Lifestyles of the Rich and Checkerboarded

Come with me to the small village of Aurora, New York.

Early in June, I visited a local upstate New York company called MacKenzie-Childs.  Their products are expensive (very expensive) but once a year they have a "barn sale" where you can buy items on sale.   I would only be able to afford most of their items if I won the lottery.

Many of the goods, true, are imported, but there are others that are at least partially produced on site.

But it doesn't cost anything to look at these luxury goods.  And it doesn't cost anything to dream. 

We didn't have time in June to visit the area where the artisans work.   That's a dream for another time.


People come from many miles on barn sale days to shop and to look at the gardens on the grounds.  I decided to be different and visit on a day when hardly anyone was there.

This is just one example of their ceramics.

A garden swing greets you.

If there are checkerboards, it must be MacKenzie-Childs.

You enter here into a wonderland showroom.

This is a sample of their outdoor garden..

This is where their geese live.


This is the house that checkerboards built.

The annual barn sale started yesterday.  I'd love to go back one day for the sale, but right now, I'll content myself with what I saw during my June visit.

And if my dreams came true, I would buy....ah, that's a post for another time.  Maybe even tomorrow.

Checkerboard love.