Getting Ready to Get Ready - Evening at Ardenwood Tonight!

I have decided that I need to be really organized before getting dressed in Victorian.  I have had a couple incidents where I forgot the shoes first rule.....I had dressed up to petticoats on and then remembered, I need to put on the stockings and shoes.  My shoes are not the button up shoes of the Victorian era, rather slip-on plain black 1.5" heels, so they are not the problem.  It is the stockings (black tights) that are the problem at that point.  Once you get the corset on, your toast as far as putting on anything under it.  So everything has to come off to the chemise on, but not the corset yet.  (By the way, I did make French Drawers in the Challenges this year, but, shhh! I haven't used them yet.  There is a reason for this, tights and French Drawers would not work together, if you know what I mean.  So, until I can really trust my "clock stockings" actually staying up without strangling my thighs, I'm sticking with the tights.  But I digress....)

So in order to get everything in the correct order I lay everything out on the bed first, like so....

Tonight is the one and only 2013 Evening at Ardenwood (5pm-9pm).  So I am about to start to get ready.  The house always looks so lovely in the evening light.  I think I will be in the guest bedroom tonight.  Hope to see you all!

At least it isn't going to be as cold as it has been here lately, and it is NOT going to rain, AND this year we actually have heat (besides the fireplaces) in the house!

Done!

I finished the Dickens Faire hat...and tried to take pictures

"So, you don't want to take pictures of ME!"

"FINE!"  I'm leaving."

The hat - outside

The hat - inside

"On 2nd thought,.....

"I'm going to eat your hair."

Dickens Faire Hat

I worked a bit more on the hat so this is where it is at now:

The eyelet lace still needs to be attached, a bit more embellishment and I need to find some grosgrain ribbon for the ties.  Then the lining for inside the top will be attached.

Next event, tomorrow, December 13, Friday evening, 5-9pm  Evening Tours at your own pace - the only one this year.
Just walking up to the house along lamp lit paths and seeing the house all lit up inside is special.  The feel of the house is completely different in the evening lighting.  Some guests dress in costume and really get into the Victorian mood.

The Dickens Faire!

We are planning a trip to the Dickens Faire and on their website they encourage attendees to come in costume, if possible, to add to the ambiance of the Old London scene.  I have a couple of bonnets that could fit the time and am in the process of making another.

I watched "Middlemarch" to get a quick idea of the period bonnets.  I made a quick pattern for one and am pretty happy with the results.  It should really have a larger brim but I think I will like wearing it more it I can see what is going on at the fair.  Otherwise it is like wearing blinders!  It isn't spot on, but its ok.

So far:

Now, inside the top needs to be finished and the embellishment needs to take place.

Happy Holi-fat!

Trying to loose weight during the holidays is really a challenge.  Getting people together really equates to eating.  And so far there have been lots of opportunities.  Fortunately, except in watching how much goes in the mouth, I know a LOT of people that are great cooks!  I did pretty good Saturday, just one cookie out of all those different desserts!  And I did spend quite a bit of time choosing the right kind, a peanutbutter cookie.  Peanuts are healthy, right?!  Of course there were carrot cake cupcakes.....carrots are good for the eyes, right?

I personally took pains to avoid the cookie contest samples at Ardenwood, they all looked so good.

Will I get to January 2, 2014 at least not gaining anything since our birthday outing (which I have 1 out of the 2 lbs I gained on that adventure).

Exercise - I have been having so much fun lately that exercise has been at the low end of the totem pole.  After Christmas...., I promise!

More Ardenwood Christmas photos

The Patterson House, ready for tours!

Detail on the Front Porch

On the piano in the Guest Parlor

Detail of the ceiling coving in the Guest Parlor

Guest Parlor Christmas Tree

Eros

Guest Parlor Fireplace

Lamp in the Foyer

The Family Parlor

 And then the carolers came to sing for us and the little girl volunteered to do the jingle bells.  She was very good and waited for the signal to shake the bells.

And wouldn't you know, the video sound doesn't seem to work.  Bummer.

The Family Parlor

Children love to pet "Sugar".  She is a service dog in training.

And we mustn't miss the visit with Father Christmas!

