A surprise visitor was spotted up here in Vt., grazing in the fields. Though there are many moose hiding on the mountains and hills it's a rare treat to see one.
We got to go see Oliver the night before, presented by The White River Players, and it was a great show. Well done!

Snow on the mountaintop but spring in the air

Happy Spring!
We were able to catch some folks out on their canoe while the water is high enough to give them a swift ride, though it was the beautiful snow on the mountain top that caught our eye first. It's truly beautiful up here in Vermont and I do believe we are in one of the prettier places nestled here in the valley.

Happy Holidays

With Thanksgiving here and the winter holiday's coming upon us, we turn our thoughts to home and family. Everything we sell , one or more of us loves themselves and we have been going all out collecting great stuff for Christmas gifts such as hand made bayberry candles, beautiful scarves made by Bonnie , and unique Brazilian tea candles made from rocks like amethyst and quartz.
In addition , we have all the great gifts and crafts you may already have discovered such as soap from the Fuzzy Bunny, Welsh love spoons from Bob Hewitt, Bonnie Atwood's amazing art and many more items like the kitchen antiques of Bob and Mary and the restored vintage instruments of Jake. We are going all out for the holidays so make the trip you'll enjoy.

The Night Rider

Not sure whether the "the Night Rider" knows where he's going but he seems to be enjoying the fall weather here in Vermont.
Hope everyone has made time to step out and enjoy the awesome display of color. Some of the best things in life are still free!

Grand Opening Extravaganza!

Well, folks, we've done a lot of work here at The Wildwood Flower getting the shop upstairs up and ready, and now come Sunday we're enjoying the atmosphere! After a hazy, warm, muggy yesterday (Saturday) we've come into a slightly overcast but boom-town Sunday! Nice to see a lot of different faces passing through our doors and seeing all the results of our efforts!



Mary's red-post eggplant-background, excellent sign now adorns our front porch area... complete with day-lilies and pink somethings, courtesy of Bob.



This weekend was tax-free, and I guess that's pretty good for the folks who stopped by! Somewhere out there a dragon weather-vane is appreciating a new home, as well as lots of other items! It was fun!



Some of our door greeters.



The upstairs was quite a bit of work, but completed we have a bright green willow floor, a moon in the sky, birch trees with a bench under them, and all sorts of critters hanging on the wall.



Another of our "door greeters."



Notice our wonderful mountain vistas!



A wolf chases a bunny across the sign!



New growth near the porch.



And more of our scenic location!



Mary stops to take a little sketch of her surroundings!



And here's some of the upstairs (now open!)



And Bob's "man's corner" with log bed and cowboy hat.



Some of our cozy selection!



A new round table!



Even the man in the moon came out for the show! HOT TAMALE!



Our arrangements include a childrens' pen and mini Hoosier cabinet!



Some of Bonnie's gift-ware!



And lovely French doors showing into the "Victorian Room."



Oh! Sir, may I buy a hat? Look at it all!



Elegant dressers, cradles...



...and more...!



Downstairs has changed as well...



A selection of our store-made post-cards (made from images in an old French encyclopedia).



Marbleized!



And a newly finished, fancy enamel table with maple body, legs, and 4 chairs... yum.



And a newly finished Hoosier Beauty!



A Virginian stove.



The "hot spot" right in the front "lounge."

Alright!

That's it for now. We're gonna get ready to pack up the store for the day... see you around! It was a wonderful grand opening and we're so very much happy to be here in Vermont! Thanks to everyone who turned out, and come back soon! Our stock changes all the time!

~ Mary, Bob, Bonnie, Jake

Grand Opening!

Just popping in to announce the date of our grand opening here at "The Wildwood Flower". It will be held the weekend of July 12 and 13th and will coincide with Vermont's tax free weekend! We'll also be unveiling our upstairs wing with many more wonderful things to offer you. And of course they'll be some goodies and treats for those who stop by. Hope to see you there!

Well, we have survived the record setting snow here in Vermont 2007/2008, just in time to see record setting gas prices coming our way, a true test if ever there was one. We've been blessed with a king who kept the driveway plowed out. Another blessing was the pellet stove and the Sam Daniels furnace which made a big difference at a time when fuel oil was already too high...and now this. I guess we'll all have to conserve a wee bit more and plan our trips wisely. I can't think of a more beautiful place to visit than the Green Mountains so if you have one trip to take I hope you consider a visit to the mountains!

