I am not sure exactly what I've written about this trip, but I really should add that I had never met any of these women before.  I had known them only from the Take Peace list and we have gotten to know each other over appoximately the last 5 years.  I had spoken to Kristen and Suzanne on the phone, but briefly and I had seen pictures of both of them and Cathy on the net, so I kind of knew who I was looking for, etc.  It was great to finally put faces and voices with each of these women.  We had just a few short hours to get to know each other, really.  After checking out of the motel Sat. morning, some of us went on to the Vermont Country Store for another shopping session.

Tomorrow:  Old Sturbridge Village.

We stayed at a really lovely Holiday Inn in Brattleboro, VT. Kristen and Suzanne had made arrangements to use their conference room for our other doings.  One of the things you may see in some of Tasha's books are wool-cut animals.  Hers are generally either bunnies, mice or owls.  Suzanne's workshop was first and she was going to teach us how to make them.  I had planned ahead and brought wool yarn from home (my own sheep) to  use on the animals.  It was my gift to everyone, a little something from Montana.  I had also plucked a barred rock hen who went to the big coop in the sky.  Her death wasn't in vain.  Her feathers were used on the owls!  I also brought along some hairs from our pony's tail for the bunny whiskers.  These are basically a graduated version of pom pom animals.  Suzanne's husband was diligently working on the wood forms for us to use at the same time she had been getting ready and I was looking for her 6th chick.   I think he retreated to his cool basement workshop for more than one reason! 

The wool-cut animals.  Mine's the owl on the left with antique black glass eyes.

After the wool animal workshop, we had a little tea party.  Linda had shipped an entire box of stuff out from Oregon to be used at the tea party.  Suzanne also brought many things from home to make it complete.  Cathy had been thinking and added her Tasha's books for a reminder of why we had all gathered there.  She also made jam thumbprint cookies from Tasha's receipt book and her friend Cindy (aka Betty Crocker, so we're told) made Tasha's brownies topped with Seth's fudge!  To die for!

The tea party was just enough to get us revved up again.  Before we got too far along in the evening, though, it was time for show and tell.  Cathy, Cindy and Sandy are all Corgi breeders.  Cathy had written to Tasha a time or two so she brought the correspondence she'd received from Tasha, complete with little drawings on each.  She also share her many prints.  Linda shared a little book and I shared my doll-sized picnic basket made by Tasha.  There were many stories told and Sandy suggested we each tell how we came to discover Tasha.  It was fun to hear all of those stories. 

Linda helping set up the tea party.  Sophia is just behind her.

The tea party tables laden with goodies from everyone!

On to the needle felting workshop!  With 3 Corgi breeders in the group, and Tasha being such a Corgi lover herself, it was only natural to pick a Corgi to be the project.  Besides, we all have Annabelle dolls who need a Corgi!  I had made a prototype, which was much to large for an Annabelle doll, so after Kristen showed up, I made sure she took that one home for one of her many dolls.  The women did an awesome job.  What a talented bunch.  I didn't have to do much teaching at all!

During this time is when Kristen granted us her surprise.  Just her being there was over the top for all of us.  Her poor husband was exhausted and one of the ladies suggested to Kristen that he go upstairs to her room and sleep for a while.  He was happy to oblige.  Why would he want to hang out with all of us anyway?! 

After a bit and closer to dark thirty, we were all getting hungry again.  We ordered pizza and I still can't get over the price.  Four large pizza's (and they were huge) for $10 ea.  I couldn't shut up about it.  Around here they would be twice that!  Kristen was fading and thought she had better get on the road.  He husband came down from Melinda & Wilhelmina's room to get her.  When he walked in he told them that one of their husbands had called and he had answered the phone.  We all got a big laugh out of that!  Someone might have some explaining to do.  Timing really is everything, isn't it?  As it turned out, it was Melinda's husband and he was so frazzled at home with their move and shuttling kids to and from work, etc., it didn't even dawn on him.  He just assumed he was part of the gathering.  I said to blame it on Farmer Stephen.  He's really the only man who ever posts to the Take Peace list.

Needle felting continued and some were able to finish theirs before midnight..  They turned out so well!  Can you guess that the 3 breeders were the 3 who finished and then stayed up even later for a photo shoot!

Cindy, Sandy and Cathy's wool animals.

As I mentioned before, we had time constraints.  The tour is from 10:00 am to 11:00 am.  Never mind that we got a late start by 15 minutes.  We were not granted an additional 15 minutes on the other end.  Amy told us when the bell rang, we were to meet up at the gate again.  I spent the better part of 30 minutes rushing around in fear I would miss something, looking at my watch and anticipating the darn bell.  It didn't make things all that pleasant.  I needed to regroup. 

