Friday 05.31.2013

We've been blessed with a stretch of hot, dry weather this week--perfect for getting up the first cutting of hay off the pastures.  On site: Donny and crew arrived early with  huge equipment ...

                      ...and soon the hillsides were dotted with giant round bales of hay!                                

Also on site today:  
Sherry & SY - the usual; Roofers at the Cottage;
UPS delivery of new hanging pot rack for the kitchen at the Main House

Kevin setting soap tone at the Studio...

Solid, polished piece of soap stone!

     Soap stone being set in place...
     (click on image to set it right!)

Thursday 05.30.2013

A beautiful early summer day (90 degrees!) at Ramsay.

Happy birthday to our son, Lindsay (1980) After 7+ years as Director of Online Marketing at Wintergreen Resorts, he's taking a new position with the E-Commerce Team at the Corporate Headquarters of Southern States in Richmond.

On site today:
SY- the usual
Roofers - Guest Cottage
Orkin - Main House and Farm House. Great crew; very thorough and professional!
Tiler Kevin - at the Studio setting soap stone
Jessica - gardening, etc. (SY assisted with watering)
Don & Wayne Wright - baling hay

All the hay that is to be cut has been cut now,
and baling will take place Friday & Saturday

Still having difficulty downloading pics from the iPhone - !?#@!*!!

Please Imagine:

Beautiful red roses from the garden...
Obie & Laddie greeting me through the glass storm door at the Farm House at the end of the day...and
Beautiful newly painted red roofs on the workshop and Will's Playhouse!

Wednesday 05.29.2013

Apologies for the upside down pic enlargements from yesterday's posts. My ignorance is showing (I guess!) about my new iPhone 4s. The pictures downloaded upside down--which I'm assuming meant that I held the phone/camera upside down?--but I reoriented them when I saved them, and they were loaded to the post correctly, but came out upside down when enlarged!!!??? I'll summon my "geeks"!!

On site today:

Sherry & SY - the ususal
Roofers - guest cottage
Painters - Farm House, Workshop & Will's Playhouse
Mowers - all lawns
Gardeners - here and there (SY and gardeners watered all the new trees and transplants)
Hay Balers - pasture

Our first cut of the season!

 Despite a few glitches with the equipment! (Don & his brother)




       We needed a few pieces of antique blue & white ceramic to
       add to the soap stone for the new Studio bathroom addition
       --to match the existing floor. Couldn't find any tiles so SY found
       a small planter at the Greenwood Antique Shop and Kevin
       transformed the planter into "pottery pieces!" --------------->

The Workshop roof gets a much-needed new paint job, and.....

                                          the Farm House roof gets its final coat!!

Tuesday 05.28.2013

The long Memorial Day Weekend found Ramsay enjoying Tom & Reae with daughters--Lizzie and Margaret--and friends & boyfriends along for the holiday weekend.

Charlotte & Margaret with North Star!

Page always gives a lesson in horsemanship!

 Our friend, Page Turner returned along with her 4-legged
 steeds in tow to offer trail rides around the upper pastures...





This morning brought a dose of "the real world" --after such a nice holiday weekend--when the great crew from Orkin arrived early to begin work on the long-overdue cleanup of the Guest Cottage crawl space!

On site today also: 
Roofers at the Guest Cottage; Tile work at the Studio; & Don Wright moving
equipment here to begin baling hay tomorrow!

The view from the deck of the Farm House is a welcomed
site at the end of the day!

Gator + Plants = Farmer

Decided to get dirt under my nails ...

Before...a barren wasteland waiting for color...

After...a bouquet of beautiful flowers

Completely exhausted after this undertaking, I returned to the house and took a nap.

Thursday 05.23.2013

A good, busy day at Ramsay with Patsy and Sophie here gardening.
SY - the ususal
Josh cleaning out the crawl space under the main house.
Kevin grouting the new tile at the Studio. Electricians wiring things...
Guest artists dotting the landscape feverishly capturing Ramsay's beauty on canvas!

Mike Riley finishing the wall paper in the foyer.

You have to see it in person!

