A YEAR-END CLOVER!!! STORY

We need to end the year with an entertaining CLOVER!!! story, right? 

This is my "WINE ROOM", which is the setting for the following.........

My neighbors, the PETAS, are like a second family to me. The day after CHRISTMAS they visited mid-day with a gift of wine, a cute little CHRISTMAS decoration and a unique CHRISTMAS WINE STOPPER to add to my treasured collection. This one LIGHTS UP!! 

I opened some wine and we were all enjoying each other, sharing laughs and lifting our glasses in my "WINE ROOM".

The PETAS are dog-lovers, so CLOVER!!! was actively involved in their visit. 

Nichole was playing with CLOVER!!! and her "iFetch Too" (a ball-tossing gadget) in the other room. CLOVER!!! drops the ball in the hole in the top and the ball shoots out the side. Most of the time, CLOVER!!! catches it in her mouth as soon as it exits.......... 

In case you aren't familiar with this "TOY", here she is this summer playing with it on the deck.

So, NICHOLE and CLOVER!!! are busy playing with this toy, but this one time......... 

DRUM ROLL........... 

CLOVER!!! misses the catch when the toy is set on "high velocity toss".

The ball SHOOTS out of the toy, HITS the side of the wall mirror and RICOCHETS into the WINE ROOM, high in the air, in direct line to the CHANDELIER.

The ball hits the CHANDELIER, knocks off one of the shades, breaks the light bulb and glass showers down around us.  

The little GLASS BEADS of the chandelier are knocked loose and are hanging straight down......

BINGO!!!

We all jump out of our chairs and into ACTION, while LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY. 

NICHOLE rushes CLOVER!!! out of the room, MARK and I start picking up GLASS PIECES, MONICA gets the vacuum, MARK gets a ladder from the garage to replace the broken bulb, I TURN OFF the light and search for a NEW bulb, ALEXIA takes a photo of the chaos, while laughing, almost missing the shot of the chandelier damage......... and we're still all SHAKING OUR HEADS and LAUGHING. 

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES that CLOVER!!!'s ball would RICOCHET off the MIRROR and hit one of the CHANDELIER BULBS DEAD CENTER????  

Gotta LOVE this GIRL!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO Y'ALL!!!

JOAN and CLOVER!!!

NATIVITY SCENES AT GLENCAIRN

Every year the PITCAIRN family displayed a SET OF 3 NATIVITY DIORAMAS with this vibrant BLUE background in their dining area for all of the family and guests to enjoy.  

Most if not all of these NATIVITY SCENES in the PITCAIRN HOME were hand-made in ITALY.  If you can zoom in to see the detail, you'll be even more delighted.

This next one, with several levels and a hub-bub of activity, really caught my eye. Remember that each piece of fruit, every character and the shingles and bricks are all HAND-CARVED and HAND-PAINTED. There are a number of tiny CLAY POTS on the back wall. The LION FACE on this back wall is typically seen in ITALY spouting water from his mouth into the bowl below. INCREDIBLE.

A massive NATIVITY SCENE was displayed in THE GREAT HALL, where our house tour began.

The last NATIVITY SCENE I'm sharing here was completed in 2015. It was a commissioned piece, to incorporate many special parts of the GLENCAIRN ESTATE buildings into the scene. From my past few posts on this estate, you might recognize the STAINED GLASS WINDOW from the CATHEDRAL, the vibrant half-moon painting of the NATIVITY on the back wall over the fireplace and the similarity of the general architecture of this diorama to the buildings on the estate grounds.

Beautiful reminders of the CHRISTIAN meaning of CHRISTMAS.

JOAN

VISITING THE CAIRNWOOD ESTATE

The CAIRNWOOD ESTATE outside of Philadelphia is only an hour from me, yet I knew NOTHING about it, until my Aunt suggested I visit it - particularly at CHRISTMASTIME. I'm so glad I did!!

There are 3 important buildings, which compose the ESTATE - CAIRNWOOD on the right in the above photo, GLENCAIRN on the left and the CATHEDRAL.

CAIRNWOOD - completed in 1895, was the original home of SCOTTISH immigrant, JOHN and GERTRUDE PITCAIRN, and their 6 children.

• John was a wealthy industrialist who co-founded PITTSBURGH PLATE AND GLASS and made his fortune in the 1870's by investing in PENNSYLVANIA coal, oil and natural gas
• Their home included a CHAPEL for the family and a wing to house 7 employees in 5 bedrooms, with one bathroom, a sewing room, a nursery a butler's pantry and a linen closet.
• John and Gertrude began buying up surrounding land to develop a community where "their children could attend church and school in an ideal environment surrounded by nature and farmland".
• Today, wedding receptions and other public events are held here.

GLENCAIRN - a home built by the oldest child, RAYMOND - completed in 1939, housed RAYMOND, his wife MILDRED PITCAIRN and their 9 children. 

Their second oldest child, GABRIELE PITCAIRN married Rev. Willard Pendleton in 1934. They had 6 children and lived here from 1945 - 1980. Today it serves as a MUSEUM, sharing with the community what life was like in this spectacular home.

