Finger on the Shutter

By: Jill Finger

Jul 20 2017

Category: Uncategorized

2 Comments

When Wes and I visited Poughquag on Tuesday, Bob and Barbara shared their hobbies with us.  While Bob enjoys his hobby on a grand scale with an observatory attached to their house, Barbara practices hers in a much smaller way. 

Barb buys kits and builds houses. The kits arrive packaged flat and she builds from the ground up, just like a regular house.  She uses mortar to brick the chimneys, lays shingles, constructs the inside, and paints. These houses are built to a 1 inch equals 1 foot scale, but recently Barb has been building to a 1/4 inch equals 1 foot scale.  Those houses are tiny!Once the house is finished, the fun starts-decorating! There are pots on the stove, a quilt on the bed, curtains on the windows, cats sleeping on the floor, and the dining room is set up for dinner.  Barb says she changes the decorations in the house to reflect the holidays and that tweezers, in different sizes, are her friends. Barb also showed us a newly created Christmas decoration. The one inch tall trees and houses are made of folded paper and then painted.  She said it was great fun. My favorite piece, among the many she showed us, was the bake shop. The tea cart and table and chairs in front are adorable, complete with well dressed bears sharing a high tea. When Barbara turned the shop around, it took my breath away. The teeny bake shop confections are exquisite.  If Barb can’t find what she wants for decorations, she creates them. Some items are made from polymer clay, then painted. Some are constructed using repurposed items from around her house–a plastic strawberry basket from the grocery store was cut apart and used  for window lattice.  The coffee pot is made from copper pipe fittings from the hardware store and jewelry findings and it looks just like a fancy shmancy coffee pot. 

Wes and I thoroughly enjoyed our day with Bob and Barbara.  Their enthusiasm for life and their hobbies shone through with every sentence.  What is cool is how much they enjoy and appreciate what each other does. At the end of the day, isn’t that what life is all about?