Category: travel.

not all those who wander are lost – JRR Tolkien.

surprise!

Published on by Quandie13 Comments

You may have noticed that there hasn’t been much activity from me over the last two weeks.

Well … surprise!  Mr. Q and I were in Canada.

We took a 10-night Quebec ‘intensive’ cruise with Azamara.

I’m sure most of you haven’t heard of Azamara.  It’s a small boutique cruise line with only 4 ships.  Their ships hold around 700 passengers as opposed to the giant mega cruise ships that hold anywhere from 3,000 to 7,000 people.

That being said, they are an ocean going cruise line, not a river cruise line.  That seems to confuse people when I mention that we sailed out of Montreal, which obviously is not on the coast.  But we did eventually end up in the North Atlantic Ocean after traveling down the St. Lawrence River and through the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Basically, if a river cruise and an ocean cruise had a baby, this cruise would be it.

It was very cool to be sailing down the St. Lawrence while sitting out on our balcony …

and while also being on a ship that had a few more amenities than your typical river cruise boat.

I thought it was pretty interesting to see some of the vessels that were going in the opposite direction fairly close up as they passed by, they definitely don’t pass this close out at sea.

It was also fun to be able to see the opposite shore much of the time.

That would have been better yet had we thought to bring binoculars with us!

And for those of you who may not appreciate the motion of the ocean, for the most part we barely felt any movement at all on this cruise.

Our weather was very nearly perfect with the exception of one rough night on the Atlantic, and one afternoon of rain on our very last day.

Azamara specializes in what they call ‘destination-intensive’ itineraries that focus on a single country or region.  Because they are a smaller ship, they can visit smaller, lesser know ports that can’t accommodate the mega-ships.

Although this cruise was called ‘Quebec intensive’, only half of our ports of call were in the Canadian province of Quebec.  The others were further east in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Magdalen Islands.  We even technically visited France.  St. Pierre and Miquelon is an archipelago of 8 islands just off the coast of Newfoundland and it is a French overseas collectivity.  In other words, its residents are French citizens.

I’ll share more about that and the rest of the itinerary in future blog posts, I plan to post separately about each of our ports of call.

Azamara considers itself a ‘luxurious boutique hotel at sea’, and I have to say that whether or not they qualify probably depends upon your definition of ’boutique hotel’.  The Oxford dictionary defines it as ‘a small stylish hotel’.  Well … it was small, and while some of the public areas could be called stylish …

The cabins themselves definitely were not.

In fact, our balcony cabin was quite bland.  Zero artwork, zero color, horrible lighting, and one of the worst bathrooms on a cruise ship ever.  The shower was miniscule, I had to stand sideways in it, and the water temperature randomly fluctuated from scalding to tepid as you were showering.

That being said, the cabin itself was decent sized for a cruise ship and we were comfortable enough.

Another definition of boutique hotel however is ‘an independently owned property that emphasizes authentic experiences and personalized service’, and that does aptly describe Azamara.  The cruise line was originally owned by Royal Caribbean, but they sold it off to a private equity firm in 2021.  So yes, it is independently owned.  And Azamara definitely offers personalized service.  Every single Azamara employee that we encountered went out of their way to provide exceptional service.  Furthermore, Azamara’s focus on destination immersion definitely ’emphasizes authentic experiences.’

Before I continue on with the rest of this blog post about our overall experience, I should now mention that I ended up with Covid about halfway through our voyage.  And yep, that pretty much sucked.  I ended up mostly in bed for about 48 hours.  I hadn’t thought to bring Covid tests along with us, but some other travelers that Mr. Q befriended were kind enough to offer us some.  Sure enough, I tested positive while Mr. Q was thankfully negative.

Being a rule-following sort of person, I reported my illness to the ship’s doctor.  He then came to my cabin and gave me another covid test to be sure, and yep, it definitely was covid.  The ship’s policy was to quarantine me to my cabin for the next 24 hours based on the fact that I did not have a fever.  If I remained fever-free at the end of that time period, I could leave my cabin wearing a mask.  I had to wear a mask in public areas for the next five days, which was basically the duration of the cruise.

In other words, I spent WAY more time in our cabin than in any public areas of the ship on this cruise.  I also ate a lot more room service than I ever have before on a cruise.  Once I knew that I had covid, I felt like it would be wrong to take my germs to the ship’s buffet (masked or not), and I didn’t really relish spending a lot of time wearing a mask elsewhere either.

So … room service on the balcony was my only real option from that point forward.

And most of the time it was room service for one.  Mr. Q was still allowed to go about the ship at will, so I didn’t want to deny him the chance to find something better to eat.

Which brings me to the food.  In my experience, the food on the Azamara Quest was not great.  Now of course, once I had covid I couldn’t be a good judge, but even before that I was pretty disappointed in the food.  Everything on the buffet was lukewarm at best, and more often cold, by the time you got to your table to eat it.  The menu in the main dining room usually didn’t offer many choices that appealed to me either.

