A Page for AJJ

Hi everyone. Happy weekend to you.

Here in the US (and Canada too) it is the long Labor Day weekend. The summer "season" is drawing to a close. I am never ready for that; even though I love autumn, it means we have a winter to get through before summer returns again. And just the thought of winter makes it sound long and dreadful (even if it usually is never quite as bad as my head makes it out to be-grin). I must say  that now that I am retired and get to enjoy  autumn and get to spend a lot more outside time,  Labor Day weekend isn't quite  the ending to summer that it was a few years back. And yes, I know the actual end of summer isn't until later this month.

Plus next week my husband starts his summer vacation so that means the season really isn't over yet, right? (Smile) 

Today  have another page to share for Neet's fur and/or feather challenge at Art Journal Journey.

Today I am going with feathers, and these cute little chickadees. They are one of my favorite birds because they are cute, feisty and  full of personality. 

I made my collaged page by layering bits of paper and washi tape. Besides adding the birds, I also added a few other bits like the button, some clear page hole protectors and a couple of stamped images.  I also added the paper quote, some doodling, and finally a spray of a couple of ink colors.

When I went to the Berkshires a couple of weeks ago, another place my friend and I visited was The Mount. The Mount was designed by and was the summer home of author Edith Wharton for about 10 years in the early part of the 20th century.  

Edith Wharton wrote several books that became American literary classics like In This House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence.  She was also the first woman writer to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 for the novel The Age of Innocence.  Before writing fiction, she wrote a book about architecture called The Decoration of Houses which she wrote with architect Ogden Cogman Jr. 

Here's the house she designed based on the principals she outlined in her book.

My friend and I took a tour of the house. Although there are very few of Edith Wharton's belongings in the house, I thought the tour was really interesting. My friend said she could have skipped the tour, but to me,it explained so much about the structure and the grounds around it, and also gave some fascinating insights into the author's life, (making in my mind) the visit complete.

We had to pay a small fee for the house tour, but you could walk the grounds for free. The gardens were quite lovely, and they were also hosting a summer sculpture exhibit. I didn't take any photos inside the house, but I did take photos of the gardens, grounds and sculpture exhibit.  Let me share a few photos of the gardens  today.

And yes, you see a dragon in the last photo. I'll show more another day, but that was one of the sculptures on the grounds.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great start to your weekend.