Lunch at Leslie's

What a nice time....

Around 1 pm, I went to my friend, Leslie's house for lunch.

Haven't seen her in ages!

Long ago, we had a Mom's Group when our kids were little. We met on Wednesdays and went to the zoo and out to lunch, or just sat around one of our houses and watched the kids play.

Since our friend, Marian is here from the Netherlands, Leslie had us over, along with our friend, Lynn. Leslie's beautiful daughter, Scarlet was there, too. She was one of Forrest's best buds when they were tiny kiddos.....

Here is Leslie - beautiful, intelligent and strong

....and photos of her lovely home:

living room

bobcat and raccoon...and ram, above

dining area

Mr Peanut items in the glass dental cabinet....

Oh Becky!

...just HAD to take a photo of this magnificent fellow!!

back yard, where we ate

Portia, who is now at least 30 years old!

Portia's feathers in a glass urn and a jar of wishes (bones)

Leslie has a unusual way of seeing things and I think she has a lot of magic going on around her.

She used to do taxidermy and has several animals around the house.

Her bird, Portia, has been around as long as I have known her and she has another named Pearl, whom I just met today.

We had such a wonderful time talking.

It has been way too long since we were all together.

There were a couple of the "moms" who were not around, so we must do it again soon.

Time flies....

busy!

It has been a busy couple of days around here.....lots of creativity floating in the air..

PROJECT #1: Mini Toadstools

I found some wooden bits at Michael's to make these tiny toadstools with .

I glued them together and viola!

Add some white, red and green paint and a bit of matte Mod Podge.

I am crazy about them!

PROJECT #2: Woven Paper Sails
I needed something a little different for the sails on my boat.

I thought about painting silk, which may still happen.

But, I think that woven paper has great texture and looks pretty cool.

I tore some sheet music into thin strips and wove it.

Painting the weaving with papier mache paste should make it a bit stronger.....so I will add another layer, or two, of that......and then cut out the sails.

Here's the boat that the sails are for. It is my first one - my guinea pig.

The mast is wire wrapped in papier mache and the flag says, "Adventure"

(see pantryviolets.blogspot.com for the completed "ship")

PROJECT #3: Sara's "S"
This is the little bird that will sit on Sara's "S" when it gets back to the Netherlands.

And here is the "S"...

After seeing my papier mache, my young friend, Sara, wanted to papier mache her initial.

She bought a blank "S" at Hobby Lobby and brought it over to my house.

She picked up the process of papier mache pretty quickly and I think she did a fabulous job!

Her painting on the final product is beautiful....and the bird will look pretty sweet sitting there.

We had a really nice afternoon, Sara, her mom, Marian and me.

XIT Booth #ONE: Preparations

Well, we just got back from XIT Rodeo & Reunion in Dalhart, Texas.

This is an annual event that we try to go to each August.

Long ago, there was a ranch in the Panhandle of Texas that covered 10 counties. The brand for the cattle was XIT, which is NOT "Ten in Texas" as many have thought over the years, but instead a simple brand that a cowboy could easily make with a straight iron, yet not easy to duplicate.

Anyway, for many years (next year is the 75th!) there has been a rodeo and a reunion of the former ranch hands of the ranch. The last ranch hand died several years ago, but the Rodeo still happens, as well as the Reunion.

There are several days of events, but Saturday is the BIG one. It starts in the morning with a parade that goes for at least an hour. Cullen's uncle "calls" it (talks about each float coming up) and we all watch as kids collect candy from the passing floats and one of Cullen's relatives always rides a horse that leads the horse with the "Empty Saddle" for all the ranch hands who have died. Then, we eat lunch at the home of one of the people on the main street - hamburgers and brownies for all! From there, we go take naps, or dip in the pool, or ready ourselves for the BBQ, which is what we did this year.

Every year, there is a theme for our serving booth. We are always Booth #ONE and organized by Cullen's cousin, Mark. About a month ago, we were asked to think about themes for the booth and I came up with Red, White & Blue, thinking it would be easy for everyone. Mark's daughter came up with Crazy Hair, so we combined the two and had "Red, White & Blue and Crazy Hair, Too" ......it was wild! We tend to be very loud and wild anyway, so adding costumes is the cherry on top!

You must understand that this is the Largest Free BBQ in the World and people will stand in line for ages just for a plate of incredible brisket, BBQ sauce, applesauce, pickles, onions and beans (only in Texas!) Serving is a bLAST and even the people waiting in line in the hot sun have a good time......

So, think of the theme and have a few laughs as you scroll through the photos below:

Here are those of us who did a little self-decorating!

(click to enlarge)

Lisa (with her son, Micah behind her)

with her wild pink, green and red crazy hair!

Larissa, the "Crazy Hair Idea" girl - stunning!

Mark, the Muppet! His blue mustache was incredible, esp with the blue feathery hat

(and do you see that little pony tail over his shoulder - ha!)

(makes him look like a rock star!)

My hubby, Cullen, went "subtle" with a little blue

lft to rt: Micah, Jaylyn (sp?) Audrey (?) Lindsay and Seth (twin to Micah)

They looked fantastic and were so enthusiastic!

Guess it helps being 20-something....

(how 'bout those bodies?!)

below are some of the early shots of preparation:

Lisa's squiggles

Micah "mid-conehead"

(ouch! look at that sunburn)

Lindsay working on Larissa's "multi-cone"

Next year is the 75th and we have BIG plans! Think about coming to Dalhart for BBQ and Rodeo the first full weekend of August - 4th, 5th and 6th - 2011. It is a blast!

beeeeautiful earrings

well, could you have passed these up?

I walked into Curiosa and there they were -

stunning little treasures!

I tried them on and did not want to take them off...

look closely at these exquisite tiny birds...

sitting atop a bowl of cherries

and the backs.......

don't you love when you find something amazing and then you check the back..

and it is just as incredible,

but hidden in the secret hiding place?

magic

I walked into the house at 4:30 pm and saw this spectacular display of rainbows scattered around the room.

The sun comes through the west window that time of day and hits a glass ball that sits on a glass candlestick holder. The ball is made from small pieces of glass glued together. When the light hits the different pieces it is quite a show....... magic.......

And here is the most recent of my papier mache Bird Domes.....

Instead of a bird, there is a small picture of a bird on the heart...with the words "everlasting VISION".......

white robes

white robes - reverse of the red ones and pretty cool looking.

I think that stitching is very therapeutic. I enjoy seeing the design evolve - the intricacies and tiny details emerge.

These Santa robes are taking me in a direction that I did not expect, but am thoroughly enjoying. I have lots of plans for more goodies.....

Santa Robes

I have been working on felt Santas the last few days and here are the robes that I have stitched so far. They aren't so impressive laid out like this, but when they are wrapped up and stuffed, with heads and beards added, they will look pretty good.

They look like fans, or something, all lined up here.

They should be ready to go in the next, or so, and in the shop soon thereafter.

Can't believe I am working on Christmas in this heat.....kinda silly, isn't it?