Trying to catch up!

Where does time go?  I really need to know how I can get behind with so much, so often?  I can't even keep up with reading my favorite blogs lately? Of course if I stopped adding more to my blog roll that might help... but it's not likely; I might miss something really good out there is the blogosphere!
  I think the best thing would be for the addition of a few more hours in each day.  I'd like to start this retoroactive to June 1st. Wonder who I speak to about that.....???
Let's get caught up on the month of August shall we?


He's saying fair # 2 !! :))



We'll go back to the middle of August.   This is where fair number two takes place.  The Rochester Country Fair was on Sunday, August 21st and we were there!  (I was MUCH calmer mentally with this one.)  We once again did sell a few things, and thanks to the heavy buckets of cat litter (new/clean) lashed to the legs of our tent, it didn't blow away in the wind ~ lucky, it WAS a windy day! Nice people, nice atmosphere ~ much more "fair" like.  They didn't have much in the way of animals (though there were  a few greyhounds from a rescue group ~ beautiful animals!) ~ but they make up for the lack of animals in tractors of every shape and size and they have a parade with them!

I love it that woman drive big tractors!

If you squint behind the tractor line up, you can see our tent!

This one was retrofitted with wings and a gun ~ driven by Snoopy, I mean the Red Baron!

A VERY large woodchuck.....in shorts.

Center of operations for M&S Creations!

and our view out across was the bee keepers tent!

A windblown me!



Chain saw carver guy....





This was my favorite one!  They were raffled off at the end of the day; sadly i didn't win him.  :(



And then in more recent news.... we had a visit from "Irene".  If t

Now normally I like a nice stormy day to hunker in at home and do "inside" things.

It was NOT nice at all...  While we got no rain from this weather event, we more than made up for it with wind.  We had waves and white caps in the river out front. The direction of the wind sent it straight up the river.  Our poor tree just couldn't take it. The first "arm" that broke off landed in the new neighbors yard. It settled down amoungst his fleet of small boats he had parked there, neatly slicing one of them in half.

It did miss his antique car however. 

Then the willow tree on his own lawn broke off... and covered the rest of his front yard. 

He emerged out onto his front steps, bathrobe flapping in the howling wind and said,

"I guess it's "gone with the wind".....



This is what's left of what was about a 100' tall tree.... and over the fence you can see the remains of the willow tree.



You can make out one of boats there....  That's the husband weilding his chain saw. Chainsaws seem to be a theme this post.... though i haven't seen him make anything that resembles a big green worm yet...

Two baby squirrels were also rendered homeless in the willow tree crash.  The neighbor is now running a squirrel nursery, in addition to woodlot if anyone has need of either.

All and all we were lucky. The death toll for the "Tropical Storm Irene" is up to 44 souls, and it seems a lot of Vermont has literally been washed away... ~ and there are STILL hundreds of thousands of people without power... they are hoping it will all be restored by this coming Monday. That's a long time in this modern world without electric, and for anyone with a private well, in many case this means no water either.
August has had it's ups and downs...

Let's see what September brings....  it's my favorite month. 

Coming soon to a blog near you; the "travel" theme for Being Creative!

Stay tuned! 

Summer continues.

I have no new art to share at the moment... so why don't we wander around a bit and see what's been going on here!

Our little Kippy turned a year old on August 9th!

The tea is for us... in case you were concerned. ;)

Ava seems to have one too many treats...

In the great outdoors... we have our little duck friend.  She has an injured leg, but she still manages to get around pretty well...  She had a boyfriend who was very attentive and protected her from all the other males vying for her attentions this spring.  Sadly he's not been seen in weeks...
She's very shy.... so we have to leave the food and walk away.
This was taken from across the yard, zoomed in.  :))

She flies in one or twice a day and we treat her like a Queen (as you can see she's holding court with the sparrows).

We had a big storm cloud move in one night last week....

Complete with lightening and rumblings from the north.

Isnt' that a beautiful color blue?



But when you turned around, the sky was clear and sporting a soon to be full Sturgeon Moon!
Oddly we never got one drop of rain that night....

                                                             but a few days later.....

Cricket.... after a bit of head scratching, came to a new conclusion about rain.



Smart horses stand inside when it rains.

Other than that... not a lot of news to report at present. 

It was only 64 degrees this morning... almost had a hint of "fall" in the air....

Being Creative ~ Summer !

Brandy new art for the Summer theme!

My favorite summer treats, and theirs too I say!

Fairy house in the garden.... so far no fairy footprints....

Flora and Lucy Rat going on a joy ride!

Eary stages of bloom!

Happy toes in my FAVORITE flops!

Mmmmmmmm, ice cream!

Volunteer sweet peas!

Burger anyone? 

