Rule Breakers

Happy Holidays! 

Well, "Project Clean Up My Big Bunch O' Blog Drafts" went well when it came to reviewing and deleting, obviously not as well when it comes to completing and posting! Most of them turned out to require more time and effort to finish than my hibernating self has cared to expend, but here's one that was nearly done and that I had a lot of fun putting together. Hope it'll provide as many chuckles for you as it has for me! But should any of these tempt you to go forth and be naughty, remember: Santa's watching. :-)

No fair!

"Hell, there are no rules here. 

We're trying to accomplish something."

~Thomas A. Edison

Let's face it. Some rules are good and necessary, but some just seem made to be broken. 

Sometimes subtly...

And sometimes not...

And lest you think it's just dogs who are engaging in acts of civil disobedience...

Photo by Marcia M. Olinger, Caledonia, Michigan

Adding "please" and an emphasis on "not" doesn't always work either...

Then again, sometimes you're just better off complying...

Hitchin' a Ride

Happy December!

The Monday after Thanksgiving was usually the most demoralizing day of the year in our UPS household. But not this year! Pretty sure I have yet to see BW's feet touch the floor since yesterday afternoon! :-) I thought we'd be going all-out with our decorating and other holiday activities since this will be the first year of our married life that BW's available to truly help with and enjoy it. But I think we're both still decompressing, because neither of us feels inspired to go to all the trouble. So we've decided to enjoy a restful, simple, minimalist holiday season and spend some time on various de-cluttering and organizing projects. Thought today I'd begin with my blog, sorting through the ridiculous number of draft posts I never got around to finishing and/or publishing, and finally delete, complete, or post them as appropriate. 

So to start with, here's one that's been languishing in my drafts since May 2013! No idea what came along to interrupt my train of thought for a year and a half. :-)

•••••••••••••

When I first saw James Neiger's incredible prize-winning photo Great Horned Owl and American Crow...

I couldn't help but wonder if a similar sight gave NASA's engineers this idea! :-)

NASA's Space shuttle Endeavour riding piggyback atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, 

lands at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility in Southern California on 20 Sep 2012 

during the final shuttle ferry flight.

Photo credit: CollectSPACE.com/Robert Z. Pearlman

2014 Fiber Arts Show

As my long-time followers who pay attention to such things know, October was the month of Sheridan's annual Fiber Arts (mostly quilts) show, which I usually document each year in multiple posts. But this year, not so much. I was underwhelmed when I first ran into the library at the start of October to do some camera-less recon. Usually the place is ablaze with an abundance of brightly colored, lively-patterned quilts, but I found the overall effect of this year's display comparatively drab. A couple of quilts caught my eye right away, but I couldn't even get to one of them (the Halloween one, which will make its second blog appearance here) because there were two people working at a table in front of it who wouldn't budge, and just gave me crusty stares as I tried in vain to peer around them at the quilt. (I've never seen anyone working at that table before, the vast majority of tables and work areas being on the main level). Adding insult to injury, one quilt glorified killing animals for "trophies," complete with a couple of ghastly photos of their victims pre- and post-slaughter. Ugh! After the quilts I spent a few minutes checking out the other fiber arts and was very drawn to a couple of them, but frankly I left the quilt show disappointed, miffed, and with no intention of returning with my camera or doing a post on it this year.

But the show is at the library for an entire month and I am a frequent borrower of books and DVDs, so I couldn't not look up and see the quilts on the mezzanine above every time I was there… and a couple of them, at least, kept catching my eye. And later when my friend Pam shared a compelling description of her favorite quilt, I realized I'd missed it completely. But perhaps most galvanizing of all, I was seriously pissed about not getting a good gander at the Halloween quilt! So I decided to give the show a second look and a second chance, accompanied this time by my camera as well as by Pam, as part of our "Apollo Picnic" outing...

The most colorful side of the mezzanine so the only one I'm bothering to post.

