Park”.

And another favorite activity at the Inn, or anywhere at all, is letter writing. I am an avid letter writer. Today I’ve written two letters – one to my pen friend Amelia in Minnesota and another letter to Susie in Virginia. As my dear “dead friend” Lord Byron always said – “Only in letter writing do we have solitude and society simultaneously.” How true that is. I relax all by myself at the Inn but I’m able to connect with friends through letters.

How nice it is to get away from it all without packing and traveling long distances. Of course I would love to bop over to my favorite Red Lion Inn in the Berkshires of Massachusetts every week, but that’s not possible. Having my Country Inn Days really helps keep me amused between my visits there. Just a little imagination makes the simple things in life great fun.

What was it Mary Poppins said? – “In every job that must be done there is an element of fun. You find the fun and then the job’s a game”! She was so right. My Country Inn Days truly make ordinary life a sort of game. And adults have to play too.

The dinner bell has rung. I must leave you now. Linens, candlelight and a yummy meal just for me, well, for my hubby too. He always joins me on my Inn getaways. Others check into the Inn too, but I’ll tell you about them another time. So I have to run.

After dinner perhaps a bubble bath and then hopping into a warm and cozy bed with sweet dreams ahead.

There’s nothing like a Country Inn Day, a day to hibernate at the Inn and escape from the world if that’s what I need or it could be a day out in the world exploring favorite places and looking for adventure.

I’m happy you joined me today because sharing doubles my joy. It really does. Maybe now you’ll go off on your own Country Inn Day adventure. If you do, let me know. I’d love to hear all about it.

Till next time.

Bye

Don’t know what you think? Try writing a letter.

November 11, 2013July 8, 2015 carolannmccarthyLeave a comment

“I don’t know what I think until I see what I write.” Those are the words of Flannery O’Connor, the American writer and essayist. As backwards as this idea might seem, I feel exactly the same way each morning when I sit down to write my first letter of the day.

There I am with my first cup of coffee and the letter I plan to answer. My mind is still rather blank after a good night’s sleep. The day hasn’t yet had its chance to invade my thoughts, but, as I read through my friend’s letter, ideas begin to flow. That letter I’m answering may tell me a story of love, report a discovery, or describe a challenge, and reading of such things will then conjure up my own similar experiences – or lack of them – and such reflections will start my mental ball rolling.

Once my thoughts are activated, it’s not long before my creativity kicks in and my letter response is off and running. Where it ends up is anyone’s guess!

Sark, in her book “Succulent Wild Woman” writes, “A story can travel without you and inspire many. The tiniest story in your life can deeply touch another. You cannot know the effect your story might have.”

If you keep this idea in mind when you write letters, your writing will become more than a simple free-time activity: It will become a way you can make this world a better place just by being you and sharing the best parts of yourself – your ideas, enthusiasm, faith, hope, compassion, lessons learned, and things loved.

Sark also says, “Creativity thrives in solitude – not isolation. As creative women we need community.” I suggest women aren’t the only ones who need community either. Everyone needs community.

No man is an island. Letter writing is a wonderful activity because though we may be enjoying the peaceful, luscious solitude of our home or the pleasure of our own table in a crowded coffee shop we’re alone in one way, but we’re not entirely alone. We have the companionship of our letter friend.

My best intellectual and/or creative conversations seldom happen while chatting with friends in person, even though I’m lucky to have many intelligent, creative friends. Maybe it’s just me, but when I get together with friends it’s more like a party, and conversations tend to stay light and festive.

In-person friends are forever jumping into each other’s thoughts with asides and comments. The topic is constantly changing. It’s great fun, but entirely different from conversations in letters. In letters there are no interruptions and the tone often becomes more serious and thoughtful.

In writing a letter, one has the chance to form all thoughts slowly and carefully, getting them all out before a word is written in reply. Therefore these written thoughts have a chance to develop more completely. By the same token, our letter friend has plenty of time to digest and reflect upon our words before responding to them.

Modern life and modern communication does not encourage these slow, thoughtful exchanges, and this is a real shame, for most people don’t even know what they’re missing. As with so many things, one must experience good letter conversations in order to understand how they can enrich our lives.

If you are a thoughtful person who enjoys shared reflection, I would think you’d love letters and letter writing, for, with the right correspondents conversations will occur that add depth to your intellectual life. Good letters tell stories. They describe comings and goings, explore feelings, and capture and preserve personal essence.

Lord_Byron_coloured_drawing — Lord Byron

Letter writing helps us reflect upon and examine our stories and the stories of others, something busy modern life does not encourage us to do. Reflection is good. Shared reflection is even better. It’s important. Lord Byron wrote, “A life without reflection is a sad affair.” I agree. Don’t you?

So reflect upon your story, then write lots of letters sharing your most outstanding personal tidbits. You will tingle with awareness and eagerly await letter responses from your pen friends. You will feel like a real writer – and for good reason. You will be one!

“A story is a medicine that greases and hoists the pulleys, shows us the way out, down, in and around, cuts for us fine wide doors in previously blank walls, doors which lead us to our own knowing.”

