Birds, Bees and Yarn

Sundays have always been a day of missions in my family. When I was a boy, it was learning about brave men and women living in Africa. I don't remember why, but they were often being shot at in the middle of the night. Today, Sundays are more likely to be about missions of a different kind.

Today, Jane and I were on a mission to find a bird feeder. I'm spare you the suspense and tell you now that we didn't find one. But that's the thing about my kind of missions. Achieving your mission is about enjoying the journey. The hell with the mission.

It helps if the mission is trivial; with no consequences for falling short. Like looking for a bird feeder.

As I said, we didn't find one, but did have a few adventures.

We started by going up the road to Seaville, to visit Wild Garden Accents. This is a favorite place for us to visit, especially when we're feeling cooped up in the house. We usually end up there in the Spring. 

It's sort of like a garden center, but they don't sell plants. They sell bird houses and bird baths, koi ponds and pottery, stepping stones and statues. Stuff for your garden. We've bought quite a few things there over the years. They have really nice things, and while some of them are great deals, others are top notch quality, and priced accordingly. We were looking for a bird feeder to put on a post and these were all just a bit too nice. Copper roofs and such. Beautiful, but more than I had in mind.

They did have these little straw nesting baskets that were just too cute (pictures above). They were 3 for $15. We bought three. And a tin of Burt's Bee's lip balm. Some trips you make big purchases, some you buy lip balm.

On our way back South, we were driving down a stretch of road on Route 9 that we travel all the time, and somewhere in the back of my mind, there is a memory of having seen a sign for a particular store, but I can't recall. It seems new to me, and yet, it seems like I've seen it before. I pass it, drive on another fifty yards, and then pull over.

"What are you doing," Jane asks.

"I want to go back and check out that store. Looks like it could be interesting," I say. "They've got a cool sign."

So we turn around and pull in.

Home Made is set in a mid-19th century home located in Swainton, NJ, where owner/operator Julie Petrella both lives and works.  Along with many family and friends, Julie spent months renovating the house and as her website says, ..."it continues to be a work in progress."

As the sign says, it's both a craft shop and a studio. Dealing mostly with knitting, one section of the space sells materials such as artisan yarn, wooden knitting needles, and patterns. Another section sells finished crafts such as knit hats, hand made home decor accents, and blankets. The largest section is reserved for classes.

Julie has a range of classes from sewing and knitting to arts and crafts, as well as several clubs (Yarn, Sew and Girl Scouts).

I've never had any desire to knit, but with the large sunny rooms, wood floors and antique feel of the place, I'd be willing to learn, if just so I could hang out for a bit.

Eventually, we made our way to Cape May, where we had a wonderful lunch, but where I neglected to take any photos. We'll return and I'll be sure to report back.

From there we stopped by the West End Garage, another place I'll need to shoot and report back, The Linen Outlet and The Lobster House, also need more time to cover.

It was a full day. More to come....