Strawberry Waffles at Saturday Market, Carmel, IN
Food! How can you go wrong with colorful food? We Eat With Our Eyes! It’s that time of year when it is fun to eat outside at the markets and street fairs!
Piada Italian Street Food, Carmel, IN
Won’t you join in? I’m doing Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge!
Boxes and Boxes of Seed Packs at Renfrow General Merchandise, Matthews, NC
Seed Boxes at Renfrow General Merchandise, Matthews, NC
During a Photography Meet-Up Group Day I took a stroll through the town of Matthews, NC.
Matthews was an unspoiled rolling woodland with large strands of trees; the ancestral home of the Waxhaw and Catawba Indians. By the 1800’s this rich and fertile land attracted settlers, who were mainly farmers. The farmers began clearing the land and cotton grew well and became the primary cash crop. As the land was cleared for planting there were so many tree stumps left standing, that the early settlement was called unofficially Stumptown!
Box Shaped Store Fronts in Matthews, NC
Box Shaped Store Fronts in Matthews, NC
The Bicycle Shop, Matthews, NC
Most of the main street shops are in the shape of boxes. There is still a general merchandise store that sells everything! Well for planting that is! If you need ANY type of Seed this is the place for you! Have fun as you look around the small town of Matthews. Lots of boxes here and some outside the box images too!
Renfrow General Merchandise Store, Matthews, NC
Renfrow Hardware and General Merchandise, Matthews, NC
Outside Renfrow General Store, Matthews, NC
Renfrow General Store, Matthews, NC
Renfrow General Store, Matthews, NC
Renfrow General Merchandise got its start before 1900 with Thomas Jefferson “Captain” Renfrow, a mining engineer. Renfrow came to Matthews after the Civil War and opened the Rea gold mine. A movie theater is built upon one of the mine shaft’s openings. As the mine became successful, Renfrow purchased farmland and oversaw a flourishing cotton farm, later becoming a cotton ginner and broker. Renfrow began ginning cotton in 1906 and at one point had four gins operating in one building. The Renfrow General Merchandise Store is an American icon! And one last look at another photo; the BOXcar!
BOXcar, in Matthews, NC
Look here to participate the One Word Photo Challenge presented by Jennifer Nicole Wells!
The Stirewalt House
The Stirewalt House Painted in Waterlogue
The Stirewalt House Painted in Brushstroke
Taking a walk along North Main Street, there are oodles of old homes. Today’s picture is the Stirewalt home. By 1871, Valentine Stirewalt was serving as the manager of Steward’s Hall, the official boarding house for the first students at the college. In 1872 Stirewalt gave up his position and built his home on a lot near campus where the college held the commencement exercises in earlier times. Mr Stirewalt built well, Mrs Currie recalled, “he hewed out the doors from solid oak planks.” His son Bynum and daughter Sallie, the early widowed Mrs. James Paisley, lived nearly all their lives in this home. She played the church organ and he sang in the choir.
There are so many fascinating stories about our small town that I am going to put together a collection and start a new posting series! This will start at the beginning of May, so I’ll keep you posted on that! It will be under the heading LIST, Life In a Small Town.
I hope you enjoyed our walk through the village today! Get out there and see what’s going on in your neighborhood and post it for the IPhriday Photo Challenge! All photos and Apps applications were done with my IPhone!
A Crayola Collection in Quebec City, Canada
A Crayola Collection in Quebec City, Canada
Today is the 120th Day in the 120 Days of Crayola Challenge! Yeah! I did every color on every day! Yeah! I have had a wonderful time with the Challenge; looking up the colors, going through tons of photos and looking for the pictures that I thought would portray the color just right. The Challenge allowed me to be creative in the choice of photos and as always, I tried to make the posts entertaining and educational at the same time! It also reminded me of how much I like to travel and how I love gardens! This is also the first time I posted everyday for any length of time! I was on a roll!
My photos for today are pictures taken in Quebec, Canada and I thought they were a perfect set of pictures to end the Challenge, in a very creative way! Just look at all the Crayola Colors I found scattered all over Quebec City! Fabulous End to the Challenge I think! Thank you for looking in the past 120 days! I hope you enjoyed it! And thank you, Jennifer Nicole Wells, for hosting this Challenge!
A Crayola Collection in Quebec City, Canada
A Crayola Collection in Quebec City, Canada
Yellow-Orange has been in the Crayola assortment since 1930. It is also known as Pineapple Yellow in the series in Mexico, and Mellow Yellow in the “Retro Colors” set. It is the color for Wisconsin, called Moovalous Cheese, in the “State Crayon Collection” and Glowing Eyes Yellow in the “Halloween Crayons” Collection!
Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
One of the best places in the world to look at DOORS would be New Orleans, Louisiana. The houses are colorful, quirky, old, and one of a kind and so are their doors! And notice the intricate latticework too!