They had a couple of dining events that I did make it to starting with the brunch buffet on our first full day.

The spread was certainly spectacular looking, but like a lot of buffet spreads it mostly all looked way better than it tasted.  The baked goods tended to be somewhat dry, the hot foods didn’t stay hot, and everything was just a bit bland in flavor.

Mr. Q and I also made it to one of Azamara’s signature events before I became sick, their White Night Party.

This was basically another extravagant buffet, this time on the pool deck.

Everyone is encouraged to wear white, there is live music, they were grilling lobster tails, and the staff puts on a bit of a show.

It was a beautiful evening, once again the weather was perfect.  But also once again, it was a buffet, and there was limited seating so after wandering around for 15 minutes looking for two free seats, we ended up with cold food when we finally found a place to sit down.

I also have to point out that it was when we were on our way back to our cabin at the end of the White Night Party that I started sneezing, and over the course of that night I knew I had caught something.  I hoped it wasn’t covid, but of course, as it turned out, it was.  Having covid for half of the cruise meant that I missed out on a lot of shipboard activities.  It also meant that I didn’t really feel well enough to truly explore the last four of our eight ports, and in fact I missed out on one of them altogether.  So you can take my review with a grain of salt.  I’m sure I would have had a much different experience had I not been ill.

But I’m home now, I’m starting to feel a bit better, and I’m still hosting an occasional sale at my house coming up in a week and a half.

So I’m going to start gearing up, while also taking some time to rest up and fully recover.

I hope you’ll stay tuned for more posts about some of the lovely spots we visited in Canada, as well as some posts about the upcoming sale and what sort of merch I’m pulling together for it.

In the meantime, have any of you been on an Azamara cruise?  Or how about cruises in general?  Leave a comment and let me know.

wildflowers.

Published on by Quandie13 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Last Sunday I shared the interesting desert plants that were along the Harry Reid Union Pacific Railroad Trail near my mom’s house in Henderson, Nevada.  So today I thought I would tell you about the beautiful wildflower garden along the railway trail that Mr. Q and I walk on near our house here in the Twin Cities.

Illinois and Wisconsin started turning abandoned railway lines into hiking/biking trails back in the 60’s, but the movement didn’t become really widespread until the late 80’s.  According to the Rails to Trails Conservancy, there are now over 26,000 miles of rail-trails in the U.S.

The Gateway Trail was built along the former Soo Line Railroad and goes from St. Paul to Stillwater.  The first segment of the trail was completed in 1993.  So Mr. Q and I have been walking on this trail for probably around 30 years.  Well … actually … back in the day we biked on it more than we walked on it, but these days we are walkers.

It’s unfortunate that the section of the trail nearest our house also happens to run alongside a very busy highway (because there is a lot of traffic noise).  However, back in 2020, as part of a project to replace a stoplight, they re-worked this area of the trail adding a tall sound barrier wall between the highway and the trail.

They also must have purposely planted wildflowers all along that stretch of the trail at the same time, but I can’t find any definitive info about that online.  It feels like it had to be deliberate though.

As it turns out, I’m not that good at identifying local wildflowers.  I recognize some of them, like the bee balm.

And I believe this next purple one is Blue Giant Hyssop.

I’ve always called this next one Black Eyed Susan …

I did a little research and this wildflower is found in all of the lower 48 states, plus all 10 Canadian provinces.  So it’s pretty common.

I had to look this next one up, and I think it must be Prairie Fleabane.

So called because it was once thought that the dried flowers would repel fleas.

I tried to find this next wildflower on the Minnesota Wildflowers website, but without even a clue as to its name I tried to look it up by color alone.  However, there are 278 varieties of purple wildflowers in Minnesota.  I just didn’t have the patience to sift through them all.

If any of you know what this one is, please leave a comment.

As for this next purple flower, I thought it looked as though it must be in the verbena family so that gave me a starting point.

I found Hoary Vervain, and I’m pretty sure that’s it.

It’s amazing how many flowers are in the verbena family, all the way from Verbena bonariensis to the Proven Winner’s Superbena Cloudburst that I used in my planters a couple of years ago.

Even lantana, which is grown as an annual here in Minnesota and as a perennial in my mom’s area, is in the verbena family.  Who knew?

Although we can grow some of the same plants, like the lantana, there is definitely a vast difference between the landscape in Southern Nevada and the landscape in Minnesota.

But I enjoy walking on each of these trails and looking to see what sort of wildflowers I might find along the way.

How about you?  Do you have a favorite spot for wildflowers where you are?  Leave a comment and let me know.

hot, hot, hot.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Well, sort of.

My sister and I snuck in a quick trip to visit our mom last weekend.  As many of you probably know by now, our mom lives in a suburb of Las Vegas.  And as many of you probably also know, it’s hot there in the summer.  July in particular is their hottest month of the year on average.

So why in the world did we plan a visit in July?  Well … it was really the only time that my sister and I could go together until possibly next spring.

