debra_boston and others I am glad the photos will inspire a visit! thanks for looking! I didn't know what to expect either for summer. Surely with the drought I thought it wouldn't be lush but it was exactly opposite of what I had thought :-) It really gives ideas on what to plant in August for people looking for ideas. I've now been there each season and can truly comment that whatever season you visit it is worth a visit. Don't forget there is a plant sale Saturday Sept 11th. I am planning to go (even though I don't need any plants...) Saturday, September 11 9am - 3pm FREE ADMISSION all day! 6th Annual Gardeners' Emporium: Fall Plant and Garden Accessory Sale  Several regional non-profit plant societies & specialty nurseries Conifer, Cactus & Succulent, Garden Vision Epimediums, Greystone Gardens, Miniature Plants, Daylily, Hosta, Popes Pots, The Proper Season, The Farmstead, Royal Crest Farm, Bamboo, Fiske's Gardens, Federation of Mass Farmer's Markets, Cut It Out, and Stonegate Gardens.

This is a most riveting subject, and a most interesting thread. I think there is a little bit of truth in many of the posts so far and I've changed my mind on this one at least five times. The actual print inside the frame gave me the impression of a photograph because of the fine white line like old photos get when they are damaged. That being said, one can take a photo of a drawing and parts of this picture are without a doubt hand rendered including the background and that could very well be a studio backdrop. My impression at this point is that this is likely a studio portrait and that it is in essence a composite with the facial features being the true rendering off a negative and the rest a lot of touch up and very poorly executed outright embellishment. If you'd like to see an example of a turn of the century hand painted studio backdrop, I can show you a large portrait of my great-grandfather and his brother sitting in a real chair, but with a very fake staircase behind them. LOL It was not an unusual practise, clear on up to the forties and fifties for some photographers to take portraits in black and white and hand tint and retouch them in the dark room. It wasn't because of the cameras not being able to, but the studios having the equipment to develop them. So seeing 'sketch marks' doesn't prove anything but the skill of the craftsman who took and developed the portrait because you're just as likely to see the editing on a real photograph as not. I have a portrait of my g'grandmother I'm inserting here because judging by her age it would have been taken about 1918-20. It has been hand tinted, and if you look at her blouse, it has obviously been hand retouched for detail and the bottom darkened out to extend the photo as much as possible to the paper to fill it. I think this is what happened to the boy's dress......it was probably enhanced by hand and the chair by imagination and lack of artistic ability. Even poor people scrounged up the money for portraits in the old days, God knows my ancestors weren't rich people and we have them to pass along. But they certainly were special enough not to be done on a whim. One portrait my g'parents had taken in the twenties was of my little aunt who was expected to die at birth, but lived until two years. So, they coughed up the money, even with ten kids, to have a portrait taken of her. I'm no expert and I'm not pretending to be but before I'd blow this one off as a fake, I'd have it checked out. Regardless of how it pans out, and even if it turns out to be a Cracker Barrel nostalgia shot..........it's a Jim Dandy and worth hanging on a wall just to see the mug on that kid.

Timely question. See link below to yesterday's water tower article in the NY Times. It supplied me with reason #73 why I'd never live in NYC. Read the article and watch the video. If you have a strong stomach. Here is a link that might be useful: NY Times article

Sharonite, We are "dungeon" people. LOL. However, during the day, it's fairly well lit. (sunroom behind that french door, and two more frend doors leading into sunroom in the dining room, just a few feet away). Kitchen HAD one center light, and a light above the sink, and a light above the stovetop. We added undercabinet LED's which, brightened it up quite a bit. Although, the LED's have a much WHITER light. Not near as soft as the rest of the lighting. It was bothering me after installation.......Now though, after the copper, not so much. I've discovered several things you can do to copper. You can polish it to a mirror like finish, although, polishing stuff is actually "scratching" it. The lighter the scratches, the shinier it is. SO, what I learned? You can scratch it across the grain, with the grain, diagonal, or in circles. LOL!! 320 grit with an orbital sander to get the bad scratches out. (installation scratches and scratches that came in the copper). 600 grit with an orbital sander to cut the 320 grit scratches. 1200 grit with an orbital sander...Until you just can't stand sanding anymore. Then hand polish with "000" or "0000" steel wool until you can't move your arm. Then wax. The alternative would be to use a buffer and buffing compound instead of the steel wool. BUT, you'de have buffing compound slung ALL OVER every inch of your kitchen. And that stuff is a nightmare to clean up.