Clarissa Pinkola Estes American poet, post-trauma specialist and Jungian psychoanalyst

The Pleasure of a Letter

August 1, 2013July 9, 2015 carolannmccarthy9 Comments

Dear _______________,

You already know my name. It’s Carol Ann, but I wish I knew your name so I could address this letter to you properly. Yes, it is a letter that you’re reading even though it’s not the typical letter I write each day – the kind that uses paper, ink, postage stamps and sealing wax.

We have something in common, you and I, we both have an interest in the Art of Letter Writing. I absolutely love letters – to write them and to write about them, to receive them, and to share my enthusiasm for them with others.

Do you write many letters? I figure I’ve written at least 10,000 letters so far. That number was easy to come up with because for the last 20 years or so I’ve been writing one letter each morning with my coffee before I do any other thing, and very often I write more letters later in the day.

If I have a boring job to do (like cleaning the house) I’ll make the job more tolerable by giving myself permission to take breaks here and there and in those breaks I’ll write a page of a letter. Do you do things like that?

I’m sure I could happily write letters all day long if I allowed myself to do so, but I do enjoy a few other things. well maybe more than a few, so at this time in my life I limit my letter writing. The day may come when I feel this limitation is unnecessary.

After all, isn’t it Ralph Waldo Emerson, my very own “dead friend”, who said “To find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of golden hours is wisdom.” So perhaps it would be a very wise move for me to grant myself permission to write more letters even now. What do you love to do? What could be more golden than filling our days with our most favorite things?

You’re reading these words of mine and I’m happy you are, sharing really does double my joy, but perhaps one of these days you’ll be inspired to write of a few words of your own and send those words off to me. I’d love that! You might write a comment at the end of this post or take out paper and a pen to write a real old-fashioned missive, one I could keep in a box and refer to time and time again, saving the letter for my future grandchildren to enjoy some day.

It seems to me that our task on earth is to find our deep soul work and throw ourselves into it head-long. For me letters play a big part in that soul work for as I delight in the writing and receiving of letters carrying on this beautiful old art form, helping to keep the art alive, I am also able to share many other joys with lots and lots of people.

We’re all in this life together and the more connected we are to each other the richer our lives become. In letters we share the daily comings and goings of life, but so much more. In letters we share ideas and philosophy. My old letter friend, Harry, was always putting beautiful, thought-provoking ideas into my head. One idea I liked very much, one that I’m forever sharing with others is this:

WORK AND WORRY ARE STURDY WEEDS, BUT JOY REQUIRES CULTIVATION.

What joys are you cultivating? Being a gardener I can’t help but relate the cultivation of my joys to the cultivation of my herbs and flowers. My favorite plants don’t just happen, but strangely the weeds in my garden do. So it is with our joys. Developing joys into passions take time and effort. First, we need to identify our favorite things just as we need to plant flower seeds. Then we need to work those favorite things just as we need to work and fertilize the soil around our plants. This takes time and effort. I’ll often ask people what passions they’ve cultivated and very often they just give me a blank stare.

What does this have to do with the Art of Letter Writing? Well, good letters ask questions and get one thinking. Writing letters provide us with that quiet time to think, ponder and reflect. In today’s world it’s not so easy to find ourselves alone in quiet. Thomas Edison would go to a lake holding a fishing pole. There was no bait on that pole, but people left him alone since they assumed he was fishing and needed quiet. Well, he did need quiet, but not to fish. He needed quiet to think.

In writing our letters we are giving ourselves quiet alone time to think, but we’re also connecting to others at the same time. Lord Byron, another favorite “dead friend”, put this idea beautifully when He said, “Only in letter writing do we have solitude and society simultaneously”. We’re alone with our thoughts, but we’re also sharing them with our letter friend. Our friend receives those thoughts, ponders them, adds his or her own, perhaps includes a few more questions for discussion, and the end result is a rich mix for both of us.

People always ask me what in the world I can find to talk about in a letter. They forget a letter is a conversation and if our mind happens to be blank one day all we have to do is read our friend’s letter and respond to the ideas we find there.

Henry David Thoreau, (yes, another “dead friend” – I have lots of them) said, “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with successes unexpected in common hours.”

Time alone spent in reflection can help us get in tune with ourselves, and how nice it is if we can also get in tune with others at the same time. Letter writing provides us with this opportunity. It’s no wonder I find writing letters such a complete treat and maybe you do too. It gives me a time to sit and rest, a time to ponder the life I have and the life I want to have, and it offers me the opportunity to share my life with others.

SHARING DOUBLES THE JOY AND DIVIDES THE SORROW

So when I find a letter in my mail box addressed just to me, I’m delighted! Someone was thinking of me. Someone wanted to share. I can’t wait to read what they have to say. I’m delighted to sit myself down and ponder their thoughts. I’m then anxious to reply, though life does get in the way at times for a quick reply.

What activities fill you with delight? Are you cultivating your joys? Are you sharing them? Are you achieving the wisdom that comes from living hours that are golden? Are you advancing confidently in the direction of your dreams? If you’re a letter writer I bet the answer to all these questions is a big YES! And these questions are great to include in your letters to others for questions like these will help your friends focus on some of the most important issues of life. Maybe one of those next letters you write will be going off to ME! I hope so. I’d love to hear from you. Really!

Here’s wishing you golden days filled with wisdom.

Truly,

Carol Ann