Plus, it has been super hot the last two times my sister and I visited.  Last October they had record highs over 100° while we were there, and during our visit this past April the temps were in the upper 90’s (and average temps are usually in the upper 70’s to low 80’s in April).  So we figured it couldn’t be much worse.

In addition, at least in July the pool at my mom’s townhome complex is open!

We knew we wouldn’t be able to do much outside other than float in the pool, but we could certainly visit with mom in the a/c when we weren’t in the pool.

As it turned out, once again we were there for another above average hot spell.  The temps went from 109° on our first day to 112° on our last day.  And sure, it’s a dry heat.  But even a dry heat at 112° feels ridiculously hot!  Although, to be fair, it was quite comfortable floating in the pool.

My sister and I also got up each morning around 6 a.m. and went for a walk on the Harry Reid Union Pacific Railroad Trail and that brings me to why I’m categorizing this post as a ‘sunday mornings in the garden’ post.

A couple of years ago, my sister and I stumbled across the one small segment of this trail that offers some shade.

For any of you who may want to try and find this spot while in Henderson, NV, take Boulder Highway east to the Wagon Wheel exit.  At the light for Wagon Wheel, take a right and you’ll be on Nevada State Drive.  Head down Nevada State Drive towards the college.  There will be a small parking lot to the right just before you get to the railroad tracks.

Park there and head to the right (ie. west) down the trail and you’ll find yourself in this area.

The trail here is lined with trees …

and this may have been the first time I’ve ever seen this particular tree in bloom.

I’m not very familiar with the plants that don’t grow in my zone 4b/5a garden, but I’m fairly sure this is a Chilopsis linearis, or Desert Willow.  The hummingbirds seem to love this one, and looking around the area it appears to re-seed itself quite freely.

I have to admit I was amazed to find that there were quite a few other things in bloom along this section of the trail as well.

I saw what I thought was a buddleia, or butterfly bush, but it turns out that this is a Vitex, or Chastetree.

Proven Winners has a variety of this plant called Rock Steady, and I had to laugh when I read this about it on their website:

“Commonly known as the chastetree, Vitex agnus-castus was in ancient times thought to be an aphrodisiac. According to Wikipedia, the leaves and stems were once used in ladies’ bedding to “cool the heat of lust” when the men were off to war, thus the name chastetree. We’re not sure if this works or not, but we do know that it makes a wonderful landscape plant that is highly deer and drought resistant.”

It grows in zones 5 to 9 and is obviously heat and drought tolerant.

I also spotted this Angel’s Trumpet, or Datura innoxia.

And again, I’m pretty sure that’s what this is, but I’m not 100% certain.

But if so, this plant is extremely toxic so if you ever see it growing somewhere just leave it alone.

I think I was most amazed to find this though …

Is it a watermelon?  Or some other type of melon?  Or is it some kind of squash?  I’m not sure, but how in the world is it growing in this dry climate?

I should note that there is dripline irrigation provided to the trees and plants along this section of trail, so perhaps there is an errant drip emitter that this plant is taking advantage of.

Clearly gardening in the hot, dry climate of the Las Vegas area is something I know little about.  I came home last Tuesday evening, and when I woke up on Wednesday it was rainy and 50°.  I have to confess, I prefer 50° to 112° any day (I’ll try to remember that in January when it’s 10° below here, and 50° there).

How about you?  Are you a warm weather person, or a cool weather person?  Leave a comment and let me know.

a three hour tour (with a giveaway).

Published on by Quandie59 Comments

I’ve gotten to the final post from the trip Mr. Q and I took out east in May.

As promised, I brought something home from this trip to give away so be sure to read to the end today!  Or, if you have absolutely no interest in Gettysburg, just go ahead and skip straight to the end now. I won’t mind 😉

For the final three days of our trip, we swung through Philly to pick up our nephew and then we headed to Gettysburg.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got to see some of the most amazing public gardens on this trip, and in return for his patience, Mr. Q got to see some battlefields.

For those of you who were passing notes about your boyfriend in history class instead of paying attention, the Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest conflict of the Civil War with over 51,000 casualties.  The battle took place over three days in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in July 1863.

At the time the entire population of Gettysburg was only around 2,400, and it was surrounded by rural farmsteads.

Although I learned lots of facts about why this battle took place here (to prevent the Confederates from taking Harrisburg, PA which was then the capital of Pennsylvania and a crucial supply hub for the union army), and what divisions skirmished where (the 1st Minnesota Infantry charged the confederates near Cemetery Ridge and lost over 80% of their 262 men) , the details that were most interesting to me were how the 2,400 residents of Gettysburg were impacted.

We learned a lot about that on a ghost tour that we took on our first night in town.  This was a walking tour of the center of town and our guide pointed out specific buildings that dated back to the war and gave us lots of gruesome details about how the town was eventually inundated with casualties.  Certainly if any place was going to be haunted, the town of Gettysburg would be a prime location for it, but almost all Gettysburg ghost stories are complete fiction according to The American Battlefield Trust.