After passing by the dovecote and seeing Tasha's fan-tails inside (a dream of my own some day), I heard a rooster crow and saw some movement in the lush greens just beyond the barn.  A woman was stomping some sort of plant material down for the chickens.  I asked her what breed the chickens were and she didn't know.  I then asked what the plant was that she was stomping down for the chickens and she told me it was a relative of the nettle plant and I wouldn't want to touch it, but the chickens would eat it.  I had to add, "Unless you use gloves and cook it first."  I don't think I impressed her much, but then she didn't seem like the type who was easily amused.  After that brief encounter I walked over to the barn.  I stopped at the door way and tried to absorb all I could.  Stepping inside was magical for me.  I had seen that place so many times in so many of Tasha's books.  It was hard for me to believe I was standing there.  To the left were 2 huge, hollowed out trees used for storing feed.  I didn't open them to see what was in them.  To the right and up just a bit was Tasha's goat milking stanchion.  I sat down, just as she would've, and pretended I was milking her goat.  For a moment I was lost in time.

Jolted back to reality and fearful the bell would ring before my recess was over, I went back out the barn door and over to the rock terraces.  They just weren't what I expected, but then again, I'd seen them on the video and in her gardening book so many times, what they actually looked like in late June and what they were in the book were two very different things.  There was a lot more plant life than in the pictures.  It was just like the bay tree.  I don't know what I was thinking!

The ladies were gathering in a spot close to Tasha's front porch and looking out over the garden.  They called for me to join them and enjoy the view.  It was awesome.  And then my fears came true.  The bell rang.  I scurried ahead to sit in the stanchion one last time and show the ladies what Tasha may have looked like milking her goats.  Her grandson was bringing up the rear and as he entered the barn I know he heard me proclaim, "Look ladies, this is where Tasha milked her goats!"  He looked at me and added, "I don't think she would've sat like that, though."  I so wanted to state that there's only one end of a goat to milk, but I was a guest, albeit a paying one, and I didn't want to offend or embarrass him, so I simply said, "Oh really?  How would she have sat?"  Well, Winslow wasn't sure, but he was almost certain I wasn't right.  I just said, "Well, if I were milking my goats, this is how I would sit."  He replied with, "Oh, you have goats, do you?"  His tone took on a slight bit of respect for my position on the stanchion.  A discussion ensued about leaning into the goat if I were to milk a goat the way I was sitting and I told him he was correct about that, but I enjoy that interaction with the goat while milking.  You get a feel for what the goat is doing and thinking.  So, off we went, bringing up the rear and walking back to the Rookery where we were allowed as much time to shop and spend as we wished.  Amy didn't ring the bell there, but she was kind enough to take our pictures with our own cameras.  Here we all are in front of the Rookery.

Wilhelmina, Sandy, LaVonne, Cathy, Linda, Cindy, Judy, Bonnie, Melinda, Suzanne, Mimi, Stacy and Sophia in front.

As you can see, the cash register at the Rookery was smoking when we left.

Loading the haul! 

Back down the winding road to reality. 

You can imagine by now how giddy I was.  I sometimes even now shake my head that I actually took this trip.  I told Linda the reason I booked my flight so early was so I wouldn't back out.  I am such a home body and it would've been so easy for me to just stay home.  I am so thankful I took this giant leap! 

We arrived at the Rookery.  This home was originally built for Tasha's daughter, Bethany, but they have since turned it into the family gift shop called The Rookery.  A rookery is a gathering place of crows and Tasha's family once had a pet crow named Edgar Allen Crow.  I can only assume that's why they choose the name.  Had you been inside the Rookery after the tour with all of us, you may have been more tempted to call it The Coop!  We were all cackling like happy hens and scurrying about to see what might tempt us!

We all put name tags on at the Rookery with the state in which we had traveled from.  The path to Tasha's home and garden is through the woods.  Once we got to her gate, Megan Corgi greeted us.  What a lovely dog.  No barking and she just seemed so pleased to see us.  She was to be our unofficial tour guide.  Winslow is Tasha's grandson and Amy is his wife.  They were our hosts.  Amy informed us at the gate that we were the first private American tour they'd granted in the 3 years they've been giving garden tours.  That made us all feel very special!

Once inside the gate, we were free to go where we pleased, being mindful of the garden paths, the deer fence and closed doors.  We were able to go into any open doors there.  The first open door is a little outhouse attached to the back of the house.  I didn't ask if it was actually usable, but the door was open and I peeked in.  There was a poem written on a piece of wood and hung on the wall.  I should've taken the time to write it down, but we were under time constraints and I didn't want to waste it in the outhouse!  It was something about taking too much time to contemplate while sitting and then being greeted by death.

