We were stunned to see the crowds at Florence Walrath’s home today. They arrived at 9:30 and the place was overrun by noon. These people are not casual either. They are focused, and don’t stand in their way.  Maestro Ron Seifert kicked off the Florence Walrath Estate Auction at our new home – the New Bedlam Farm – today. It’s not ours until July, but it felt strange arriving there and seeing hundreds of people sitting on the lawn and cars up and down the road. The auction ran from noon to 5 and it was emotional seeing Florence’s life leave her home bit by bit. We stood next to Florence’s granddaughter Laurie who told us the history of a lot of the things we were seeing. We visited Rocky a few times, and he and Maria kept one another calm.

We bought a few lamps, a painting and some of Florence’s blue glass. There was a lot of bidding on her furniture and a Stickley desk found in her basement (she put paint cans on it) sold for $32,000. It was uncomfortable seeing hundreds of people pour through the house, even though it isn’t ours yet. There were many friendly blog-readers there, and the auction crowd at large was aggressive, pouring over the property, open doors, peeking into barns, looking into every nook and crevice. Maria got inside of her new studio for the first time. It was emotional, fun, and exciting. We are so happy about this house, and very eager to move into it. I feel there is a lot of momentum working towards this move, and our reducing the sale price $50,000 will get things moving, I believe.

We are not sad about this, or even too anxiious (sometimes). It is the right move for us, and we love the neighbors we have met, the family we have dealt with, and the house we saw go through this very intense transformation today. Ron Siefert is a masterful auctioneer, and I could watch him work a crowd for hours.

This is a big part of life and death here. I’ll write more about it later, and am putting up a photo album on my Facebook page.