Up until this tour, I hadn’t realized that parts of the battle took place in the town itself, not just out in the surrounding farm fields (I was probably passing a note in class when they talked about that).  Some of the buildings in town still have artillery shells embedded in their walls.  Many of the women and children in town fled before the fighting began, and most of the rest took shelter in their cellars.  Amazingly enough, there was only one civilian casualty of the war and that was a young woman named Jennie Wade.  She was kneading dough in the kitchen to make more of the biscuits that she was handing out to soldiers when a bullet passed through two wooden doors and straight into her heart.

It seems miraculous to me that there was only one civilian casualty.

However, although only one civilian died during the battle, the town itself was rendered nearly uninhabitable after it was over.  Farm fields had been trampled and/or burned, any livestock was commandeered by the troops, and buildings were badly damaged.  But even worse, there were those over 50,000 casualties (the term ‘casualty’ refers to dead, wounded, missing or captured).  There were around 7,000 killed in the battle, and another 33,000 wounded.  Any large building in the area was turned into a field hospital for the wounded.  Many of the women in town were enlisted to act as nurses.

In addition it was a hot and steamy July, and there were 7,000+ dead bodies to be dealt with.  The air became incredibly foul, and so did the ground water.  I don’t even want to imagine what that was like.

On our 2nd day in Gettysburg, we hired a licensed battlefield guide to take us on a guided tour of the Gettysburg National Military Park.  If you ever go to Gettysburg, I can’t recommend this enough.  You can hire the guide right at the Visitor’s Center.  We paid $117 (plus tip) for a three hour tour in our own vehicle.  The guide drives your vehicle, and customizes the itinerary based on your interests.

In our case, Mr. Q wanted to see a bit of everything, but especially where the 1st Minnesota fought.

By the way, there are over 1,300 monuments in this park.  It’s a bit overwhelming.  In some areas they are just lined up one after another.

Some are a little more simple.

While some are impressively grandiose.

That is the Pennsylvania State Memorial, and the largest monument in Gettysburg which makes sense.

Our guide was a retired college professor and incredibly knowledgeable.  Mr. Q and the nephew were enthralled for the entire 3 hours (I may or may not have been passing notes, albeit via text rather than paper).

Once our 3 hour tour concluded, we headed off for lunch and then went back to the Visitor’s Center to see the film, the cyclorama and the museum.  It took most of the afternoon to see those, so if you’re planning a trip to Gettysburg keep that in mind.  I recommend planning at least a full day for the Military Park and another half day or full day to see the town, maybe do a ghost tour like we did, or tour some of the many historical buildings.

Mr. Q and I had an amazing time on our trip out to the east coast.  If you are a fan of gardens, you should add the Brandywine Valley to your bucket list.  We totally enjoyed our visits to Longwood Gardens, Winterthur, Nemours, and historic New Castle.  Those gardens were just the tip of the iceberg, there are over 30 public gardens in the Philadelphia area.

And if you are a fan of battlefields, the Brandywine Battlefield was very interesting and easy to see in half a day.  Gettysburg is about a 2.5 hour drive away, and obviously well worth adding on to your trip.

As I mentioned, I did pick up a couple of things to give away.

I purchased the book, A Year at Brandywine Cottage, at Longwood Gardens.

I’m also including the Vintage Garden Style magazine that I found at a grocery store out there.  I purchased the Jennie Wade of Gettysburg book at the National Military Park.  It’s a short read telling the story of that one civilian who was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.

I decided to throw in a few more garden themed items too, including the I.O.D. Lover of Flowers transfer and two of the Dixie Belle Heirloom Roses decoupage papers.

Finally I’m also including some Dixie Belle paint in English Ivy and Magnolia as well as some of their Big Mama’s Butta in a floral scent called Suzanne’s Garden and some of their newest gilding wax in a color called Antique Gold.

That last item, the gilding wax, is in homage to all of the gilding we saw at the Nemours Estate.

I wish I could give these things to each and every one of you, but unfortunately that isn’t possible.  But please know that I do appreciate all of you.  But unfortunately there will only be one winner of this drawing.

The rules for today’s giveaway:  Simply leave a comment on this blog post and let me know which location we visited was your favorite.

Your comment must be left on this blog post, not on Facebook or Instagram.

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, July 6, 2025 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $200, if the prize is not claimed by Wednesday, July 16, 2025 another name will be drawn at random to win, yada, yada, yada.

Good luck!

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying all of their items that I’m giving away today!

the high price of war.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

Some of you may have been thinking that Mr. Q really enjoys gardening, seeing as we spent three full days touring gardens on our recent trip to the Brandywine Valley.

But, au contraire, it would be more accurate to say that he tolerates gardening and garden tours.  He was willing to put up with it though, because I paid him back by tolerating battlefield tours.