Add caption

Next event, December 13, Friday evening, 5-9pm  Evening Tours, the only one this year.
The feel of the house is completely different in the evening lighting.  Some guests dress in costume and really get into the Victorian mood.

It was pretty cold today, in the low 40s or high 30s....cold to us, but everyone was having fun!

Dec 8, Christmas at Ardenwood, 10am-4pm

Today I will be heading off to Ardenwood this afternoon.  In the Patterson House, I will probably be in the Guest Bedroom 1-3:30 or the Guest Parlor.  We have flow-through tours which means our guests go at their own pace and there is a docent in each room to answer any questions.  We have over a hundred Christmas trees, big, small, 3 dimensional and 2 dimensional.

The farm yard has lots of games, music, puppet shows and crafts to make, country kitchen treats to taste.  And of course there is Father Christmas and all the animals to visit!

And bring your favorite cookies and recipes for entering the baking contest!

The park is open 10am-4pm.  The Ardenwood Historic Farm is located at 34600 Ardenwood Blvd, Fremont, CA near the intersection of highways 880 and 84.

Entrance fees: $8/adults, $6/62+years and over, $5/children 4-17 yrs, free/children 3 yrs or younger.

Christmas has arrived!

 Ardenwood is decked out and the school children had lots of fun inside the house and out.

Above the staircase.

The Newark High School choir caroling all the way up the starcase.

Decorations on one of the over a hundred 

big and little Christmas trees in the house.

And Saint Nick in the Gazebo

And tons of crafts going on in the farmyard.

Come join the fun this weekend!  

I will be there Sunday afternooon and I think I am going to debut the new burgundy dress.

And then Friday evening 5-9 open house at Ardenwood Patterson House.  Tour at your own speed.

Ardenwood Christmas!

Today I will get to see what the elves have been doing to decorate the house!  The school kids will be so excited.

But it may be raining.....messy and time consuming getting the shoe situation taken care of.

I will be helping with the tours on Sunday afternoon, the 8th also...... hummmm.  Maybe I will be wearing my new burgundy bustle dress.  Hope it is not raining.

It's the Christmas Season!

Tomorrow, I will be helping with the school tours at Ardenwood.

The house should be all decorated and the kids will be so excited!
 And don't forget!  This weekend at Ardenwood, Christmas Season has arrived!

And as an extra treat!

Cold?

It sounds so Californian, but I do have a hot tub.  I wasn't using my greenhouse at the time so I decided to put it in there....PERFECT!  I have never wanted to change that decision.  I have privacy (I put UV screening in to avoid sun damage to the hot tub) and no drafts!  I swear by the hot tub to relieve arthritis pain.  I had emptied it when we went on our month-long trip and didn't get around to filling it again till several months ago.  Wow, what a difference when my hip was giving me so much trouble.

So much for that.  But this morning as I went out to the hot tub, I noticed the bird bath is almost solid ice.  The succulents seem to be doing ok, so far, and I didn't cover them last night.  I am going to have to do some covering tonight though.
Since we live about a mile from the San Francisco Bay our weather is very moderate.  We get frosts in the winter every so often, but usually it doesn't hurt anything we have, except maybe the hibiscus.

Frost

Ice

 And of course, the kid in me just had to break the ice.  Well, I just had to show you there WAS ice, didn't I!

The Narcissus have been blooming for over a month.

And the Lady Bush Bells are carrying on...

As are the roses.

 And just look what those chickens have done in ONE DAY.  I am going to put them in lock-down.

Tuesday Giving Day

Just a reminder, today is Tuesday Giving Day.  I have the Charity Navigator posted on the top right side of this page.  You can check a charitable organization's money going to the running of the organization vs. the percentage actually getting to where the cause is.

My charity is Abode Services in Fremont, CA.  You can see their rating is very good.
From their post on Facebook:

We are heading into a cold snap and it is getting windy.  I am going to have to cover some of our more tender plants since we are supposed to have frost for next few days.....I know, those of you with snow on the ground think we are wimps.....you are right, we are.

Hat Boxes

While going through my hats to see if I had some appropriate for the Dicken's Faire, I decided that my hat boxes needed to be spruced up a bit.  So here are a couple of my efforts:

When I am sitting...

I have been doing beading...

for something I don't even know yet.  Maybe something for the Titanic era.

I am beading on grosgrain ribbon.