Shelburne Museum

We were all amazed at the variety of 'stuff' at the Shelburne Museum. This is one not to be missed.
http://shelburnemuseum.org/

Electra Havermeyer Webb used her wealth and connections to share her vast collections of paintings, rifles, eagles, clothing, circus memorabilia, quilts, paper and more - so much more.  The museum is set in 10 acres of park. There is a train and engine, a steamship, covered bridge, circus house, mansion, general store, jail, schoolhouse and many other restored and reclaimed buildings.

Unlike last year at Monet's house in northern France where we got to see copies of Monet's paintings, here I was less than a half inch way from four of them. Add to that paintings by Manet, Goya, Degas, Cassatt and more. The Rembrandt was out on loan. Darn!

The Circus House is n enormous horseshoe-shaped building that houses a circus parade of 500 1:12 scale hand-carved animals. AMAZING! At one end is a full circus, complete with audience of 3,500 pieces. These were all carved by Edger Decker Kirk, a railroad brakeman, over a period of 40 years. He did these with a pocket knife and foot-powered jigsaw, in his spare time. They are meticulously painted and just perfect.
Words do not do it justice, but anyone planning a visit should allow at least one whole day to wander round the park. Make sure you have a ride on the carousel too.

A quote in Electra's bedroom, stitched in redwork onto a cushion. "We live in deeds, not in years."

What a great afternoon.

As we had a little time up our sleeves we headed for the Vermont Teddy Factory. Darn! It closed 5 minutes before we arrived. No amount of tapping on the windows got us any attention. So, in a fit of sulking we went to the Christmas Loft instead. Our driver phoned ahead and they weren't due to close at 6pm - 40 mins later. Who wouldn't stay open for a bus load of women?

Quite an amount of damage was done to various credit card balances and we left at 6.45pm. Ho ho ho! It was great fun. Barney, wait til you see what I've bought for you!!!!

Back to the hotel for dinner and a wine. Off to bed soon as we're on the road again tomorrow.

Night!