Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold

Downtime at Blithewold?

The decorations have all been taken down, the Christmas trees are back in the basement, and the rooms at Blithewold look bare and forlorn, with only odd bits of leaves and glitter on the floor … Read more.

Wreath Season

I love the festive decorations that appear in December.  A pretty evergreen wreath on the front door is a classic welcome during the holiday season.  In preparation for our wreath classes last week, Gail and … Read more.

Happy Birthday, Augustus

Now that our Christmas and New Year’s celebrations have slipped into the past, we want to pause to honor our founder, Augustus Van Wickle, who was born on January 4, 1856. In January of 1883 … Read more.

A Very Merry Christmas

                Blithewold has thrown open its doors for the Christmas season, bringing the excitement of the season to all its visitors.  After you have toured the elegantly decorated Mansion, soaking up the festive atmosphere  within … Read more.

Pretty Leaves to Christmas Trees

The past couple of weeks Gail and I have had our attention divided between fall garden cleanup and Christmas decorating.  Despite the drought this past summer, the trees have still managed to show a good … Read more.

November is brilliant

The colors are turning here in a spectacular way.  With every twist of the path I spy a new favorite plant to photograph.  Gail and I can’t stop taking pictures of all the gorgeous trees … Read more.

Arthur Lamora

  Arthur Lamora was Marjorie Lyon’s grounds man and chauffeur from around 1950 until she died in 1976. He lived in the north end cottage apartment of the garage complex with his wife, Evelyn. Arthur … Read more.

A little bit of everything

From T-shirts to winter coats – was it really just last week that we had temperatures into the 80s?  This week has been quite the change.  I had to pull out my winter work gear … Read more.

Textile Conservation in Marjorie’s Bedroom

Blithewold’s Collections Committee decided last year that it would develop a project to repair and conserve the textile collection in the Mansion, including bed coverings, furniture upholstery, and window treatments.  Everything, by definition, is more … Read more.

Dreamy dahlias

Happy autumn!  The light shifts and the nights get cooler, but there is still so much color here in the gardens.  A lot of that color comes from dahlias and sages (Salvia spp.), which are … Read more.