What's the Plan, It's a New Year

A cool Leo the Lion pin Brooch for sale in my Etsy Shop.

As a new year begins it's time for reflection and future plans. It's the perfect time for me to cozy up beside the wood stove and tie up loose ends for my online business. Tax submission is always last minute for me and I enjoy it like a root canal but at least I have a jump on it with all income and expenses logged online in my accounting software, outright.com.  I would die without this free online software, it has really made tax preparation a breeze. 

TV Room before painting.

TV Room after painting.

Now that we have been settled into our home for 4 years, I anticipate 2014 to be the year for tweaking. We've checked off many of the major home repair projects but there are a few small jobs still on the list.  Several rooms need paint touch ups, our little shed needs to be painted, our kitchen still needs decent flooring, and we need to lay some tile in front of the wood stove. This past Fall while I was in New York City my husband painted the dark paneling in our TV room a bright neutral color.  It seemed like a project that would never be completed since it's the most used room in the house and room deconstruction seemed improbable. That was a major undertaking as was installing a liner for our wood stove, the prior year, but thankfully both are behind us now. 

Annual patch of Cosmos we grow from seed each year.

This gardening season, I'm going to try and not to add new plants or beds and simply tweak what I have and grow my usual tomatoes, peppers, and herbs from seed. Last year I found a wonderful seedling lamp at a yard sale that I'll put to good use. I hope to visit more gardens this year and my husband and I even talked about a trip to Nashville to check in on the Levy Lions at Cheekwood Gardens. That all depends on if we can find a chicken sitter that wants to rise at the crack of dawn to let the girls out!

NEW cute patent leather black shoes I'm selling for a friend.

In reflecting on last year, my online business continues to grow. I have 5 online shops now, 2 on Etsy, and shops on Storenvy, Bonanza, and Ebay. I have three consignment clients which makes it all the more interesting and it's fun to see who buys what and where it ships. We now have a tablet that cha-chings whenever I make a sale - how fun is that! So far, each year I sell 100 more items than the prior year so I hope to continue down that path as momentum and experience sets in.

Dear Simba

Sweet Sally

We experienced several losses last year in the pet department. Our dear old doggie, Simba, finally passed at 16 years and we lost several sweet chickens of natural causes. My favorite chicken, Sally the Comet died a week after Simba, most chickens only live 5 - 6 years. 

As far as saving money, I did a fast tally on what I saved last year by couponing and buying on sale.  I was happy to discover savings of over $1,300. This year I am going to try and do more crockpot cooking, and of course continue to seek out organic and non-GMO foods.  It's my own personal protest again what is happening to our seed diversity and purity! I've found that vegetables really DO taste better organic (compare some bananas or potatoes for starters). We eat mainly vegetarian and non-prepared foods so will continue down that path as well. 

Ivy Creek Natural Area where River meets Reservoir.

To welcome in the New Year, my husband and I hiked along the Peninsula Trail at Ivy Creek Natural Area. It's a hard time of year to find something green to photograph but I always seem to snag that perfect unexpected shot. The only wildlife we spotted was one lone deer, some Chickadees, and across the Reservoir the green heads of several male Mallard Ducks. I hope to exercise in some manner each day but that continues to always be difficult, it's only day 3 in 2014 and I couldn't manage to get off the computer yesterday to meet that goal.

My favorite photo I took last year, Kevin Floodlight Dahlia

Wishing you a Happy New Year and find something meaningful to submerge yourself into during 2014 but only tweak not twerk... you wouldn't want to hurt yourself!

-Rebecca

 

Historic Inns of Orange Tour

Mayhurst Inn

Sunday we traveled 30 miles north of Charlottesville to Orange Virginia for the annual Historic Holiday Inn Tour, sponsored by the Dolley Madison Garden Club. I don't get to Orange often but with each visit, I like it a little more.

Inn at Westwood Farm

The tour featured three historic Inns decorated for the Holiday Season.  Our first stop was to the Inn at Westwood Farm which has been completely restored since its original construction in 1910. Located just down the road from James Madison's Montpelier in a rural farm setting on 15 acres.

Relaxing on the back porch at Inn at Westwood Farm

Warm and inviting, we enjoyed sitting on the back porch overlooking the barn and scenic Virginia farmland. This would make a wonderful weekend retreat for city folk, relaxing and peaceful, complete with hens, a garden kitty, and lovely porch views.

Historic Holladay House

After making several stops at local Thrift Shops and visiting with a few Guinea Hens and Ducks at the Barboursville Gift Gallery, we made our way to our next Inn in downtown Orange, the Holladay House.

The top of the darling Owl Tree.

