Yesterday's girlfriend afternoon with Kat was exactly what the Dr. would have ordered ... if I had asked his opinion, you understand. We had a long, chatty lunch at Panera, then we hit the road to see what things La Plata, Maryland, had to offer us.
Kat's post today is all about our first stop, Waldorf Pottery. I find it fascinating to see the different types of things she and I photograph while we are together. We compliment each other pretty well ... she takes artsy photos of stuff, and hones in on the decorative side of things, while I tend to take photos as notes for inspiration for future projects.
Hosta 'Sagae' is one that I MUST add to my collection.
The flowers on 'Endless Summer' hydrangea were beautiful. I probably need one of these, too.
The day was hot and steamy, and I took every opportunity I could to stay in the shade. This shade structure was wonderful! I can see something like this back by my barn .... can you hear the wheels turning?
Detail photo to show the framing of the 'roof'.
Kat, dear, you could build a simple lattice grid like this to attach to your house to hold your New Dawn rose.
Hostas!! Have I told you how much I LOVE hostas?
Notice the little green table in the photo above? Something like this would be absolutely perfect to hold flats of roses ... must take a photo so I can remember how it's built ...
As we headed inside, I spotted this fantastic little pot of succulents.
Inside was a wonderland of gift and garden items (and air conditioning!). I was particularly attracted to this table ... another inspiration photo, coming up.
Look at all the fabulous container arrangements!
Kat told everyone that I would show you what I bought, so here goes.
I love pigs, and years ago I had a collection of pig items. The collection got completely out of hand. Years ago I stopped buying pigs, or accepting them as gifts, and most of my pigs are now stored or given away. This little piggy, with his beady little eyes and huge personality, spoke me and I had to have him.
My other buy was a set of greyhound bookends. I have a HUGE collection of greyhound items (including Emma and Daniel, my two REAL greyhounds ... ha ha), and I am always on the look out for interesting greyhound things to add to my collection. These will be perfect in our library!
I totally forgot to take a photo of these styled in the store, so I have to make do with a photo taken on my kitchen counter.
We stopped at a few other stores (I can't remember the names of any of them). One was a decor and jewelry store with a wonderfully chatty, friendly owner. There was an arrangement of subway-style signs on one wall, and one of them in particular was hillarious. It said,
MONEY CAN'T BUY
HAPPINESS, BUT IT CAN
BUY MARSHMALLOWS,
WHICH ARE KINDA
THE SAME THING.
Knowing what a history freak I am, our last stop was Port Tobacco, a historic formerly-bustling commercial town, which contains the reconstructed Charles County courthouse,
some beautifully maintained 18th Century houses,
Stagg Hall, built ca. 1740 for merchant John Parnham.
and this outbuilding and pile of bricks that had my imagination whirling.
I will finish with this random photo I took at a traffic light. If anyone wants a really cool old Volkswagon, it's for sale.
Many of you have said here, or in comments at Kat's blog, that you would love to spend a day with a fellow blogger or two ... what's stopping you? Pretty much the only thing that gets in my way if I want to contact someone is no-comment@blogger.com. Whenever I see that, I know I probably can't get to know that person better, no matter how nice they seem.
If you haven't enabled email responses on your profile, will you please consider doing it?
Pretty please.