Living a Page from a Magazine

I sometimes get swept away by articles in magazines such as Victoria, where there is a story about a big (and very wealthy), close-knit family that gets together for a week of each year at some lovely farm or lakeside home one of the members owns.  There are beautiful photos taken of the family working in the gardens, preparing eye-appealing gourmet meals, sitting together overlooking a sweeping vista sipping wine in view of a colorful sunset with children happily running around in fresh air.  Everyone is smiling and having a wonderful time.  I read these articles and sigh, thinking of how nice it would be to experience this, but having a hunch I never will.

Dream come true - I experienced that very scene this weekend.  The family was not mine, though they seamlessly included us and welcomed us into their circle as if they were.  We were invited to the farm of Suzanne, Jeff's advisor in the Fingerlakes region.  Jeff's advisor has kind of adopted him, so that kind of makes us family.  We arrived after a gorgeous drive overlooking vineyards and Seneca Lake.  I was thrilled to discover that Steph, a friend from MSU, was staying as well!  The farmhouse was built before the civil war and very cool.  Suzanne's garden is my dream garden.  They have 180 acres of land.  If we had our camera, I could've taken pictures to show.  But I'm working with what Molly took.  

We met the extended family in a house they rented on Keuka Lake.  Keuka Lake is beautiful, surrounded by rolling hills. The kids all immediately hit it off.  The water was deep off the dock, a bit chilly, but crystal clear and we had a blast swimming.   This is Steph, Annie and Jeff bobbing on the waves. After swimming we had the previously described dinner scene. 
The only downside is that our quarters were in the "attic".  Houses built before 1860 have kind of creepy attic spaces.  Not much sleep.  But we got up and had a pretty morning walk and a phenomenal farm breakfast.  Afterwards, Suzanne showed the girls an upside of houses built before 1860  - cool secret hiding places.  This is the girls in a little secret look-out over the pantry that you get to through a barn.  
Besides a cute view of Jeff and Anna walking holding hands, it does show some of the outbuildings restored.  The "before" pictures Suzanne showed us of the place revealed what disrepair the place was in when they bought it.  I can't imagine the amount of work (and money!)  they've poured into this.  
Another one of their labors of love: they rescued this school house down the road from their farm built in 1856.  They managed to get the community behind the project too.  The girls loved it.
Philip is one of the most eccentric  guys I've ever met.  I couldn't begin to list his quirks, but under his grumpy old man persona is a warm heart.  He is great with kids if not adults, and Annie attached herself to him and thought he was hilarious.  He is pretending to be the mean school master and they have to be the behaving students. 

So not only did we get to experience Suzanne and Philip's legendary hospitality, but I was able to experience something I suspected only existed in magazines.