We received a warm welcome at the oldest Inn on the tour, enjoying the creative decorations and a cute Owl Tree in the expansive Dining Room. A stay at this Inn would make a sweet weekend retreat, conveniently located to downtown shops.

Mayhurst Inn

Our last stop was to the 1859 Italianate Mansion, the Mayhurst Inn. This historic home was originally part of a 2,500 acre plantation. The proud owners were on hand to talk about the fascinating history of this lovely property. We were romanced by the beauty and we felt transported to the Victorian era. It's no secret that this is a popular Wedding spot - beautiful.

The Kenwood Players

We especially enjoyed the live music in the parlor performed by the Kenwood Players.

Indian Runner Ducks at Barboursville Gift Gallery

We're looking forward to going back to Orange in April for Historic Garden Week tours in Gordonsville Virginia! Spring is just around the corner.

-Rebecca

Monticello Levy Lions

Enhanced from Library of Congress

The interesting book Saving Monticello by Marc Leepson piqued my interest about Lion Statues purchased by Jefferson Levy around 1900 when he owned Monticello. Additional details provided by Marc on his blog encouraged me to explore the history of these four life-size Lions. Apparently three had been accounted for but one Lion's current location was unknown. I live in Charlottesville where the Lions were auctioned off in 1928 so how hard could it be to find one massive Lion...

Is this Charlottesville Lion really from Monticello?

My research began with the Lion Statue reported to be one of the former Monticello Levy Lions that is in a yard in Charlottesville. I shot this photograph from my car window a month ago for my blog post about Marc Leepson's book, Saving Monticello so I had not viewed it close up. I went back to the Lion's location last week and no one was home but I walked right by it to get to the front door so I took a closer look. This Lion Statue is special, it is massive, heavy, and obviously old (no obvious maker marks were spotted). I left a note on the door and no one has contacted me.

1905 photo magnified West Portico Entry, Library of Congress.

To verify that this in fact was a Levy Lion from Monticello, I began searching online for photos pre-auction.  To make this mystery more fascinating, in Marc Leepson's account, there were a total of four Lions auctioned.  Two were on the West Portico or back non-public entry at Monticello and two were on the South side pathway leading up to the front of the home. The statues were pairs of different sets.  It is not known if the same artist created all four statues or even the name of the artist.

1914 Levy Lions w/ Shields South Path, Library of Congress

I was more than excited to find some really wonderful photos of all four Lions online at the Library of Congress. I have cropped or enhanced the photos to get a closer and clearer view of the Lion details. The Levy Lions with foot on ball that were located on the West Portico are on the backside of the oldest design of the $2.00 bill but I needed a clearer image. Apparently the bill was engraved from a photo so I began googling.

1905 South Path, Library of Congress

I never dreamed that I would find a photo of the two Lions with Shields engraved with "L" since they were on the South Entryway on a side footpath but I hit the jackpot and found two photos.

According to Marc's book, one pair of Lions was donated to Cheekwood Gardens in Nashville, Tennessee. It has been reported these were the Lions holding shields but Sarah Ritter at Cheekwood has confirmed that they have the West Portico Lions and they were donated to them in 1971. She explained that the Lions are reported to be copies of the famous statues at Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence Italy and may have previously been at Belle Meade Plantation. Cheekwood's documentation indicates the Lions were purchased in a Charlottesville Junkyard. Imagine, such beauties being dumped! The story goes... a resident of Charlottesville purchased them to give to his sister who lives in Nashville and eventually they ended up being inherited by three sisters who donated them to Cheekwood. Marc Leepson shared a historic newspaper article that read, funds were needed to restore the Lions because on transfer to Cheekwood they were damaged. It's absolutely amazing to me the journey these beautiful statues have taken ~ if Lions could talk!

Images found on google of the Cheekwood Lion Pair

Examining historic photos and online images of the lions at Cheekwood, it appears the location of one Set of Lions has been confirmed. If that is the case, then the statue in Charlottesville is not one of the Levy Lions from Monticello.

Not quite saturated, I found this interesting photo of similar Lions purchased around the same time,  http://www.libraries.uc.edu/liblog/2011/12/13/the-estimable-mr-hoffner/. It appears it was popular to reproduce these famous Lions as they stood for courage, majesty, and strength.

My research leaves me with many unanswered questions. Where are the Lions with the Shields? Where did the Charlottesville Lion come from? Did any Lions go straight to the Junkyard from an unsuccessful auction? Did Belle Meade ever have any Lions and if so which pair? Who is the artist?

If anyone has any information about the Levy Lions, please leave a comment on my blog.  I would love to know more.

Otherwise it may be time to forward to the History Detectives...

-Rebecca