The 90-foot Tapestry Room

It is conceivable our entire home would fit in this one room.  Jeepers.

There are three tapestries here, also from the 16th century.  The Tapestry Room at Biltmore Estate is 90' long and probably 30' high, so you figure out the size of these tapestries.  (I wonder what the walls behind the tapestries look like?  Just like me to want to go peeking...) The trim around the tapestries lend to the impression that these are forms of artwork - which they truly are.  A painter has to make every brush stroke on the canvas to create the picture; those that make tapestry have to make every single individual stitch by hand to create the picture.  There's a WHOLE bunch of stitches in these tapestries.
 

In the 15th century tapestry scenes were generally religious in content and made from Italian silk and Cyprian gold and silver thread; by the 16th century they were mostly of kings and battles and hunting scenes.  That would be a quick method of dating these - but not a perfect method.

France was a hotbed of tapestry making - hence the reference to "Flemish" tapestry.  French kings in particular loved tapestries

This is the room family and guests would take afternoon tea and music in.  Today, local musicians (after passing auditions I'm guessing) sign up to come play instruments throughout the house during tours.  How cool would that be for a local musician?  how cool is that for you and me?!

Have you noticed the flooring in most of these rooms?  and this room has two fireplaces.  I'm thinkin' they must have had full time woodcutters, huh?  Did you know that any texturing in walls and ceilings help break up sounds so one doesn't feel as though they're in a warehouse?  The tapestries and upholstered furniture help absorb sounds, but the beamed ceiling helps, too.

I'm no decorator, but this looks like an eclectic collection of furniture.  I have serious doubts as to whether these pieces are original to George Vanderbilt's time here.  Antique, yes, but all original pieces?  I wonder.

To get to the Library one has to go through this room - it's the only way in and out of the Library.  I suppose if you're a family member or guest  you should mosey in there, pick out a book, and come out here to read it while waiting to be called for a meal...

John's Christmas Camera

Remember the post about my seeing a baby elephant in the pasture?  And the battery in John's old camera died - again!  And I ended it by saying he needed a new camera?  Well, Santa Clause must have been listening because John got a new camera for Christmas.  Here are some of the very first photos he has taken.

Obviously, he couldn't wait for the moon to go down and the sun to come up...  The rest of these pictures were taken out of the living room window.

Every evening for sure, about dusk, the deer start to come out of the forest to feed at the deer corn we put out.

I had bought some oranges at Sam's Wholesale Warehouse (You DO know that Sam's sells "restaurant grade" fresh fruits, vegetables and meat - which is why they are so-o-o-o good compared to grocery stores - or even Wal-mart)  So, back to the oranges...  I wondered if the deer would eat the orange peels, so I put them out with the deer corn. 

In no time at all we had seventeen (17) deer right up by the farmhouse and tobacco barn.

This one's not so clear, but you can see her reaching out to the orange peels to try to figure out what they are.

Can you imagine if this was Rudolph?  How big would his red nose be??

We think this is one of the fawns we saw when we first got to Virginia.  If it is, she's lost her spots, but she's still small compare to the others.  She is directly under the bird feeder, and we thought she might raise up on her back legs to at least sniff the sunflower seeds.  Instead, she spent some time licking the tree (?)

This is a woodpecker who is too big to sit on the bird feeder like everyone else, so he hangs from it instead.  I don't know how much seed he manages to get, but he's there at least once or twice every morning.

John's new camera has a gazillion different settings - including 3-D ! - and it will take awhile to figure out how to get the best shots, but that's what makes "new" fun.  I guess I get the hand-me-down camera, and I WILL get brand new batteries for it.  They're rechargeable, not the "AA" or "AAA" kind, but something specific to that camera.