OK, to be fair, ‘tolerate’ is too strong of a word.  I think we both enjoyed the gardens and the battlefields … maybe just one more than the other.

We visited two different battlefield sites on our trip, the first was where the Battle of Brandywine took place during the American Revolution.

The photo above shows Birmingham Hill where much of the battle took place.  Mr. Q and I spent a very pleasant evening following a walking path around the area, but there was not a lot to see outside of some beautiful scenery.

And there is a large monument to Lafayette at the nearby Birmingham Meeting House.

From there it’s about a 10 minute drive to the Brandywine Battlefield Visitor’s Center which is only open on Friday and Saturday.  So we waited until Friday to head over there.  At the Visitor’s Center you can purchase a ticket that includes guided tours of two buildings nearby (FYI, neither are original to 1777 but have been restored to reflect their original look).

The first is the Benjamin Ring house.

Although this is called Washington’s Headquarters, our guide explained that it’s unlikely Washington actually stayed inside the house.  He likely stayed in a tent on the grounds.

They did have the front room, or parlor, set up as Washington’s office, but this is probably not historically accurate.  After all, Benjamin Ring, his wife and six children and two servants were living in this small house at the time.  So it’s unlikely that this room was empty except for one small desk.

Washington and his officers definitely did take meals in the Ring house, and Mr. Ring presented them with an invoice for those meals that is still in existence today.

Since Benjamin Ring was a Quaker, that meant that he was banished from his congregation for allowing this since it went against their pacifist beliefs.  Furthermore, since the British won this battle, Ring’s farm was mostly destroyed, his fields burned and his livestock stolen after Washington’s troops retreated in defeat.

We next headed over to the Gilpin farm.

See that giant tree on the right?  That is a sycamore tree that has been dated to 1730, so it was there at the time of the battle.  Sycamore trees can live for 200 to 400 years, and there are even some known examples that are over 500 years old!

We were able to tour the inside of the Gilpin farmhouse, but once again, it’s a reproduction and nothing inside is original to the house.

Gilpin was also a Quaker, and in contrast to Benjamin Ring, he refused to choose sides or fight during the battle.  However, the British left his farm in ruins and thus he later chose to side with the Continentals.

I found a great blog called Two Nerdy History Girls with some good info on both the Rings and the Gilpins, so check those out if you’re interested in learning more about them.  Although they quit writing their blog back in 2018, there is some good content to explore from before that.  Also, sidebar, I decided to try one of the author’s books so I’m currently reading The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr by Susan Holloway Scott and if you like historical fiction I would recommend it.  I only wish I’d read it before we went on our trip.

In the end both of these Quaker farmers paid a very high price after the Battle of Brandywine, although not as high as the approximately 1,300 Continentals or the 600 or so British soldiers who lost their lives (FYI, I find that those numbers vary depending on where you look).

The high price of war indeed.

the versailles of brandywine.

Published on by Quandie1 Comment

Continuing on with my posts about our trip to the Brandywine Valley back in May, today I’m sharing our visit to the Nemours Estate.

This is yet another property that was once owned by a duPont.  The main house was built in 1910 and has 77 rooms.  There are 200 acres of gardens and those near the house were modeled after Versailles.

The Long Walk runs between the house and the reflecting pool and it features the symmetry associated with formal French style gardens.

There are fountains and statues including this guy in gold.

He reminded both Mr. Q and me of our visit to Peterhof in St. Petersburg, Russia which is sometimes referred to as the Russian Versailles, so that makes sense.

We chatted with one of the Nemours gardeners who explained that this is a French style of tree pruning called pollarding …

It certainly creates an interesting look, although I’m not sure I like it.  Those trees look like I did in kindergarten when my mom cut my bangs right before school pictures.  Not a good look.

There is a Parterre Garden that was prettiest when viewed from the 2nd floor of the house (I assume that was intentional).

This next spot was probably my favorite in this garden.

I think that tells you that I’m not really a fan of formal French style gardens, I prefer something a little less grand.

Now, French style interiors on the other hand …

shades of pink or pale blue and lots of gold.  So pretty!

The French had it going on when it came to painting furniture.  Check out this piano.

That could be some serious inspiration for adding some embellishments in gold to a painted piece.

It was interesting to learn that the plaster ceiling in the Reception Hall was originally painted to look like wood, but later painted in the French style.  They’ve left a section to show that original wood look, which must have made the room much darker.

All of that fanciness aside, I think my favorite rooms were the kitchen, pantry and bathrooms.

Those copper pots are just gorgeous.

I don’t know what it is about these utilitarian rooms that appeals to me so much.  I’m certainly not normally a fan of housework.

Maybe it’s just that in a sense they feel much more obtainable to me.  I have pretty ironstone platters on display in my own home for example.

I love the floor to ceiling tile in the bathrooms, and I really like the sink below too.

Although the Nemours Estate was not my favorite of the duPont properties that we toured on our trip (I preferred both Longwood and Winterthur), I definitely think it’s worth adding to your itinerary if you ever find yourself in the Brandywine Valley.