Mornings…

This time of year the morning is still dark at 4:30… and for the most part enveloped in quiet. The light creeps up slowly from over the little hill behind our house… until the back yard slowly comes into focus. For a short time between dark and light, it almost appears to glow softly. The birds start to chirp; I rather imagine them yawning a stretching out their wings someplace inside the shrubs. Were we not the caretakers for so many, I would like to stand outside with a steaming hot cup of tea and watch the spectacle of morning unfold. Instead I keep half watch out the kitchen window while getting breakfast for everyone. It’s only when all the creatures great and small have what they need that I can eventually settle into a cup of tea… and by then dawn has officially broken and the quiet has turned to the sounds that come with daylight.

I’ve never been a “morning person”. That being said, I do like them; I just don’t want to have to talk. I like to shuffle around silently doing what needs doing, and work into the talking bit gradually. Of course growing up living with my effervescent, cheerful Mother this was not to be. She wakes up happy, while I simply wake up and am satisfied with that. Some of my most vivid childhood memories are filled with her endless, happy prattle about breakfast, and all its wonderment. Meanwhile… I was literally curled in a ball inside my robe propped in the corner on my chair mumbling. She, on the other hand was delightedly pushing a toasted English muffin under my nose, telling me about how beautiful and lovely it was… with the butter melted into the nooks and crannies… This was usually followed by a lengthy speech extolling the virtues of the prettiest glass of orange juice on earth; which was BURSTING with vitamin C and would make me the healthiest girl around. The cup of hot tea was extraordinary and just perfect for warming a chilly snout. Speaking of snouts… There is a picture of my young self sitting on the floor with a drawer of my dresser pulled out…exposing a jumble of clothes. The worst part about the picture is I’m actually sort of hanging there with one nostril hooked onto the corner of the drawer, which appears to be what is holding me up. Making decisions, such as what to wear are not my strong suit in the a.m. She found great delight in snapping my picture… and I’m sure would have a good guffaw over it if I were to put it under her snout right now.

Way back when, my Grandmother used to rent a cottage beside the ocean for the family come to stay. There were always lots of people staying, things going on; and meals were quite a scene, (but that’s a story for another time.) I found that most everyone “slept in” a bit in the morning. Everyone except my Grandfather that was. He worked in a shoe factory until he was 82 ~ so he got up very early each morning and had his breakfast quietly so as to not wake up my Grandmother, and went to work. When he finally retired he still got up early, old habits I suppose.  My Grandfather was at the top on my very short list of favorite people. I discovered that if I got out of bed verrrry quietly and slipped down the stairs that I could have breakfast with him ~ just the two of us, and enjoy the quiet of morning. After toast, and an egg for him; we would sit out on the porch side by side in companionable silence and drink our tea while the rest of the world slept. I will always count that as a favorite morning memory.

These days, mornings are filled with furry and feathery creatures milling about my ankles making various little squeaks and purrs, and wimpery noises, cackles floating in the windows; encouraging me to put something into their dishes. Most of my morning can be accomplished in silence. Just how I like it. I am very lucky to be married to a wonderful guy who gets that I simply have nothing to say in the morning. If he does have a question, he is generally smart enough to phrase it so that I can respond with a head shake or a “Mmmm.” For yes, or “Uh hmmm” for no.  Oh course my Mother does live right next door... and has been known to whip open the window at 5:30 a.m. when I'm outside delivering breakfast to the flock; to wish me an exhuberant good morning.  I usually glance up and give her a "Mmm." and carry on feeding things while she talks. I think she realizes at this point that if she wants cheerful banter in the morning... I'm NOT the girl.

 I"m sure you have all been wondering what morning was like in my world; and now you needn't wonder any longer!

This was Christmas morning.... back when it was cool and snowy.... and not humid and stuffy. *sigh.

Swan Festival 2011

Well, we did it!!!  And lived to tell the tale!

I wasn't so sure i wanted to go anymore on Saturday morning.... but once we got unloaded and started getting our little mobile store set up... I started to feel a little better.

It's an odd thing to have complete strangers mentally judging your "things"... Everyone was kind with their comments ~ and we begged to differ when one man said to his wife, "it's all girly stuff".... We quickly pointed out Scott "manly" carvings!!   :)))))

Lots of people stopped by and looked around ~ and thank you to everyone who did!

It almost starts to feel like a secure little hideaway under the "safety" of the tent.

This was taken by my Mum, from back home on our front lawn.  If you squint into the middle of the picture at the water's edge, you can pretend you see me waving from under one of the tents in the row. Scott says we should get there via canoe of we go again next year!

This is my window with a view! Lined up properly you watch the swans thru it!

I didn't count them, but there were a bunch!

We had nice neighbors too, the kind man on the left (seasoned fair goer) had some very good tips and good advice..... Like don't put on the side panels or we'll all be cooked!! (he was right, we would have been "well done" by about 11:00 !! 