 New chairs arriving...



And Mother Nature continually doing her thing...
        this time at the old greenhouse foundation garden.

Wednesday 05.22.2013

The new fences installed the middle of April get 2 fresh coats of paint!

Nothing like freshly mowed grass!!!

<--We never tire of this     magnificent view 
       .............. or this one ---> 

                                 

   .           
Precariously perched, Mike Riley hangs the first piece of new wall paper in the stair well....

             

                             

            ..... and soon has transformed the walls with this beautiful new paper

Josh Frazier -- the hardest working guy  Ramsay!!!!

Tuesday 05.21.2013

Relatively quiet day at Ramsay today. A nice respite from the hectic pace of last week.

On site today:

Sherry and SY - the usual
Josh & Greg -  finish up in the Main House attic, and then complete the clean up of the huge mess from the stump grinding on the south lawn, and water the driveway trees!.
Kevin - wraps up the tile work (98%) at the Studio, and will begin the soap stone floor tomorrow.

Mike has 30+ years hanging wall paper!

Mike Riley - our paper hanger finished the wall prep work, the new wall paper arrived via UPS, and will start going up tomorrow.

The fresh white paint really makes the new fence "Pop!"

J&A Painting got started on the remaining new fence today. The neighbors will soon tell us how great it looks! They're keeping an eye on us!

And our short-term-resident artists continue to work their creative magic all around the estate..

Even the brush bucket becomes a work of art!

.

                      

Monday 05.20.2013

Another misty morning greeted us today, 
but didn't slow down our resident artists in the least.
They will join us again this week through Thursday.

Mike Riley, our wall paper hanger got off to an early start about 7:15 this morning, and with an able assistant, soon had the furnishings neatly set aside and the wall paper came flying off the walls!

View from the far west pasture--looking back toward the barn--absolutely beautiful this afternoon.

Also on-site today:

Sherry & SY - the ususal
Josh and Greg - wrapping up the insulation removal
Mike from Orkin - reviewing schedule
Tate - tree removal
Kevin - tile at the Studio

Our weekend guests departed around noon...
still singing the praises of Ramsay and the Guest Cottage!!

Sunday 05.19.2013

 UVA Graduation brings us guests from San Francisco 

to spend the weekend at Ramsay!

Congratulations to Kevin Wyckoff - UVA 2013

The rainy weekend weather didn't dampen the spirits of our guests at the Cottage--visiting here from San Francisco for Graduation at The University this morning.  After a harrowing morning on Friday during which their rental car caught on fire!!! Sue and Scott Wyckoff arrived Friday afternoon to begin making preparations for staying at Ramsay for the weekend.

We tried to make them feel at home...(see pic from Friday 05.17) and by Saturday evening, extended family joined for a festive Graduation Dinner for Kevin.

Brother Matt, Scott, KEVIN, and Sue

 

Sue ordered a delicious cake from Hotcakes!

Brother Matt & Cousin Amanda

Sue says she took lots of pictures from the Dinner Party Saturday night and will forward them for posting later. All of our guests had a great time, fell in love with Ramsay, and are spreading the word!!!

Friday 05.17.2013

This was an incredibly busy week! 

Combined on-site personnel for the week: 81 individuals!!

One of the artist workshop attendees said, 

"There doesn't seem to be any recession at Ramsay!"

One of many beautiful creations from this week's workshop

Sue and Scott Wyckoff and extended family from San Francisco are staying at the Guest Cottage for the weekend--here for their son Kevin's graduation from UVA! 
                                          

We made a special effort to make them feel at home: WAHOOWA!!!

Last week our newest residents were 4 baby
goslings at the pond near Rt. 250. Now we
have a new dwelling in the new maple tree
recently planted on the north lawn.

Thursday 05.16.2013

New random-width shingles & copper trim look terrific!

Our Ramsay sign has
her crown back on...
                             


                                                                    
                                     
                                                            ...and the Cottage Entrance           
                                                                                   now has 2 finial posts!
           

                          New horseshoe pits appeared miraculously on the south  this morning

Before...

...during...

...and after!