And after touring the estate you can stop off at the Charcoal Pit, ‘home of Delaware’s best burgers and shakes since 1956’, for a late lunch.

Although we didn’t try the burgers, we did have some amazing shakes.  Mr. Q also had the Rueben Dog …

but I stuck with a basic chili dog.

OK, hot dogs for lunch was a stark contrast to a morning spent viewing the opulent grandeur of the Nemours Estate, but those were some tasty dogs!

a visit to winterthur.

Published on by Quandie4 Comments

Remember that time I went to Charleston in April to see the azaleas in bloom?  And then there was a huge storm the night we arrived that knocked the blooms off most of them?

Well, who would have expected that a trip to Delaware in May would make up for it?

I have to admit, it never even occurred to me that Delaware would be full of azaleas, but welcome to Winterthur.

Winterthur is the creation of Henry Francis du Pont.  It includes a massive 175 room house that he built to house his ginormous collection of American decorative arts (over 90,000 items).  There’s no way this guy could pretend to be a non-collector 😉

Not only did he collect American decorative arts, he also collected plants including azaleas.

And as you can see, they were in their full glory while we were there.

The ticket for Winterthur includes a 30 minute tram tour of the gardens, so we took advantage of that to get the lay of the land.  Afterwards we headed back to explore a few of the areas that I wanted to see up close starting with the Azalea Woods.

They were beautiful and definitely made up for the lack of blooms in Charleston.

The Peony Garden was our next stop.  The flowers were just beginning to open, but this single variety was in full glory.

The Quarry Garden was filled with blooming primroses.

It makes me want to add more of these to my own garden, currently I have just one small plant.

Unfortunately they were doing some restoration work in this garden while we were there so we couldn’t get any closer.  We had to settle for looking down on it from above.

The Enchanted Woods were a later addition to Winterthur.

This area was added about 20 years ago to encourage more families with children to visit.

I think I preferred the authenticity of the reflecting pool.

Next up was exploring the rest of the area around the house, if you can call a 175-room building ‘a house’.

I was fascinated by this rain water tank, at least I’m guessing that’s what this is.

As you can see, the downspout goes directly into that box so I assume it’s meant for storing rain water.  And just check out the concrete lions that are holding up the box.  No decorative detail was spared on this functional item.

We also took a self-guided tour inside the house where you can see just a handful of the 175 rooms.

Several of the rooms were decorated with hand-painted wallpaper.

And there were lots of spaces that were simply designed to display collections (because let’s face it, we can’t really call these non-collections can we?).

This room was just for candlesticks.

To be fair, I guess one could say that my own pantry is also mainly just a space for displaying collections 😉

As if the house and gardens weren’t enough, there is also a museum at Winterthur.  It’s a small museum, but by the time we got there we were getting pretty worn out so it was lucky there weren’t too many exhibits to see.

I really enjoyed the one called “On Tour: Lafayette, America’s Revolutionary Rock Star“.

I have to admit that I didn’t really know much about Lafayette prior to this trip.  Of course, I’d heard the name, and I knew he fought in the Revolutionary War, but that was about it.  Check out the link above to learn just a little bit about him and his ‘farewell tour’.

There were also a couple of exhibits in the museum that I found very relatable such as the exhibit about the Dominy’s, a family of skilled woodworkers that made furniture among other things.

This display pointed out all of the details that went into creating this piece of furniture.

There was also an interesting exhibit about furniture restoration.  This 17th century cupboard had been significantly altered over time.

The bottom section had been removed to reduce its height so that it would fit in a smaller room.  It has now been restored to its original design.

This next piece was once thought to be two separate pieces that had been ‘married’ together, so the two pieces had been separated.

It was only later that the conservators determined that no, these two pieces did belong together.

Another exhibit explored the use of toxic pigments in decorative items such as books, wallpaper and fabrics.

Arsenic was used to create the vibrant green on the items shown above.

In case you haven’t already figured it out, I will warn you that it takes the better part of an entire day to visit Winterthur and see everything there is to see.  We never did find the collection of soup tureens that I wanted to see, but in the end we were too worn out to look for them.  Luckily there is a cafe with grab-and-go sandwiches and salads, so we were able to get some sustenance before tackling the museum exhibits.

I highly recommend a visit though, I think Winterthur gives Longwood Gardens a run for their money as my favorite place we visited during our recent trip.  If you ever are in the Brandywine Valley area be sure to visit both of these!

another rainy garden tour.

Published on by Quandie9 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Or maybe I should say good morning from a garden, because this garden is not my own.  Today I’m sharing Longwood Gardens located in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

As you’ll soon be able to see, we visited Longwood Gardens on a rather rainy day on our recent trip to the Brandywine Valley.  But you know what?  I actually don’t mind visiting a garden in the rain.  It was raining during my visit to de Hortus in Amsterdam, and during my visit to the Munsinger and Clemens Gardens in St. Cloud.  I think you can get some of the prettiest garden photos on a rainy day.