Off I went down the path.  Two little houses sat on the left.  They appeared to be small chicken coops with some shavings inside and a few feathers for appearance sake.  Neither were in use any more, but would be fun play houses for kids, given their size.  Just past those was a garden path that was almost completely covered overhead with trees and flowers.  The bench around the base of the tree was our clue that it was indeed Tasha's Secret Garden.  How exciting to actually see her Secret Garden!

I was trying to drink in all of the plant life that was surrounding us.  I really thought the tour would be more of a guided tour with identification of plants so I could write it all down in my journal.  You see, cameras were not allowed!  Instead, we were free to meander as we pleased. 

I kept looking for the bay tree.  My problem was, in my head it was small and in reality it was a lot bigger.  It's in the center of a beautiful brick circular garden and although I did see it, I didn't realize I saw it until after I was home and we all discussed it via the net.  I had been looking down at the brick work instead of looking up at the bay tree.  The bay tree is one of the few things Tasha refers to in her garden as "him", due to the massive size.  She grew it from a slip and it's got to be over 50 years old by now.

There were so many things to see.  The pond, the rock terraces, all of the lovely flowers, trees, shrubs and the house itself.  We went into the greenhouse on the end of the house.  It was MUCH smaller than I had imagined it to be.  As a matter of fact, everything was!  Keep in mind that when the books and videos were done in Tasha, she herself only weighed 95 lbs, so she doesn't take up much room!  Her greenhouse is attached to the house and she can access it in the winter via a steep, narrow ladder type set of steps.  I am certain she no longer does, given her age.  It would be too dangerous.  All of her home is connected in that manner so she could access the greenhouse on one end and the barn on the other without ever going outside in the snow.  I am sure it made it a lot nicer for milking her goats.

To be continued........................

Suzanne got Linda and I to our motel, we checked in and then went to get something to eat.  We just got it to go, because it was late and we were all exhausted.  Suzanne dropped us off at the motel and Linda and I ate in our room.  At one point when I was done eating and Linda was finishing, she looked over at me with a gazed look in her eyes and said, "Are we where we're supposed to be?"  I answered with, "As opposed to what?"  We both just cracked up laughing and having been so tired we were just silly!  I laughed until I cried.  What Linda meant was that we had actually changed motels from the original plans, unbeknownst to us until we got there.  I was clueless and kept telling them I was along for the ride.  This country girl just didn't want to have to drive in the city!

The next morning I was promptly up at 6:00 am, Eastern, mind you!  I guess 6:00 is 6:00 to me no matter where I am.  I can't go back to sleep, so I'd get up and get dressed and try to sneak out of the room to let Linda sleep.  She was 3 hours behind!

Suzanne picked us up about noon and we went to her house to help her get ready and then hit the road to Vermont!  I got to see her goats and chickens.  She was missing a chicken and looked high and low for it.  I finally told her to go get ready and I'[d find the chick.  I found it all right.  It was DOA in the bottom of the box.  She came back out (with heavy gloves) and retrieved the chick.  (I handed it to her bare handed.)  She tossed it in the woods for nature to take care of it and when her daughter, Sophia, found out it wasn't given a proper burial, she was not happy.  We assured her that nature would take care of things perfectly. 

We were finally on our way to Vermont!  The trees out there are amazing.  I now know why the fall colors can be so gorgeous!  It would be fun to go back to see the colors sometime.

All of the list members had reservations at a local restaurant Thursday evening.  It was so fun to have each of them arrive and finally put faces to the names!  Some of them were dead on, others were not what I had pictured in my mind at all.  We had a great time at dinner but the weird thing to Linda and I was that they served us popcorn before dinner!  Suzanne said all pubs do that back there.  I guess it makes you thirstier and then you order more to drink.  It was just the most bizarre thing we'd ever encountered!  After dinner, we shuffled off to the motel, exhausted yet again!  We had to be up and ready to leave by 9:00 am.  Shouldn't be a problem for me!

Being so late, I had called Suzanne two times to let her know we were way behind schedule.  I am not sure what she and Kristen were doing while wasting time, but when we arrived to get our bags, Suzanne was alone.  She looked like she was sick and told us she had some bad news.  Kristen had just fallen crossing the street from the parking lot to the airport and we needed to come and say hello and goodbye to her.  They were hauling her off in an ambulance!  She slipped and shattered her knee cap!  She was headed for surgery!  We were all just sick about it because Kristen had done SO MUCH work putting this gathering together.  Now she would be unable to attend.

