Quilty

Two lovely quilts from different exhibits at two of my museums. Both are running this summer and highlighting women in each town - one showcases women's artistic work from the mid-seventeenth to mid-twentieth centuries and one focuses on women in the Civil War. Both include awesome sewing pieces like these quilts.

Lean Back

Now that is a chimney with some serious lean.  Everytime there's a big storm, we keep expecting to hear it go!

Domicile

We've had volunteers in this room over the winter, painting the floors and refreshing the exhibit.  I know having a fake potted plant is a bit silly, but I really love the way this corner of the room looks now.  It looks actually lived in.

Sheen

More museum floors!  And, in answer to your unasked question, I don't know why I keep shooting my feet as well.  Maybe I like seeing my shoes each day as much as I like seeing the floors?

Venerable Oak

Now, remember this tree?  Here it is up close.  It's really huge.  Still in pretty decent shape for its age, too (it's at least 364 years old).

A Knock-Down Blow in the Ocean!

Museums have some cool old shit in dusty corners.  :)

Unionised, Part II

Remember this flag?  Well, here it is all set up for the summer exhibit on the Civil War.  Looks great, doesn't it?

Starry Light

Lovely stained glass window at a local convent today.  I was there for a lecture and couldn't help snapping a shot of one of the sections of the window.  The light from the window was just amazing.

Old-School Tech

Old-school wheelchair from my museum's Civil War exhibit.  V. cool.

The Cracks

I took this photo of the floor at one of my museum houses today and I realize now that what I love most about it is the imperfections. I carefully chose an Instagram filter that would showcase the cracks, nicks, and scuffs, instead of hide them. I think they add to the beauty.

The Sisters

I really wanted to share this photo today.  It's of the gravestone of two sisters in the burial ground near one of my museums. I took a school group there last week and was struck by the carvings.

I posted it on the museum's Facebook page and had a request for more information on the sisters.  I was able to look up their gravesite in our records and found out that one sister Susanna died young, in 1781 at just 6 years old.  The other sister Lydia died in 1788 at the age of 20. How sweet that they were buried side by side and share such an interesting carving!

More Museum Trees!

Both from the grounds of one museum.  A maple tree through the second floor window in the first shot and a linden tree in the yard in the second.  They're pretty young trees (~40 years old), but they've got time to grow!

The Proper Entrance

Normally, when you visit a lot of historic houses, you enter through the back or side door, as the front doors are not in use as visitor entrances.  That's the case with many of the houses I'm involved with.

However, we're getting visitors on a local walking tour today and so I pried open the front door of one of the houses to let them in.  I've worked here three years and that's the first time I've opened this door.  Worked like a charm, though, and it's actually really nice to open both doors up and let the breeze through sometimes.  :)