Hi All,

Sorry I haven't posted in a week or so. I accompanied dh on a business trip he made to Williamsburg, VA.

We had both envisioned that dh would work during the days, and that I would rest and sight-see while he was working. Then, we would take time to relax in the evenings. Plus, we worked in a overnight stop in Asheville, North Carolina so that we could visit the Biltmore House.

Last March, when I went with DH on a business trip to Utah, we tacked some sightseeing days on to the front end, and we turned those days into a romantic getaway.

Well, this time we did have some fun, relaxing, and relationship-building times together. But, we also had some times when nothing flowed as we had envisioned that it would. DH called those our "patience-building" moments.

Bassett Hall

Among them were getting lost numerous times, despite having been to these locations before, plus having a GPS system and dh's own usually impeccable sense of direction to guide us. It got to the point where we began to joke that we'd probably have to write our son, "Dear Son, we are sorry to have to miss your September wedding. But, we are still wandering around Virginia, trying to figure out how to get home. Send help!" On top of that, dh contracted some type of virus or food poisoning ,and I was struggling with a shoulder/neck injury. Add to that a three-hour traffic stall on a section of Interstate with no access to alternate routes.

Despite these challenges, we're glad we had the trip. This time, I had houses and the domestic arts on the brain. DH and I drove past the James River plantations, plus I hung out at the DeWitt Decorative Arts Museum, looking at all of the furniture, china, samplers, quilts, etc. and took a tour of Bassett Hall, the "little" colonial house which John D. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller owned for a time. And, I took a lot of mental notes when touring the Biltmore. It had been some time since I had visited either Williamsburg or Biltmore, so I had fun looking at all of the details, gleaning ideas that might beautify an ordinary home. I'm sure most of you know how much you can learn about keeping your own humble home from visiting restored homes and museum homes.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth