New England With Palm Trees
Welcome to my blog! I hope to share a little of our paradise with you. So many people don't realize how rich this area is with history, ambience and TREES!
All rested up and ready to go. I took my last cliff walk this morning. The temperature was only in the 30's, but crystal clear and gorgeous. As I leave Maine I leave behind many beautiful spring gardens waking up for the season...daffodils, tulips, violets...... Back home to
Maitland..... On my way to Boston's Logan Airport soon.
Designed as an artists research colony, Andre Smith built the
Maitland Art Center in 1937. On the National Register of Historic Places, the city owned center offers gallery exhibitions, art classes, lectures, a museum store and wedding & function sites. This beautiful property is surrounded with old trees, plantings, fountains and quiet open spaces. A new exhibit opens 5/9 - Images & Illustrations. This will feature etchings by Luigi Lucioni as well as other art from the centers permanent collections. This fabulous facility is a nice stroll or short drive from
Thurston House.
If you have wonderful people in your life that have been there a long time, do you ever take the time to get together? Sometimes you just have to leave the "real world" and take the time. We have a group of 5 friends who get together as often as possible. Considering we live in several states, we do pretty good! The "Life Is Good" ladies got together here in Maine this past weekend. We laughed, we cried, we ate, we drank wine.... Three of us have been friends for almost 50 years! Sooooooo...if you have people who mean a lot to you and you haven't seen them for a while...JUST DO IT!!!! We lost one of us a few years back and learned this very important lesson! If you don't take the time you won't get the time.
Joe the cliff walker.....
When we get to our Maine place we usually just want to relax, walk along the ocean and not even move the car. Here is more from today. Our unit in this lovely 1877 mansion called "Thorncroft Condominiums", is the one one the second floor with the little porch. It is not like our huge
Thurston House porch, but we like it just fine!
Occasionally an innkeeper needs to step back and have a time away to recharge. We were thankfully smart enough over 20 years ago to buy a beautiful condo in
York Harbor, Maine. It is an easy trip for us, just over one hour from Boston's Logan Airport. This is a beautiful area of historic homes, museums, and even a cliff walk that runs along ocean to a little beach. We call this our "Northern Bliss". I am feeling better already!
What does an innkeeper do when life calls us in a different direction for a moment? Take the time!!! A dear friend's Mom passed away Christmas Day and she was just buried this past weekend. I was blessed to have known her almost 50 years. She was a very special person to many people, and this past weekend's burial showed that. There was a bench dedicated to her and also to her husband who passed away a few years back. It is at the Holden trailhead of the
Wachusett Greenways. This is a wonderful system of trails covering several towns, including Holden where I grew up. People enjoy these trails in every season...hiking, walking, bird watching and cross country skiing. It is all maintained by volunteers, people like our friend's Bob & Rosalie. It is amazing that "those next door neighbors" and "Cathy's parents" became "Carole & Joe's friends" in later years. They are much missed! Did you ever wonder who those people are happily enjoying breakfast on my
Thurston House website? Well, now you know!
Founded in 1979, the
Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland has treated over 12,000 injured or orphaned birds of prey. More than 40% have been able to be released back into the wild! This well known facility is just a short walk from
Thurston House. Probably some of the spectacular birds we see flying around and fishing in Lake Eulalia are birds who have taken up residence at the center at one time or another. For that hard to buy for person, the center has an Adopt-a-Bird program. Sponsor a bird and receive an adoption certificate and photo, an introductory membership to Audubon, and annual newsletter and invitations to special events.
Did you know
The Charles Homer Morse Museum of American Art houses the world's most comprehensive collection of the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany, circa 1848-1933? Did you know this includes jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded glass windows & lamps and a chapel from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago? AND.......did you know that this spectacular museum is only minutes away from the only
Winter Park area bed & breakfast,
Thurston House? Open every day except Monday, people from all over the world have enjoyed this fabulous collection. The museum resides on the famed Park Avenue, about a five minute drive from us.
Eatonville, a small town just to our west, is the oldest Incorporated African American Municipality in the United States. It was home to the writer
Zora Neale Hurston for many years. Her books were often based on her experiences here.
Maitland was even mentioned in the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, made into a movie by Oprah Winfrey and starring Halle Berry. There is a museum open to the public all year round, and a self guided historic walking tour. Stay at
Thurston House in January to attend the
yearly festival held in Zora's honor. The weekend street festival ends the festivities, and is only a short walk down the street.
After are particularily warm week, this morning brings a cold front. We are stting on the porch with the paper and can feel the air getting cooler by the minute. Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be even cooler than today! High of 74 today then into the 60's by Tuesday! I hope the weather stays a bit cool for next weekend. It is the annual
Maitland Chamber of Commerce Spring Festival of the Arts. This yearly event is held around beautiful Lake Lily and has something for everyone! Coming up is the 11th Annual Taste of Maitland on May 19th from 5:30pm-8pm. This tasty event is always a crowd pleaser.
On the shores of Lake Lily are the offices of one of the premier historical society's, The Maitland Historical Society. This very active group has done wonders since we have been here, and there are many exciting future plans. Right now the society has a history museum on Packwood Avenue that houses various exhibits, a telephone museum and a reference library. This is several blocks from Lake Lily. On Lake Lily is their office building, Carpenter's Shop Museum and the Waterhouse Residence Museum. Exciting plans to bring all of the facilities together came about when a development company,
The Morgan Group, pledged $1 million dollars towards a future vision that includes a learning center that will allow visitors to explore the human experience through the stories of one Central Florida town. To read the full press release click
here. We are proud members of
The Maitland Historical Society and have enjoyed watching them grow and become the premier association that they are. Guests at
Thurston House have enjoyed both museums, just a short walk away.
Lake Monroe Waterfront in downtown
Sanford, just north of Maitland's
Thurston House.
As stated before, Joe loves cars! So when he noted a car show in the paper, off we went to see all sorts of mini cars. There was even a celebrity at the event, Dennis Gage of
My Classic Cars on
SpeedTV. Joe was so excited!!! There were all sorts of Mini Coopers, Fiats, Smart Cars, and all kinds of other obscure brands. A perfect day for Joe!
Because I was being supportive, I got to go to my favorite bookstore that was right up the street -
Legible Leftovers. After that, a stroll around Sanford's waterfront and a quick stop at Panera's for sandwiches to eat on our beautiful porch made this a PERFECT DAY for all.
Guests always wonder what we may have available nearby for their nightly dinnertime. We are very fortunate to have almost any kind of food you may want, and most within a ten minute drive. I have a menu book to refer to once here, but for those who like to do advance planning (highly recommended!), there are lists of a lot of the restaurants on the
Thurston House Important links page. There is Italian, Turkish, Indian, French, Cheesecake, Thai.....ETC... All quite yummy and all close by. An all time favorite local
Maitland place is
Antonio's. Downstairs is their deli/cafe and upstairs their more fine dining Trattoria. Some regulars will go downstairs the first night, then have a nice relaxed special dinner the next night upstairs.
Another gorgeous day, no fooling! Since last night was the only night here this week at our
Winter Park, FL bed and breakfast with no guests, I took advantage of this beautiful early morning by snapping some sunrise photos. It reminds of the porch conversations that we had this past weekend. Guests from Minneapolis, Cashiers and Buffalo just couldn't believe what a perfectly glorious and quiet setting we have at
Thurston House. To be in the middle of 8 acres of lakefront wooded land, yet only minutes from busy
Winter Park Park Avenue and downtown
Orlando truly is remarkable. We are thankful for this every single day!
