Freedom Log House Tea

Yesterday my Red Hat group met at a tea room and gift shop called the Freedom Log House in Spring Grove, PA. It was quite a drive from Maryland, but worth it once we arrived. The food was delicious - all home made by the owner, Victoria, and served by her daughter, Amanda. The place itself was historic and charming, with many rooms filled with primitive arts for sale - many of them made by Victoria and Amanda. After our tea, Victoria came out and gave us a the history of the tea room, a large log house with 6 bedrooms, located right on the railroad line coming up from the south. It was amazing - during the civil war era, the building was used as a safe house for escaping slaves. One of the upstairs bedrooms has a place under the floorboards where the slaves would hide. In addition, there are 2 other secret rooms that were discovered by a previous owner, who told Victoria about living there as a child, and hiding from his Dad with his brother when they got themselves into trouble. Victoria talked for perhaps 30 minutes, giving her family history and the colorful history of the house itself. It was amazing and very interesting. This is the website: http://www.freedomloghouse.com/

I'm working on a third freeform peyote bracelet, and rethinking whether I want to continue with it using the stringing material I've started with. It's a nylon monofilament, and it's causing the beaded lengths to curl. I've received some good advice from a beading group on the web, and I'll make a decision today.

My art class ended last Friday, and there is a one week break before the next class starts for the fall quarter. I'm going to continue, using it as an ongoing lesson, as do several in the class. They have been taking the same class from this instructor for a few years. Everyone gets individual instruction on whatever they are working on - watercolor, oil, acrylic, pen and ink, pastel. Every class ends with a critique of all the work, and that is a very valuable aspect of the class. Last time I started a watercolor still life of a beautiful conch shell, and I'll continue with that in the next class. I was pleased with the start I got on it, and received some very positive comments from our instructor and the other students.

PHOTO: A pony dressed as The Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz for the costume event at the 4-H Horse Show in Massachusetts. All the kids in their group dressed as characters from the show. It was very clever and cute. They won! The pony was adorable.