THE BRYN ATHYN CATHEDRAL has the largest NEW CHURCH congregation. The building was dedicated in 1919.

Inside the CATHEDRAL are beautiful STAINED GLASS WINDOWS, shown here reflecting their colors across the front altar.

This CHRISTMAS BOUQUET in the CATHEDRAL hallway gives you a taste of what I'll share in my next BLOG POST........ photos of the PITCAIRN FAMILY'S hand-carved NATIVITY SCENES, GLASS BLOWN CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS, books, candies and additional TREASURES from the EARLY 1900's.

JOAN

GLENCAIRN CHRISTMAS

Oh, the PITCAIRN family CHRISTMAS TREASURES were wonderful. Most were displayed in "THE GREAT HALL", which is aptly named.

Do you recognize any of these CANDIES?? My friend SUSAN remarked that she remembered eating these "PLANTATION" CHOCOLATE STRAWS, which were chewy and stuck to her teeth. I remember that too.

PLANTATION CANDIES is still in business outside of PHILADELPHIA. I just may have to plan an excursion to see the candy production up close and personal.

I was MOST fascinated by the HAND-BLOWN GLASS ORNAMENTS, which started in a small town in GERMANY.  It took me a few minutes to realize that the glass was blown into the ceramic mold (at the bottom of the photo below). When the mold was opened and the ornament removed, it still had the long glass "straw" at the top.

They first applied a base coat of paint, then HAND-PAINTED each ORNAMENT. Lastly they cut the "straw" part off - thus the sharp glass edge under the silver cap that holds the hook for the ornament to hang on the tree. I remember as a kid, being warned not to cut myself on the rough glass edges if the hook cap came off.  

A CHRISTMAS photo of the PITCAIRNS was displayed behind a small tree decorated with GLASS ORNAMENTS.

Additional TREASURES that caught my eye.......... don't you LOVE this miniature STETSON HAT??

And you can only imagine how spectacularly their home was decorated.

The following 3 photos were taken in the older residence on the property - CAIRNWOOD.

I hope you enjoyed this little TOUR and are completely IN THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT by now........  Tune in for my next post, in which I'll share photos of the NATIVITY SCENES owned by the PITCAIRNS, most of which were HAND-CARVED in ITALY.

JOAN

CHRISTMAS DECOR FOR MY WINE BOTTLES

DARN CUTE, aren't they?!!!! All of the knit ones are hand-made. Over 10 years ago, I met the young girl who started the company and I bought several from her right away. Since then, I've found a variety of alternatives to dress up a WINE BOTTLE and occasionally, I can't resist - notice the GNOME SANTA........

I was in THE CONTAINER STORE of all places last month and since PENNSYLVANIA still has restaurants where you can BYOB, these WINE CARRIERS caught my eye immediately.  I placed them on my counter for the HOLIDAYS, together with a rustic SNOWMAN and CHRISTMAS PLATE.

Each time I open a bottle of wine at this time of year, I decide which CHRISTMAS WINE CORK I'll use......... I'm becoming a bit of a "COLLECTOR"........

Now, to go with YOUR GLASS OF WINE, you need a CLOVER!!! story, right?

CLOVER!!! and I were sitting on the couch one evening. I had a glass of RED WINE in one hand and a TENNIS BALL in the other, tossing it to CLOVER!!! in a gentle game of CATCH. I toss it to her..... then she drops or tosses it to me...... 

When the ball landed smack-dab-in-the-middle of my glass of wine, RED WINE flew UP in the air, then down on ME, THE COUCH, THE COUCH PILLOWS and the CARPET (that was cleaned JUST THAT MORNING of course). 

I turned toward CLOVER!!! with a GASP and a look of STUNNED SURPRISE.  She just TILTED HER HEAD and looked back at me with the same STUNNED SURPRISE. 

Naturally, I jumped up to grab a wet towel to clean it all up, but I couldn't help but LAUGH OUT LOUD. This couldn't have happened again if she tried.  

CHEERS!!

JOAN

MY NEW CHRISTMAS WINE GLASS

Since Thanksgiving I've been searching for (during my ongoing shopping excursions) a special WINE GLASS to enjoy during this 2016 CHRISTMAS season. I was "on the hunt" for something BRIGHT, CHEERFUL, UNIQUE and FESTIVE. I wasn't having any luck....... 

But this past weekend, at the GERMAN CHRISTMAS MARKET in downtown PHILADELPHIA, I found it!!! I fell in love with it the minute I saw it and knew it would be perfect for both of my favored ROSE and RED wines.  

ISN'T IT DELIGHFUL??

It's HAND-BLOWN GLASS from EGYPT (go figure). The vendor was featuring beautiful hand-blown glass ORNAMENTS, but tucked along the side were a few of these wine glasses. Some had gold-colored stripes and some had rose-colored stripes, but all were decorated with dots of gold. PERFECTION!!

I was just getting my money out to buy it when my AUNT MARTA rushed over, pushed me aside (yes, she's GERMAN) and INSISTED to buy it for me. THANK YOU AUNT MARTA!!

I'll close with a tiny bit of CHRISTMAS MUSIC from the GERMAN MARKET for your LISTENING PLEASURE......

CHEERS!!

JOAN