A Day of Birthday Fun!!

I got spoiled yesterday, it was my birthday! A great friend was generous enough to watch the kids for a few hours so that Dan and I could do things we normally do not get to do with kids around (no not that)! We went to my favorite restaurant for lunch, Carol Peck's Good News Cafe. MMMMMM!!!!! And then we went to the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington. Two very fun but not child friendly places! Here is the front of the house, it was built in 1901 and was planed by the owner's daughter Theodate Pope. Later she also planned Westover School (that is where our kids spent the day!), another school in Avon, CT, and many other homes. Funny thing is her father was business partners with Mr. Whittmore who lived here in our town, the library is named after him. And she almost married Mr. Whittmore's son, but later he asked Theodate to build a school here. So she also built Hop Brook School.
This is the receiving area, we went in through here.
Walking in.
Now there are no pictures of the inside here, but there are a few online, because we were not allowed to take pictures. But inside we saw the house just as Theodate Pope Riddle had left it when she died in 1946. The best was that as they were quite "well off" they toured Europe a few times and learned to enjoy art. So we were able to see 4 Monet's, 2 Mary Casset's, 3 Degas, a few Manet's, and various other artists works. It was great. I love Monet, we were able to see quite a few of his works once in Las Vegas at the Bellagio, and it was great to see a few more, including one of my favorites "Haystack With Frost Effect". They also had the most beautiful pale yellow and white Wedgwood tea set. When Mrs. Riddle dies she left a 40 page will, everything was specified she also included that nothing could be sold or lent out or brought in, it had to remain completely the same so that everyone could see it. (Seems a bit narcissistic to me but I still enjoyed it).
Originally there was 500 acres, now there is less than 200. It was a "gentleman's farm", they produced most of what they ate, and employed alot of workers from the area.
These stone walls all over CT. are so amazing, there is no cement or mortar of any kind, they just stack them. But they are made well, there alot still standing all over this area.

This is the back side of the house (far right) and then the carriage house.
This is the sunken garden, the master bedroom overlooks it! It was planned and landscaped in 1920, then seeded over during the war, when there was no one to upkeep it. Then in 1986 they rediscovered the original plan and volunteers keep it up. There are no flowers during any of the seasons that are red or orange, they are all blues and purples etc to complement the impressionist paintings inside.
Thank you for taking the Danna tour, we bought a book on it that is really good, so if you want to know more let me know! :)

Here we all are after we got back home. Dan made me a great dinner, we had Loren's Chinese chicken salad without the chicken. YUMMMYYY!!!! And then of course...
lemon cake!!! My favorite!!!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!!