Day 227/365 Adding An Artist

While wandering the net trying to cleanse my brain of the images left by the afore-mentioned author, I found Rob Gonsalves, the Canadian artist responsible for the above painting Medieval Moonlight.

Thanks to years spent at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, I've developed a love for mystical, Escher-like artists, starting with Randall Spangler (Sanctuary of Knowledge, below....also known as my dream house)

We own several of his large paintings, way more than we have wall space for.

Now I'm hoping to add a Rob Gonsalves to the collection. Maybe this one (Towers of Knowledge -- I think it's a painting of my current livingroom, minus the sunrise):

Must be that time of year - my renaissance roots are showing...

Huzzah! (and I miss you Renfest, big time).

Day 226/365 The Moonshine Capitol Gets An Award

And it's oddly appropriate, although not technically moonshine....

Big thank you to Once I Saw A Dragonfly, our favorite vintage clothing blog.

This sparkling award comes with two rules:

The first is a question: "What do you like the most about your own blog?"

Mostly I like the fact that my daughter can finally read all the family stories she's been asking me to write down, and then finding out that other people enjoy reading it too. From reading their comments, it appears it's not just my family that's crazy.

And the second rule involves sending out this award to 10 other blogs:


Life at the Blue Nymph

Old School

The Homesteading Apartment

The Little Vintage Company

the moon's favors

White Spray Paint

Welcome To My World

All Things Iris

Urban Garden Casual

makemoneywithyourbrain

Day 225/365 Morning Glory Genocide

First we had the long hot summer. Then we had a series of torrential rainstorms (including the one last Thursday that dumped a tornado on us). The end result was an explosion of plant life (but not the stuff I actually planted-that stuff is deader than roadkill). Above is the path out to my garden. Probably infested with snakes and crickets.

And the side of the house, by the mail box.

And the side of the driveway. There's another foot of pavement hiding under there. If we only had one car, this would be charming. But we have three, two of which need to fit side-by-side, meaning the person parked next to the morning glory bank has to wonder if she's stepping on snakes (that person would be me).

Enter the $15 Halloween prop bought at a yard sale, and sharpened to a fine edge by my daughter. It's a vintage hand scythe, also known as a tobacco knife here in southern Virginia.

It's wicked when swung - cuts through everything, even the thick woody Virginia creeper hiding under the morning glory, and the wall of Paradise trees.

The resulting carnage.

If the rain keeps up, this will be completely covered again in another two weeks.