The “Shotgun House” is very popular here. It is a narrow rectangular residence, usually no more than 12 feet wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. It is said that a shotgun blast could pass from one end of the house and out the other, un-impeded, hence it’s name! It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War through the 1960’s.
Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Some of the houses are the “Double Shotgun” style with two front doors.
Double Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Double Shotgun House with Icicle Trim, New Orleans, Louisiana
Space is at a premium here in the Marigny neighborhood. The houses have several common traits; trash cans (sometimes painted a wild color) always sit in the front of the house, as do cars and motorbikes, mostly parked on the tiny sidewalks along with the trash cans. Parking space is a luxury here. Also notice the beads, lights and other trinkets scattered haphazardly everywhere! Color is everywhere, and for the most part the brighter the color and their combinations on the house, the better! It’s always nice to add a plant or two too!
Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Wrought iron (worked by hand) decoration or fencing is associated with New Orleans too. Previous to the mid-1800’s balconies and porches were made of tall wooden columns. The Spanish influenced the decorative ironwork, mimicked after their lacework, to add visual contrast to dreary fronts. The more ornate work is often floral or leafy, adorned with the French fleur-de-lis and coquilles (shells) associated with saints (Saint James ) or religious pilgrims. Cast iron details are Victorian additions and not original to the townhouses. Some of the houses are fancy!
Fancy House, New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans Style
New Orleans Style with Color and Plants
New Orleans Style
New Orleans Style with Black Cat Fence
And there is a combination of everything that brings the businesses to life!
The New Orleans Style Business Door
Just ride your bike so you can drink more!
The New Orleans Style Business Door
The New Orleans Style Business Door
The Jazz Club, New Orleans, Louisiana
AND The Plants Match the House Color!
The Jazz Club, New Orleans, Louisiana
Now for the Purple and Orange House! This one is an attention getter!
Purple and Orange House, New Orleans, Louisiana
And One More thought! Size Matters!
Out of Scale: Out of Touch. No High Rise in Marigny! No tear downs and replacing them with high rise dwellings here! Good for them! New Orleans should look like New Orleans!
Size Matters!
This is just one of many photos in the Thursday Door Collection featured by Norm2.0! Won’t you join in or take a peak at all the doors?
Muckross House Garden, Killarney, Ireland
Muckross House, Killarnry, Ireland
Muckross Gardeners Cottage, Killarney, Ireland
View of Killarney National Park, Killarney, Ireland
There is every shade of green in Ireland, so today I am going to share Muckross House with you! These are some of my favorite pictures of Yellow Green!
The sixty five roomed, Muckross Mansion, built in Tudor Style, was designed by Scottish architect, William Burn, and completed in 1843 for Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife, the watercolorist, Mary Balfour. Mary met Henry in Rome and married him in September, 1837. The estate was given to her, by her grandparents, for a wedding present. She loved the grounds, as it reminded her of the family home in Scotland. She brought a large dowry to the marriage equivalent to 3.28 million pounds in 2016, and she and Henry used part of this money to start construction on the house in 1839. She then worked at developing her talents as a watercolor artist, and with no formal training or formal art education, she displayed considerable skill.
Less than twenty years later, in preparation for a visit from Queen Victoria in 1861, extensive improvements to the house and contents, were made for the Queen’s visit. Tapestries, mirrors, Persian carpets, silverware, musical instruments, linen, china and new servants’ uniforms are said to have been specially commissioned for the queen’s visit. Special curtains for the Dining Room were woven in Paris, also to please the Queen.
The Queen’s apartments at Mockross were described by the local press as: “An entire section of apartments has been set aside for the royal family so that they do not need to communicate with the Herbert family when passing through halls. The Queen will live in privacy, and from her rooms can walk onto the delightful grounds, which will be kept private during her stay.” It was clear the Herberts thought the Royal couple and friends would stay awhile.
The Queen, Prince Albert, and two of their children spent two nights there! Little time was spent with the Herbert family and on the last day, Queen Victoria took a carriage ride around the grounds with the Mrs. and then Queen Victoria and entourage went to the train to go elsewhere. As a farewell gift Mary gave the Queen two of her paintings of the landscape at Muckross.
Moral of the story: never re-do your house to please someone else. If they want to come, they can come as you are. Don’t live above your means.
The restorations resulted in huge financial difficulties for the Herbert family, which resulted in the sale of the mansion and the 11,000 acre estate.
Henry died in 1866, (he probably never fathomed being in debt), and Mary with two of her daughters moved back to England, where she lived until 1871, and then moved to Lake Como, Italy, to continue her artwork. She died in London in 1893 and was buried next to her husband in the family vault near the Muckross estate.
In 1899 the estate was bought by Arthur Guinness, who wanted to preserve the landscape.