We've had neighborly visits from folks in Rochester and nearby towns who've been coming by to greet us and wish us well. Each week brings more and more visitors to our country antique, music, and art store. Many are just passing through. No matter, we welcome their kind words of support and even their hello in a place where we are the new folks in town. Thank you if you are reading this and have been one of the friendly visitors. If not please come on in. Its difficult to leave the shop during open hours and join in the community at this point. We've tried to take turns getting out and Bob now has his very first half gallon of maple syrup thanks to the local farmers market. Hopefully this will keep him happy for a little while as it seems he's found a way to use it on everything. The funny gentleman at the market shared how he got caught drinking the liquid gold from a shot glass in the middle of the night! I haven't "caught" that one yet, but it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I have to sleep sometime.

Bob and I have been traveling back and forth, over 200 miles each week bringing up new merchandise, tools from home, and working on the building as best we can to make it ready for much more to come. We've collected for a very long time now and much of what was in our personal collection is going into the shop, some to be sold and some to be shared with everyone. We try to balance this with quick trips to waterfalls or porch sitting. Sometimes Jake will play the banjo or his guitar and treat us to some of his new songs. Balance seems to be the key and we stand firm regarding the work and play rule of the house. I have a feeling that Vermonter's learn this early.

It's no small task to work together, 4 of us, at times disagreeing and exhausted but somehow we've managed to work it out and come round right. Sometimes crankiness is simply hunger and that's easy to take care of...we eat. More often than not we work quite well together whether it's painting clouds or preparing the walls for fresh paint.
Our plan is to add more from the local community and surrounding towns but we are moving slowly. That maple syrup would be grand! We've approached a few people but we are still waiting to hear from them. So would some of the other crafts when the space is ready and we can work out a rent or consignment fee. We may have a few spaces available for rent as well if you think you've got something compatible with our shop. We've rented space for many years so we have a healthy respect for what is needed. Our shop seems huge but it will shrink fast if we over load it. This isn't to say we won't try to have some junk and projects available but for now we are focusing on providing good fun stuff whether it be artists work, banjo's, or kitchen cupboards from years ago. We have chosen to mix the old with the new, the true advantage of being our own bosses.

We've been doing this long enough to know that our merchandise also serves as a museum of sorts and is worth the visit if you'd just like to see a piece of the past or come share your stories with us.
thank you for all the support and you too Bonnie and Jake!

With warmest regards, Mary Atwood

The Emerald City

Well folks, the Spring seems to have made things a bit greener around here, including our porch! They weren't kidding when they called this color "lucky leprechaun". Wow! It'll knock your socks off.

Here's a little peek and also a peek at Jake's latest project, a banjo mandolin! We're thinking the porch color will fade down in a no time with all the road dust but for now we enjoy being here at the Emerald City.



Here's another view of the porch and Mr. Jake giving the banjo mandolin a test drive... I think he's plotting to keep this one for his personal collection so I'm not sure if it will make it to the store shelf, but it's got a lovely sound.



And here's what I've been sewing up, some flower pincushions.



Mr. Bob and Ms. Mary are going to be in Brimfield,MA this Saturday at the massive antique show if you happen to be in the area or are looking to take a long drive. Look for them in the May's field booth 401. And wish them lots of sunshine because so far it's been two days of rain for them!



Here's a happy Spring image to help bring them good weather.

Parlor Update

Hullo again! I realized I never posted an update to my work on the Cincinnatus parlor guitar. Well, here we are then, and here are some photos! They're not the best, but they show her all patched up!



All back together, strung with silk & steel strings (lower tension and mellower) and currently providing me with a nice fingerstyle sound. I'm hoping to find some other parlors for the shop instrument rack, but good ones are few and far between.



There you can see the leavings of the severe damage to this instrument... the cracks at the soundhole at the fingerboard end are a testament to the sunken neck. Fortunately, after lots of clamping and structural repair, the top managed to "get back to normal" -- and the wild curvature of the top was flattened out, which is necessary for the integrity of the instrument. The action is, by the way, 1/8" at the 12th -- not bad.



Those old tuners are holding well and are comfortable to turn! I put my "Lone Ranger" strap on this guitar as I've been playing it quite a bit lately.



And there's the back! The neck joint had been butchered, unfortunately, so I had to build up the old dovetail joint until it fit snugly, then reinforce it with another block so that the "same old" wouldn't happen again. I'm very sure the damage to the instrument was caused by an improper factory neck block (too small and installed off-center) combined with some foolish use of heavy bluegrass-style strings tuned to concert pitch too long.

She's playing well now, though, with a very mellow, focused tone. Sounds absolutely beautiful when played fingerstyle, as many of these old guitars were intended to be played.

