Winter Sky

Click to enlarge.

A very enjoyable afternoon of socializiation. Laura and I started with a great lunch at ION, then spent some time in a few shops in Middletown (Echo Trading Co, Amato's, and Ursel's).

We also discovered a new (to us) place, called Harriet Amanda Chapman. It's a nice-sized Christmas store (year-round) that specializes in Scandinavian goods. The shop is situated out on the edge of town in an old mill, where the steam heat runs freely. I got a couple of tiny chickens for my Christmas tree. They had some gorgeous things there, like red enamel work, and lots of little fun things, too. The entire ceiling is hung with really neat mobiles, so many that you get overwhelmed trying to look at them all. And the stuff isn't just Swedish, either. They also have Finnish, Norwegian, and Danish goodies to help make an old-fashioned Christmas. God Jul!

When we were leaving, we drove down by the mill pond to turn around and caught a glimpse of the sunset in the picture above. I love the way the colors reflect on the icy water. See? Winter's not so bad.