So … Longwood Gardens … have you heard of them?

USA Today recently named them the no. 1 best botanical garden in the U.S.  Consisting of more than 1,100 acres, Longwood has pretty much everything you’d want to find in a botanical garden.  The map shows 32 ‘districts’ including a cascade garden, a bonsai courtyard, an Italian water garden, a meadow garden, a rose garden, the oak & conifer knoll, and the topiary garden shown above plus more.

The land that Longwood Gardens sits on was originally purchased by a Quaker farmer in 1700.  In 1798 his grandsons began planting an arboretum.  Their heirs weren’t interested in the project though and over the next 100 years the arboretum was allowed to deteriorate.  Then in 1906 Pierre du Pont purchased the property to save the trees from a lumber mill that had been contracted to remove them.

The Flower Garden Walk was du Pont’s first addition to the arboretum.

I loved the way the flowers are grouped by color in this area.

I think my favorite is the purple section.

I’ve always thought it would be fun to try something like this in my own garden, but I’m not sure I could pull it off.

In 1929, du Pont added a 61′ tall carillon, or chimes tower.

It has had a variety of different bells over the years, but it has been kept in running order and it was lovely to hear it chime out throughout the garden.

I took so many photos, and there was so much to see.  I don’t want to bore you guys with a million garden pics, so maybe I can just share the highlights.

There is a ginormous conservatory and this next photo might give you some indication of just how large it is.

It’s filled with beautiful things.

All of that pink?  That’s hydrangeas!

I sure do wish I could get these kind of results with a macrophylla hydrangea, but they really don’t like our cold weather.

They also had a beautiful display of blue ones too.

In case you are wondering, that tall purple flower behind the hydrangeas is a Canterbury Bell.

That’s another plant that I’ve never had much luck growing.  It’s a biennial, and I just don’t have the patience for a plant that takes two years to bloom and then dies.  Same with foxgloves.

The perfectly round globe shaped hanging planters in the conservatory were gorgeous.

This is the sort of thing you can do if money is no object, and you happen to have a greenhouse to grow them in.

Beautiful to see, but hard to emulate in real life.

There was also a fern wall in the conservatory …

and a children’s garden …

and an orchid room.

There were so many beautiful orchids (I thought of you when I saw this room Monica!).

There was a bonsai display tucked just behind the conservatory.

Some of the bonsai were 80 to 100 years old.  I can’t imagine the skill it takes to create these beautiful pieces of plant art.

I’ve saved the most spectacular aspect of Longwood Gardens for the end and that’s the fountains.

Remember the fountain show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas that I shared a few weeks back?

Well, the fountain show at Longwood is about 10 times more spectacular.

Unfortunately, I didn’t actually get any photos of the ‘show’ where the fountains dance to music.  By the time we got to that part of our day I was a bit worn out (we spent nearly six hours exploring Longwood), and the rain had decided to come down a bit harder just at that moment.  My photos above show the basic fountains while they aren’t ‘performing’.

So I guess you will just have to head to Longwood Gardens yourself to see the fountains dance.  It is definitely worth the trip.

Have any of you been there?  If so, what was your favorite district?  Or do you have a botanical garden to recommend near you?  Leave a comment and let me know.

historic new castle.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

While visiting the Brandywine Valley, Mr. Q and I stopped in at Buckley’s Tavern in Centreville, Delaware.

It was a charming little place located in what was once a private home built in 1817.

I had what I consider to be the best chicken pot pie of my life there.

But the real bonus was our waiter.

Somehow he and Mr. Q got to chatting about the Brandywine Battlefield, and war games, and painted gaming miniatures … all stuff Mr. Q is into, and so was the waiter.  He also gave us some great advice on places to visit in the area.  On his advice we spent a lovely evening at Birmingham Hill, one of the battle sites, but more on that in a future post.

He also suggested we visit historic New Castle.  He described it as a more authentic, less touristy version of Colonial Williamsburg.

The Dutch West India Company established a fort in this spot along the Delaware River in 1651, so that gives you an idea how old the area is. During the next 31 years, New Castle was alternately governed by the Dutch, Swedish, and British, changing hands five times.

Our first stop was the New Castle Visitor’s Center where we picked up a map for a self-guided walking tour of the town.

We started off heading down this amazing cobblestone road …

to the Immanuel Church and its churchyard.

I suppose some might find it a bit creepy, but I love a really old cemetery like this one.  It’s so interesting to read the tombstones.  Poor Thomas Bird lost his wife when she was only 21 years old.

After exiting the churchyard, we headed towards The Dutch House.  Unfortunately it was not open for tours the day we were there (it’s only open on Saturday and Sunday), but the staff at the Visitor Center told us we could wander through the gardens both here and at the Amstel House (also not open inside).

