New house

The house we are buying,...The house is a tad larger but the yard is considerably smaller...

BITTERSWEET RAMBLE

I have not rambled around my garden much this spring. Last year at this time I had no idea we would be planning a move this year but after a winter of heath issues we have decided we need to live where we have public transportation so that when we can no longer drive we will have shopping and public transportation within  walking distance. We are working on getting moved some time before the end of the year and I have been busy deciding what to keep and what to move.  Rambling around this morning  is sort of bitter sweet seeing what is being left behind.  We are moving to a home that is one room larger (dining room) then the one we have now but the yard is one third the size with no fence and many restrictions we don't have now so it will be a challenge to create a back yard garden like I have done here but looking forward to a new adventure.

My pixelated goddess and I greeting the morning

 Passion flowers getting ready to bloom

 Bougainvillea getting started again after a hard freeze this winter

  Heavenly Bamboo flowers (Nandina)

 Spiders spinning their webs

 Asparagus fern flowers

 Blooms in my butterfly garden (?)

 Sunflower trees

Wood chip I like

 Wild plum  volunteers

 Old sand pine tree limb having it's way with our fence

 Limbs that bend but do not break

 Bleeding heart

 4 o'clock blooming in the morning

 One of my favorite views in the garden

 Virginia creeper

 Empty pots waiting to be cleaned and moved to new home

At first I was lost and then I was found...

ALONG THE PATH TO HAILE HOMESTEAD

Recently we took a tour of the Historic Haile homestead and these are the photos I took along the way or around the homestead itself. 

The beginning of the tree shaded quarter mile path to the homestead

This fellow was sitting on this log when we first started down the path to the homestead

Pine tree with trailing vines

White wisteria growing into the trees

And he was still there when we returned

HISTORICAL HAILE HOMESTEAD

Sunday Bob and I traveled to Gainesville, Fl to tour this homestead at Kanapaha, Plantation.  It is a unique Classic Revival style home with Cracker influence.

Built by Thomas Evans and  Esther Serena Chestnut Haile from 1854 to 1856 this 6200 squarefoot home has been restored to it's original appearance .

 The fine workmanship and simple elegance attest to the skills of the enslaved craftsmen who constructed the home out of native materials. At the peak of the cotton farming and up until the Civil War there were 85 slaves listed as living and working there. 

All that remains of the slave cabins

Trunk rooms at top of stairs, A place where unused items are stored along with booze during parties

This crib was used for all 15 of the children  that Esther bore during her lifetime.

Master bedroom just off the nursery 

Wardrobe which houses the chamber pot along with other necessary items

 Using boxes to make dressers drawers shows the resourcefulness of the family. 

"Waste not, want not."

Fainting couch,
a necessary item.

One of 6 different fireplaces throughout the house

The Classical Revival style having identical rooms on either side of the large hall that extends from front to back

Cooking pots in the serving room just off the dining room. The kitchen was located out of doors away from the house for fire safety and to help keep the main house cooler.

This large bedroom slept all of the 12 boys.  There were 6 beds, 3 at each end with two boys to a bed.

The 3 girls shared this room..the posts on the bed were for draping a mosquito cloth over while sleeping.

These stairs and all the floors were built of pine and are termite resistant. All the wood in the stairs and floors are original and have only been polished. 

Back porch identical to the front porch.

This was in the school room along with this writing on the wall that says:

"I will be so very glad when school is out...."

The house is  unique in that it has this writing on every wall in every room. There are recipes, growth charts, inventories of silverware and even a menstrual cycle chart in the master bedroom closet. There are little sayings and poems along with guest writings. Paper was scarce so that may be the reason for this or it may just be this family did things. It certainly is a unique way to keep a journal of a family.

Growth chart

Menstrual cycle chart

Inventory of silverware

Inventory of china

Abraham Lincoln

Adobe brick with finger marks still in it

Kachina used for foundation pillars. Raising the height of the floor keeps the indoor temperatures 10 degrees cooler then the outside air

 Signs placed where outbuildings used to stand

This cistern collected all the rain water from the roof via a wooden gutter 

Barns

Smokehouse

Kitchen

Path leading to and from the Haile Homestead