Bird's nest in my wreath

A mama bird built her nest in my wreath. It was a great location, really sheltered from the wind, except for the fact we had to open and close the door. She ended up going somewhere else. And that was after all her hard work on this cute nest. I wish it had been a safe place for her as I would have loved to seen baby birds nesting in my wreath on my door. This wreath is really past its prime, but I'm having a hard time letting go of it because I just love the nest and I appreciate all the hard work that went into it. I'll eventually let it go, but a new wreath hasn't made its way to the forefront of my mind yet, therefore not making it to my actual shopping list.

No more hair dryer

Well, my hair dryer quit on me. I was drying my hair with it and all of a sudden I smelled a burning smell, then saw smoke coming out of it (while I was still holding it), then some blue sparks flew and it officially died. I couldn't believe it. It's not like I've had it for more than four years, either. Is that a good dryer's life span? I don't know. I'd love to say this is the first "appliance" I've had that has done this to me, but it isn't.

A little more than a year ago, I was vacuuming and I smelled a burning smell and saw blue sparks and smoke come briefly out of the electrical outlet it was plugged in to and then my vacuum cleaner died. Granted, my vacuum cleaner was at least eleven years old. I felt a little better about over ten years of service, but still.

And again, while I was still working full-time I used a heat sealer to seal packages closed before shipping. It had been giving me trouble for some time, so my boss came over with his screw driver to open it up to see if he couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. He wanted to poke something inside there and asked me if it was okay (okay because I did have a back up sealer) and I said sure. Well, he poked and orange sparks flew up and we heard a very loud "POP" and there was a lot of smoke coming out of it. All we could do was laugh. It was truly awesome (it wasn't my machine, so therefore didn't cost me anything leaving me to fully enjoy the moment).

My sister and Grandma have these types of challenges with hand held mixers (they've each burned up the motor on at least one). But I don't think anyone else in my family has shorted out any of their machines. Or if they have, they haven't mentioned it. I think sparks and smoke are definitely worth mentioning. I did end up replacing the vacuum (very necessary as both Brownie and I seem to shed a lot of hair), but I haven't replaced the hair dryer. I'm still disgusted about its lack of service and don't know that I want to shell out the money to get another one. Do they make them in pink? Now that would be cool (but I won't pay more than $20 because I don't need one that badly).

The geese's own private pool

The geese that have lived in our park all summer cross the street (sometimes in a line in front of vehicles rather than fly across) to their own private swimming pool/drinking water source. It's no wonder they chose to live in this area. The livings good and the eating and drinking are even better!

One of our paths to the river

I know I tell you a lot that we walk by the river, but I don't think I've actually shown you one of the paths we use to get down there. This is one of the ones we usually go down. I thought it was so beautiful with all these sunflowers waving at us, encouraging us. These sunflowers were not here in the spring or the summer, but just for a few weeks in October. I loved threading my way down through them. With just about a foot to step down, then you can walk along the bank of the river. How far depends on how much water is in the river at the time.

Interesting Clouds

I took these cloud pictures on our walk the morning of the Indie show. I am fascinated by clouds and love to look at them. They remind me that there is a bigger picture than what is going on in my own life.

Indie Fashion Show, part 2

Indie Fashion Show, part 1

This is the fashion show that took place at the Indie Emporium (we took our booth down early along with everyone else in the middle so they could set up the stage). I put half the pictures in this post and I'll put the other half in the next post.

This was my first fashion show to attend (besides being in Fashion Shows while I was in 4-H and those were usually garmets made from wool). I can't say I'm really up on fashion as I tend to buy what works well on me (and even stuff I like that doesn't work so well on me).

It was a very interesting experience to be at a fashion show. I enjoy watching America's Next Top Model on TV (and sometimes catch Project Runway), but I didn't know what to expect at this live show. I have to say that the designers were all excited to have their collections revealed. And the models, well, it looked like it was some of them's first rodeo. Some of them were really trying for fierce and ended up with what looked more like farce.

I enjoyed Tony Li's collection the best as they looked classy, yet like something you would choose to wear (although to a dressier event than I usually attend). As these pictures are in no particular order and I'm not even sure we caught every model (some of the pictures just really didn't turn out well), I couldn't point to every picture that was his, but his collection was centered around basic black. For those of you up on fashion, you may be able to tell which ones are his by looking at them.

Unfortunately, I missed the really wild crazy designer whose clothes centered around 80's fashions (that I had a blast with in the 80's, but wouldn't choose to wear again today) as it never entered my mind to take pictures until Pooker poked me and said I should be getting pictures of this. Probably because he was as stunned as I by what is now in fashion and by the farce of some of the models. All in all, an enlightening experience. And one in which I had my first taste of the local fashion scene.

Our booth at the Indie Emporium

Here is our booth at the Indie Emporium. This was our first time to do this show and we were excited about it. It turned out to be a very interesting, enlightening, learning experience. We did not do as well as we had hoped. I ended up selling $2.00 worth of postcards to a lady. No, that is not an error. I really only sold $2.00. It was disappointing in that regard. However, we enjoyed spending time together and were able to see what really sold (people did buy from other vendors) and we had a lot of time to watch people and see just what they were buying. The vendor selling fake mustaches on a stick near us sold at least five of them that I saw. He made more on fake mustaches than I made the whole day and a half. That's a sad thing (for me, probably not for him). We shall perservere with our art and crafts. I saw exactly where the box was and will now know when I'm thinking outside of it.

Hot Cross Bun Mushrooms

What fun! Hot cross bun looking mushrooms.

Fuzzy Caterpillar

A cute fuzzy little caterpillar. He was in a bit of a hurry, but I managed to take one picture with a flash and one without. Not sure either one of them shows him to the best advantage, but at least you can check him out for yourself.