flea circus

the Barn at Riverfarm

We recently moved out here to Goshen full-time, and I’d like to take you on a tour.

The Backstory: Mr. Flea got interested in old cabins and barns a few years ago, and started buying them up. Eventually he had quite a number of these structures dismantled and stored on the farm. His plan had been to put up a little cabin he could use for dove and duck season and that we could enjoy on weekends. What we ended up with is a large structure merging an Amish-built timberframe cattlebarn from Ohio with a log-built tobacco drying barn from central Kentucky.

view of the river

So this is the Barn at Riverfarm. We live here full-time now with Thing Two, who is in highschool. Thing One comes home from Virginia for frequent visits.  A place like this is tailor-made for a flea market addict.

I love crusty old paintings. There’s Mark Twain next to the Pope who’s below Jean Harlow. That would be a good dinner party.

every cabin needs a washer on the porch

The lady who sold me the washing machine told me it worked good, but it’s washing days are over. It’s now a cooler for parties.

Instead of a hammock, we hung up this little boat from an amusement park in England. I think it needs antlers.

when I'm in the middle of a dream, I stay in bed, float upstream

can't have too many quilts

I keep my house too cold for most people. It’s not my fault if you have neglected to keep a decent layer of fat on your body. Quit whining and grab a quilt.

The basket is made from split-oak and came from my Mississippi cousins’ cotton farm. When I was little I kept my toys in it.

mmmmm- coffee nips!

The kitchen is fun to work in- the stove came from the Archbishop’s residence in Louisville and we call it the Holy Grill. The pizza oven burns wood and gets heavy action in wintertime. The sink came from England via an antique dealer in Boone, NC. Don’t buy a sink from England. Their drains are a different size. The island is an old Chinese butcher’s table. I bought several Chinese things for a song when they first started showing up at the markets- now they are mostly reproductions.

There’s a lot more to show you- but I’ll stop for now.

Adios from Goshen! Gotta go do some more unpacking!

I’ve had particularly good luck with art this season, so I thought I should devote a post to prints and paintings I’ve found recently. Please forgive the timestamp on the pictures- I have a new camera.

I’ll end up selling most of these but meanwhile I’m enjoying them

These two equestrian painting are watercolors I bought at the Big Flea in Chantilly, VA. The dealer told me he had had a lot of them- I got two of the last ones.  I’m pretty sure they are studies for larger paintings.

The name of the artist is JW Dunn- apparantly an illustrator. So far I can’t find any info. My guess is that these are from the early to mid-twenties.

 Later in the summer I saw a large painting in NYC that was surely by the same person. Weird! This artist is following me around.

JW Dunn resurfaces in NYC

That dealer said she had found it at an estate sale in Maryland- so the artist had some connection to the VA/MD area- I’d love to find out more. I’m sure I’ll find another piece of this puzzle eventually.

This huge pastel portrait actually made me laugh out loud when I found it. I may not be able to part with it. Growing up, I knew several women who could have been the subject  (which is beautifully done, by the way- but holy night- she is one scary mother! ) I hear someone cracking an ice tray   every time I walk by it, and there js a ghostly whiff of  Elizabeth Arden and cigarettes.

She’s obviously in a foul humor. Maybe her daughter grew up and wrote a book.

"I told you, dear, no children on the patio during grownup time."

I’ll save the rest for another post.

a piddling portion of paintings and plunder 2009