She had her surgery the next day and was released on Friday.  She made her husband drive her to Brattleboro where we were staying.  We were in the conference room busy working on our needle felting projects when she hobbled in on her crutches!  We all cheered! 

It was great to spend a little time with her and she brought the 2 illusive Rubbermaid containers with red lids with her.  You see, they were filled with Annabelle goodies and in the confusion of all of this, her husband loaded them back up at Suzanne's when he came to get her car and took them back home!  Kristen is Dr. Dolly, the creator of the Annabelle kits.  She has a passion for dolls and has always wanted to do an Annabelle Club.  A is for Annabelle is a book Tasha Tudor wrote and illustrated.  It goes through the alphabet and she has accessories for each letter.  Kristen's dream was finally coming to fruition via the Take Peace list .  She had poured her heart and soul into this as well as a lot of time and effort getting wonderful little kits and bits and pieces rounded up to share with us.  She was finally able to share it all with us and we were all thrilled!

She stayed as long as her pain meds allowed and even started her needle felted Corgi project!   What a trooper!  She had a long ride home that night, I am sure!

First off I should say that I have not flown since the mid 90's.  Wow have things ever changed.  Not just the post 9/11 security issues that everyone must deal with these days, but for the electronic gadgets everyone has!  Holy cow!  I've never seen so many I pods, laptops and cell phones in all my days!  Once the plane landed in Chicago, it was a mad dash for everyone to find POWER!  I was surprised to see people just plugging into the wall receptacles anywhere they could find one.  I guess watching a movie on your lap top is a good way to pass the time, but my goodness, has everyone forgotten the old-fashioned book?  And for the cell phones.  I think EVERYONE has one now and there were more people on them than not!  As it turned out, my cell phone was a life saver (or flight saver) for me.  I was sitting at the wrong gate waiting for Linda C. from Oregon, another Take Peace lister.  We were to meet in Chicago and fly to Hartford, CT together.  They told me when I left home that I needed to check the reader boards once I got there to make sure they didn't change my gate.  I got there, checked it and settled in.  I didn't bother to recheck.  Thank goodness I had emailed my cell phone number to Linda.  She called me from gate C-29 and asked where I was.  I told her I was waiting at the gate for her!  Little did I know, I was at the wrong gate.  Good lesson for this non-traveler!

The whole reason Linda booked the same flight as I had is so we could fly together from Chicago to Hartford.  She even booked the seat next to me.  The night before she left, they changed her ticket and we no longer were sitting next to each other.  As I boarded the plane ahead of her I just kept thinking it wasn't right, so I got on the plane and begged the stewardess to find a way we could sit together.  She did and we were so thankful.  As it turned out, we were on the airplane for 5 hours!  Three and a half on the tarmac and an hour and a half flight.  The time just flew by!  We had no idea.  You see, Linda and I are also in the Annabelle Club.  It's a doll club via the Take Peace list.  We are each making dolls and all of the accessories that go along with her.  I painted Linda's doll and she made me a dress in exchange.  We waited until the plane got in the air before we got our dolls out!  My poor Annabelle was only in her undies and had no hair.  I dressed her on the plane.  The stoic man sitting next to me was less than amused!  We didn't care!  Neither of us could believe we were on our way to the Kindred Spirits Gathering!

WOW!  It's been almost a month since I've added anything to my blog.  Shame in me.  It's pretty bad when my daughter calls to reprimand me!  :-)

I need to tell everyone about my trip.  Some of you may know that I don't go anywhere.  As a matter of fact, I think I mentioned that when my brother found out I was taking a trip he promptly asked, "So, are you going to Bozeman?"  That's the nearest big town, 20 miles away.

So, back in the earlier part of the year, the Tasha Tudor list I belong to found out that we were granted a private tour of her garden.  I quickly made plans and purchased my ticket so I wouldn't back out.  I've only flown 3 times before and the anticipation was about more that I could handle.  I soon found out that Linda, another lister from Oregon, was going to go too.  She made her flight plans so we would meet in Chicago and be able to fly together to Hartford.  Hartford was the closest to Suzanne's house and Kristen would drive to Suzanne's and the 2 of them would pick the 2 of us up at the airport.  We were to meet others in Brattleboro on the evening of the 28th for dinner.   I had not met any of these women before.  I only knew them from the internet.  You can imagine my mother's horror!  They only thing she said was, "Lord have mercy!"

I woke up plenty early, long before the alarm clock ever went off.  I got to the airport in plenty of time and my husband dropped me off.  He came back home to do the chores and then went to work.  As we took off over the snow-capped peaks I was in total awe.  I even said to the girl next to me, "It's no wonder everyone wants to live here!  Look how beautiful it is!"  The flight to Chicago was uneventful.  I was surprised at what was to come.