Yes, it's Spring and the weather is perfect for gardening - or just relaxing.
One of the reasons I fell in love with this particular village home was because of it's fantastic wrap around porch. 
The fragrance from these small flowers is soft and delicate. Pick a handful and put them in your home and you will be shocked at how their sweet clean scent fills the air.
With the rock wall backdrop, these columbine stand nearly two feet tall.
The difficult part is figuring out what things are worth. There are a lot of collectors that attend these types of auctions so something that looks like it should go for $20 goes for 100 times that amount. Also, things at the beginning seem to go for more money than items at the end of the auction.
I’ll let you know what happens.
Well, I didn't win the bench or the iron gate! But I did get this fantastic rocking chair - perfect for my porch! for $20! Yaye!
“I dream of the days when I’m old and all I do all day long is garden”.
My father was a landscape architect and we grew up with a love and appreciation for all things plant. As a child we had a very large vegetable garden and living in San Diego, it supplied us with amazing fruits and vegetables nearly all year round. Sadly, at least until I have a proper green house, our growing season is only a few months long. So that means, as soon as the soil is workable, it “busy time” in the yard --- all work I love!
So, the plans for this coming weekend, as they will be for the next several weekends, are busy ones.
Early Saturday I'm heading up to Hillsdale and talk to Herrington’s people about rocks. Well, not just any rocks but fieldstone and blue flagstone. The fieldstone will be for the border around the flower garden and our new Japanese Maple . The flagstone will form our new walk way (or path) from the gate to our front door. “Gate?” Yes, the other major plan for this weekend is to stake out, measure and then meet with my guy Billy so we can get started on our picket fence.
These are the beginning elements (stone and picket fence) necessary to transform a boring front yard into an English Cottage garden.
One of the other things I plan to do is to change the windows. Well, not really change them because they are antique, but to update them. I recently came across this website: http://www.fixhome.com/Index.html which supplies window grilles (or grates) that can be installed over the windows. Look at any photo of a proper “Cottage Garden” and you’ll see that the homes always have these beautiful window grilles.
Anyway, one step at a time. So, this weekend two major things to accomplish and then the rest of the time I’m going to just be outside “gardening”… joy!
Across the street, at the former M&T Bank, Jill and Paul Choma bought the vacant building to expand their shop, Gilded Moon Framing.
Around the corner, on South Center Street, Village Cycle and Fitness opened where Fudgy’s closed, saving Millerton from having an additional vacant storefront.
Just up Route 44 toward Connecticut there are plans to build a super-sized supermarket, as yet unnamed. The project that’s being proposed promises to be a draw to shoppers from around the Tri-state region.
All of this activity bodes well for the village of Millerton, according to Salisbury Bank & Trust (SBT) President and CEO Rick Cantele. SBT also set up shop in Millerton just last year, developing the highly visible corner of Maple and Main streets with a brand-new building that houses not only the bank but also the well-established law firm, Downey, Haab & Murphy.
“I think Millerton has done a great job,” Cantele said. “That’s one reason, certainly, why the bank put a branch and new office in Millerton. Millerton is a shining star in terms of what can be done in a small town in terms of creating a town center that has some vitality and excitement about it.”
Which is exactly why entrepreneur Andrew Gates, co-owner of Little Gates Wine Merchants, is so enthusiastic about the development of 34-36 Main St., which he is working on with his business partner, Will Little. Little is also the chairman of the board of investors of The Lakeville Journal Co., LLC, which owns The Millerton News. Gates also works as a broker at Sotheby’s International Realty in neighboring Salisbury, Conn.
Once completed, the development of 34-36 Main St. will be home to more than just the wine shop. Kamilla’s Floral Boutique is on the ground floor of 36 Main St. already. Eckert Fine Arts will also join the retail space, moving from Kent, Conn., to be a co-tenant at 34 Main St. One of the executive office spaces on the second floor is already rented, and there will be a personal fitness studio on the third floor. Gates will personally occupy loft space upstairs.
“It’s a unique property in our micro-region — I think of that as our little Tri-corner gap between Great Barrington and Rhinebeck where we don’t have a bigger town,” Gates said. “Millerton has emerged as a smaller but viable alternative to those bigger towns.
“In an era of rising energy costs we are returning to the more traditional mixed-use model. It’s going to be an enormously important trend in the upcoming decades,” he added. “I guess for now I’m the guinea pig in that I am occupying the third-floor apartment of the new Little Gates.”
Cantele toured the future Little Gates property recently, as he has done with other properties in the bank’s vicinity, just to get a feel for his customers and their businesses. He said it gives his clients an opportunity to get to know the bank’s management on a personal basis and to show the bank “how proud they are of what they do.”
Gates said he was appreciative of Cantele’s visit.
“I thought Rick would like to see what’s going on in the community,” Gates said. “And he really enjoyed seeing the project.”
And the project is moving full steam ahead. Earlier this month Little Gates received its approval from the New York State Liquor Authority to complete its move; a May 30 opening day is the goal.
Taken in context of the entire village landscape, Gates said the completion of 34-36 Main St. can only add to what’s already great.
“It’s creating additional vibrancy and adding to Millerton’s already existing good momentum,” he said. “I think we’ve done a good job of paying attention to the particular business mix downtown and I think we’re very lucky in terms of where we lie on the global map.”
© Copyright 2011 by TCExtra.com