In 1911, the house and estate were sold to William Bowers Bourn, a wealthy Californian involved in mining. He and his wife passed the estate to their daughter, Maud and her husband Arthur Rose Vincent, as a wedding present. The couple lived there until the death of Maud in 1929. In 1932, her parents and her husband decided to give Muckross House and the 11,00 acre estate to the Irish people and it became the first National Park in the Republic of Ireland. The house and grounds are now part of Killarney National Park.
Yellow Green has been in the Crayola Collection since 1930. It is also known as Monster Green in the “Halloween Crayons” series. The Muckross House and estate turned out to be the green-eyed monster for the Herbert family, but a windfall for the people of Ireland!
This post is just one of many in the Color Your World: 120 Days of Crayola Challenge!
Check out some of the other 150+ challenge participants, it’s amazing what we have done with the Crayola colors!
THE LAMP!
It’s Day 118 of the 120 Days of Crayola Challenge! Wow, we are coming closer to the end! Today the color is Yellow! My photo for Yellow was taken in London at the St Ermin’s Hotel, situated in the heart of Westminster. What a fabulous and convenient spot to stay in to explore London! They even have bees! This unique lamp was in the lobby of the hotel! Now This is a lamp!
St Ermin’s Hotel, London, UK
Yellow has been in the Crayola Collection from the beginning in 1903. It is also known as Sunshine Yellow in the “So Big” set, World Wide Web Yellow in the “Techno Brite” series, and both Starlight Yellow and Sunfish Yellow in the “Discovery” series. In the Hallmark “Tales of a Tooth Fairy” set it is called Cheesy Yellow and Yellow Brick Road, the color for Kansas, in the “State Crayon Collection.” In the “110th Anniversary” set it is named Sunny Side Up!
This post is just one of many in the Color Your World: 120 Days of Crayola Challenge!
Check out some of the other 150+ challenge participants, it’s amazing what we have done with the Crayola colors!
Wisteria
The Wisteria in the Tree
The Wisteria in the Tree
It’s Day 117 in the 120 Days of Crayola Challenge and I’ve been looking forward to the color, Wisteria! At the edge of the woods climbing way up to the tippy-top of the branches, is a massive Wisteria! I’ve been waiting for just the right bloom day to take a picture so I could post it for the color in the challenge! Wisteria seems to just look for something to climb on and finds it even in the woods! Enjoy the color of the day!
Wisteria has been part of the Crayola Collection since 1993. It is also known as Coral Purple in the “Discovery” series and Fruited Plains in the “State Crayon Collection.”
This post is just one of many in the Color Your World: 120 Days of Crayola Challenge!
Check out some of the other 150+ challenge participants, it’s amazing what we have done with the Crayola colors!
Watermelon Feta Mint Skewers
It’s Day 116 of our 120 Days of Crayola Challenge! We’re almost to the End! Let’s get ready to party! How about some Wild Watermelon appetizers?
First Wild Watermelon Feta Mint Skewers, they look easy enough.
Mint Leaves
1/4 large Watermelon
4 oz Feta Cheese
Balsamic for drizzling
Skewers
For Directions look at picture!
Watermelon Fire and Ice Salsa
And how about a Wild Watermelon Fire and Ice Salsa to serve on those party days?
3 cups chopped Watermelon
1/2 cup Chopped Green Pepper
2 tablespoons Lime Juice
2 tablespoons chopped Fresh Cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped Green Onions
1 tablespoon chopped Jalapeno Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Salt
Directions: In large bowl combine watermelon, green bell pepper, lime juice, cilantro, green onions, jalapeno and garlic salt. Mix well and serve with your favorite salsa chip!
Look for these recipes and more on Yummly! It is my favorite App for recipes!!!
Wild Watermelon was the name given to a fluorescent color known as Ultra Red from 1972 to 1990. It is known as Infra Red in the “Techno Brite” series and Flower Power Pink in the “Retro Colors” set.
This post is just one of many in the Color Your World: 120 Days of Crayola Challenge!
Check out some of the other 150+ challenge participants, it’s amazing what we have done with the Crayola colors!
Wild Strawberry
Day 115 and it’s Wild Strawberry Day! Yum! Let’s see, what can we do with strawberries? Summer is right around the corner, let’s party!
Let’s make some Easy Strawberry Lemonade!
1 (12 fluid oz) can frozen lemonade concentrate
4 1/2 cups water
Fresh Strawberries
In a large pitcher mix together lemonade concentrate and water. Stir in Strawberries! Voila ! Done!
Strawberry Lemonade Vodka
Now for the more serious drinker: Strawberry Lemonade Vodka
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 pt Fresh Strawberries
1 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice (about 8 lemons)
6 cups cold water or mixture with ice cubes
1 cup Vodka
Wild Strawberry has been in the Crayola Collection since 1990. It is known as Rockets’ Red Glare in the “State Crayon Collection.”
This post is just one of many in the Color Your World: 120 Days of Crayola Challenge!
Check out some of the other 150+ challenge participants, it’s amazing what we have done with the Crayola colors!
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