Jake

Moody Springtime

Well hello again, internet folk! We've been up to much, just as always. We have aspirations to paint our porch, but the sky has been thick with rain and wet for the last week... and on into the future.



A scanty Amazon card rebate is allowing us to get some new Patricia McKillip books, however, which should clear the cloudy skies in our heads. Mr. Tom Waits is filling the air behind us at the moment, whose voice lingers in this kind of sullen weather.



We've met a lot of interesting people in the shop lately, which has given us a lot to think about! There are a lot of bright feathers up here. But speaking of bright... buds are popping out everywhere and in Middlebury it's already full-on spring. Ms. Pamela and Mr. Merrill were up last weekend and we have some photos to share of the blooming season... and a waterfall!



Up in the woods behind the shop.



At the top of our mountain!



At Texas Falls. In Vermont...

There's more to come later. We have lots to share about! We've been working on crafts and banjos and reading Sherlock Holmes (with Basil Rathbone in our heads) and all sorts of other things. I (Jake) can hardly wait to take some pictures of a c.1900 mandolin that fixed up nicely!

So long, penpals!

Jake & Bonnie

Planting, painting, general nonsense

Good morning! (almost afternoon I suppose)
We're getting ready for a busy weekend of planting, painting, and some general yard work. Hurray! We've finally got a sign out front (pictures to come!) and should be doing some work on the upstairs part of the store when my parents come to town. It's been great porch sitting weather. I still haven't got over that there's grass growing out there! What a novelty after months of snow. Jake has great dreams of growing a pumpkin patch. I have great dreams of growing an herb garden. Hopefully we'll have both this year!

In other news... I 've got a little online shop up and running for The Wildwood Flower with craft items on Etsy:

Etsy Buy Handmade thewildwoodflower

More from us soon!
-Bonnie

Zombie Guitar

Well, hello there again! I've just put up some more photos on Flickr of some repair work I'm doing on an 1890s parlor guitar and so I figured I'd put some here. First, the background...

I bought this hoping it would be an easy fix. Neck is perfectly straight, has good Victorian-era tuners, nicely proportioned body (think a small-size Martin or Larson parlor guitar), and wonderful ancient spruce for the top. Matches the grain very closely to my mandolin from the same time period, so I'm guessing that it might be Adirondack. Anyhow, that was all the good.

The bad was that the seller identified only "two tight hairline cracks" in the top and one big crack on the back. The back was no problem, I took it off, put it back together, and reglued the braces. The two "hairline cracks" must be the ones under the tailpiece and right down the center-seam of the top... those are okay. At this point I've glued and stabilized them. They're not going anywhere. So what was the bad? The soundhole had caved in at the top and the area around the soundhole was badly bellied-in. This left the neck at a five-degree angle pointing into the body and a massacred upper-bout top and structure underneath it. I decided that I was going to salvage the neck, sell the parts, and make a banjo-guitar with the neck... but then I went ahead and did the foolish thing and said "I'm gonna fix this!" So I am, and it's actually going okay. There's no doubt that I can in no way sell this piece, but it looks like it'll end up as a player anyhow!



Here's the broken end-block, missing part of the top, and broken-off brace.



Cutting away the old brace leavings... never fear! It'll turn out okay!



Bits and pieces... the brass tuners cleaned up nicely and now I have them all in working-order, too! Tailpiece is shiny and pitted at the same time. I might replace the bridge with a new one...



Cutting away the old top leavings that were still stuck to the underside of the fingerboard.



Almost done! Then to sand...



Clamping my "patch" in place. This will also remove the warp from the top of the soundboard when the glue is all dried. Getting there!



A little help from my cast-iron friend to glue these braces back to the back.

Come one, come all!

Good morning, chickadees! This is our new blog for the store. You will find exciting facts and true stories of our lives, right here! You will also find out about the things we make, the things we do, and sometimes even about the things we sell. And eat. We're eating cereal right now, Special K with bananas, while we watch the store.

It's a beautiful morning here, with light wind and a puffy-cloud sky. The river's flowing very fast out the window and the snow's melted enough to see the green moss on all the glacier rocks scattered everywhere around us. In the evening the deer will come to browse around the back of the house, but not yet. Terrapin (our katzen) is pounding on the door for a cuddle.

Anyhow, it's time to go back to being industrious. Bonnie's watching the shop all day today, a favor I'll exchange tomorrow, and so I have to make good use of my time! (I've been gluing an 1890s guitar back together from its ashes upstairs). Much more coming soon!

Don't forget to check out our new website:
www.thewildoodflower.com

Jake and Bonnie