I have to admit, I took a few photos of each garden, but looking back at them I’m not sure which is which.  I think the one above is the Dutch House garden, while these next few photos are of the Amstel House garden.

Look, they had clematis blooming already!

There was one historic home open for tours the day we visited, the Read House.  However, after making two thwarted attempts to see it we gave up.  The first time we stopped by there was a small tour group in front of the house and the guide quite abruptly informed us that it was a private tour and we’d need to come back in another hour.  The 2nd time we stopped by there was no one at the ticket counter and after waiting about 5 minutes for someone to show up, we moved on to Packet Alley.

This is where packet boats from Philadelphia met stage coaches bound for French Town.  Travelers heading from Philadelphia to Baltimore would take a packet boat to New Castle, board a stage coach for the 16 mile journey to French Town, and then board another boat to Baltimore, and this trip took several days.

In 1832 the road between New Castle and French Town was turned into a railway line and the ticket office is still standing.

We also saw the Old Town Hall.

It was built in 1798 and is a “head house”, which is a building that served as a town hall in front of a series of market stalls that stretched behind it and could be accessed through that arched opening.  My photo above shows the back of the building, so I’m standing where the market stalls would have been.

I did enjoy checking out a few of the window boxes in New Castle.

They weren’t quite as impressive as the Charleston window boxes that I shared back in 2022, but they were still worth a photo or two.

I did particularly like these pots …

and now I’m wondering if I can do something similar in my own rusty pots this year (FYI, the Dwarf Alberta Spruce spirals that I put in them last year did not survive our harsh winter).

We ended our visit to New Castle with lunch at Jessop’s Tavern.

The tavern is located in a building built in 1674.  According to their website, they “strive to be reflective of the American food history that shaped what we eat today, representative of the English, Dutch, Belgian, and Swedish presence in this region.”

We ordered the Oli Bolen, a.k.a. Dutch Apple Cakes, for dessert.

And they were delicious!

We really enjoyed our visit to New Castle.  We felt like we practically had the entire town to ourselves, granted we were there on a Thursday morning in May so it wasn’t quite tourist season yet.  I assume it gets quite a bit busier on nice summer weekends.

Have you ever been to New Castle, Delaware?  Or do you have another favorite historic town?  Leave a comment and let me know.

the brandywine valley.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

Well, I have to confess that I pulled a fast one.  Mr. Q and I were off on vacation for the last week and half.  I had pre-scheduled several blog posts to keep you entertained, and to semi-disguise the fact that we were out of town (for security reasons).

However, a little over a week ago we flew off to Philadelphia, rented a car and first drove to the Brandywine Valley to spend a week touring battlefields and gardens.  We followed that up with a couple of days in Gettysburg.

If you aren’t familiar with the Brandywine Valley (and I wasn’t before we planned this trip), it is about 30 minutes from the Philly airport and includes part of both Pennsylvania and Delaware.  We stayed just outside Wilmington, Delaware at the Homewood Suites by Hilton Wilmington-Brandywine Valley.  I’m only mentioning that specific detail because I would highly recommend this place.  It isn’t at all historic, and it’s not in a super picturesque area (although it is nestled in a wooded area that was quite lovely).  I suppose it’s also not necessarily a bargain.  But if you’re staying for a full week, and you want some space to spread out, it’s nice to have a suite that includes a sitting area and a small kitchen.  They also include breakfast every morning, as well as dinner (yes!  dinner!) on Monday thru Thursday.  In addition, our suite was very nice and super clean.  It was also really quiet, which we very much appreciate.  we weren’t so lucky with the 2nd leg of our trip in Gettysburg where a school group of some kind descended upon our hotel and kept us up with constantly banging doors.

The staff at the hotel in Brandywine were excellent, super friendly and accommodating.  We had a problem with our shower on the first night and the maintenance guy had it completely fixed up by the next afternoon.

In addition, there is a quintessential east coat staple right across the street, a diner!

We ate there more than once … OK, we ate there three times!

Another bonus is that this hotel was pretty much right in the middle of all the things we wanted to see including Longwood Gardens …

the Nemours Estate …

Winterthur

historic New Castle

and the Brandywine Battlefield.

Not only was our hotel only 10 to 15 minutes away from all of these spots, but the route to get to them was absolutely gorgeous!

Remember way back when I posted about Rustic Roads in Wisconsin?

Well, nearly all of the roads we traveled on from our hotel would qualify as Rustic Roads.

The roads were quite narrow and wound over creeks (sometimes with a covered bridge!) and through the woods with spectacularly historic buildings around every corner.

Or sometimes just the remains of a historic building …

Those are the remains of an octagonal school building built in 1838.

I wish I had been able to capture more photos of these amazing roads, but they were literally so narrow in most spots that you couldn’t even pull over.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Brandywine Valley, but now we’re back home once again.  I need to get crackin’ on stuff for my upcoming sale.  I also have a long, long list of gardening projects to tackle.

So be sure to stay tuned for all of those, plus a few travel and garden posts with more details from our trip!