I love my fun fabrics! (as you can probably tell....) though the wind kept them blowing up over the goodies for sale all day!!

So there it is. Now he's talking about going to another fair in August....

We'll see what happens, the next one has tractors and lawn mower races....

Being Creative ~ June ~ "Ocean"

This happy little fellow has gone to play beside the ocean!

Never having been a much of a swimmer... more of a "sinker" actually... i decided to interpert the theme a wee bit different... things very NEAR the ocean....

I am a little bit late in my posting, but hopefully it still counts....

This little project has been in the back of my mind for years... but i never had a good enough "excuse" to execute it!  Now I have TWO; to share it with the Being Creative Group and I will bring it with us to the fair this weekend as part of the display!

It suppose to be a "Dune Shack"... found in dunes of Cape Cod, which look out upon the great big Atlantic Ocean!  I put in a link below to give a little history and back ground on them. I have never actually seen one in person myself...only photos... but their history includes artists using them... which of course intrigues me greatly, and makes me want to race to the dunes!!! 

This, ideally would have been shot at the beach... not on our rocky, slag covered river shore... but you can see the scale this way.  The shack is about 8 inches wide... The oars leaning on the house were hand carved by my husband Scott... He also made the house for me, which i then decorated with reclaimed wood from our favorite old farm house.  The sand is "sand paper" (also donated by the husband...) as using real sand makes it hard to put glass lid down over the scene!

He has collected a basket of periwinkles for dinner perhaps?... and seems to collect sea glass as well! 

The mouse is made of paper clay, as are the fishing floats.  His planters are made from shells...

 He's a very resourceful little fellow. He probably has more to his story... I'll have to work on that.

 Perhaps his wife sells sea salt and Rose Hip jelly?.....Yes, yes... I believe she does.  

And finally, below is the link to history, etc. of the Dune Shacks of the lower Cape Cod area!

Hope you have enjoyed your visit!  :)))))))

http://www.guidebookamerica.com/gb/ma/cape_cod/area_guides/provincetown.htm

As June draws to a close...

Wow, so where did June go? 

This means we are that much closer to July 9th right?

We have been amping up production in the workshop and dutifully putting our collective noses to the grindstone.

This is one of my decoupaged bottles...
The bottles are recycled (actually dug up from our back yard when we were doing construction on our house a few years ago ~ presumably from a time when people were still burning and burying their trash in their yard), cleaned, and then covered in colorful tissues and then snippets of my art as well as reproductions of my Grandmother's old letters, and postcards. 

Next we have a mirror, painted, then decoupaged with a selection of my rabbit drawings, and some hand painted vines added... 

This in one of my little clay creations.  I made the mushrooms and the mouse from polymer clay, the husband gets credit for cutting out the wooden circle base.... and my Mum gets credit for eating all the sugar free jam and saving the empty jars for me!  (jar sets down over the scene, thus keeping it dust free!)

More little clay friends ~ the snail has a real shell from a periwinkle, and the rabbit is growing a pepper plant!

  A tiny clay gourd, that my mouse friend has turned into a little home.  Some moss and glass beads for decoration. This is hung on a piece of black cord and can be a necklace, or just a decoration???

Here we have some of the necklaces featuring Scott's carved wooden hearts, and dog bones.  Some earrings also along the top row.  Some are beaded, some just on black cord. 

This is what the little jars look like closed up.  Inside is a little rabbit offering his mouse friend a flower! :))

This is just a sample of our wares of course... There will be cards, and book marks and pretty little wooden boxes, and letter openers.... and some magnets too. 
Should be interesting. 
Can someone pester me until I REALLY do figure it out and open an Etsy shop???

Meanwhile, in the midst of all the crafting... we are getting to know our newest family member Cricket the Wonder Pony (who for technical purpose is actually a miniature horse).... We are learning to walk three dogs and horse at the same time, it's been interesting to say the least. 

The gardens (that weren't dug up for the corral) are blooming nicely.  This rose belonged to my great Grandmother, it was given to her as a Mother's Day gift back in the early 1940's.  The rose bush, and the Grandmother are/were named Agnes.  We dug it up and took it with us when my Mum sold my Grandparents home a few years ago. 
If we move again one day, she will again be coming with us. 

This is just a happy little pansy, cuz it makes me smile.  :)))))

This is the last thing my poor peony saw.... before it.. *gulp* disappeared.

Or perhaps it was this.....

Look at him,  he looks sort of pleased with himself doesn't he?
I think he's smirking.

So there you have it.  That's where we stand at the moment.
Stay tuned,  you just never know what's next.
Signing out from The Funny Farm.
(You don't have to be crazy to live here, but it helps.)