The colorful "Scrappy Tulips" quilt on the left was the first quilt I noticed on my initial visit, and it kept grabbing my attention on subsequent library runs. Its neighbor, "Twin Peaks," grew on me over time - its neutral pallet isn't as eye-catching, but the design and quilting are beautiful. I can easily picture this on an antique four-poster bed, a handsome centerpiece in a warm and tranquil bedroom, and it's probably the one I would have most wanted to take home...

     Left - "Scrappy Tulips"     

Pieced & Machine Quilted

Artist: Peggy Gable

Quilted by: Becky Stedtnitz 

Right - "Twin Peaks"

Machine Pieced

Artist: Marge Hamilton

Quilted by: Laurie Sheeley

≥≤≥≤≥≤≥≤≥≤

I shared a photo of this next quilt in its entirety on my Halloween post, but since a couple of you mentioned then how much you liked the border around the center panel, I thought I'd share this other photo. As luck would have it, in photographing the center panel I unintentionally captured at least some of that much-admired border around it...

Detail from "Who's Watching" 

Pieced Quilt

Artist: Tammy Johnson

Quilted By: Karen Van Houten

From a kit designed by Heidi Pridemore

(Click here to view the entire quilt)

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

And here was Pam's favorite, and the one she most would have wanted to take home with her. It hadn't caught my eye and I wouldn't have photographed it but for Pam pointing out the level of difficulty and years of toil it took to create. And the more I looked at it, the more fond of it I became. It really is a sweetly old-fashioned and pretty quilt! It's one I would have taken home with me too, but I think Pam would have cheerfully (and rightfully) tossed me over the balcony railing to nab it for herself. ;-) Thanks, Pam, for getting me to appreciate and photograph it!...

"Crazy About Hexagons" 

 Hand-pieced 

Artist: Jane Rader

Quilted by: Janis Fall 

"These 50,000+ hexagons are mostly representative of the 1830s time period using reproduction fabrics. The toile border helped even the sides out for the binding. 

It took about 10 years to make and was a great carry-along project."

≈§≈§≈§≈§≈§≈§≈

This last one was my favorite quilt overall, for its fun, creative, original (and vegan, yay!) theme and, of course, its eye-candy quotient - because you know how I am about eye-candy (not to mention fruits & veggies!)...

"The Jars"

Machine Pieced

Artist: Janet Goss

Quilted By: Janet Goss

It took Janet five years to collect the vegetable and fruit fabrics used in the quilt, 

which she enlarged from a wall hanging to king size.

øøøøøøøøøøøøø

And here were the two fiber arts examples I loved… no coincidence that they're both autumnal (I love autumn's colors!)...

"Birches I"

Fiber Painting

Artist: Heidi Heuerman

"The inspiration for this piece was my neighbors' back yard."

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

And last, but certainly not least, perhaps my overall favorite piece in the show… 

"Fall Fairy"

Counted Cross-Stitch

Artist: Norma Just

"My daughter bought this cross-stitch for me to make for her. She also got the Winter Woodland Enchantress… Look for this one next year if my eyes hold up!"

Don't know about you, but Norma is my nominee for Mom of the Year! And I'm hoping she has a good optometrist, because I want to see her Winter Woodland Enchantress next year. :-) I was pleased with how my photos of it turned out, but they still don't capture how truly breathtakingly beautiful this picture was. I took this closeup so you could see the tiny gold beads in her hair, necklace, belt, and blowing around some of the leaves (click on it, or any of the photos, to see larger versions)...

I may just have to buy this pattern for myself! :-)

SkyWatch Friday: Tricks & Treats!

After waiting in vain all week for a hauntingly beautiful Halloween sunrise to share, I had a sky-less Halloween post ready to go… until just a few minutes ago! As my finger hovered over the "publish" button, BW called to me with eerie timing, "Come see the sunrise!" Sure enough, it was a colorful, luminous beauty that seemed to mimic a glowing jack-o-lantern…

Oh those trickster Wyoming sunrises! Now you don't see 'em, now you do! :-)

So here's my originally planned post with more Halloween fun from (mostly) ground level…

Above-ground level, that is. ;-)

First, a sneak-peek at one of this year's quilts in the annual Fiber Arts show at the library. The lone Halloween quilt in the exhibit and one of my top three favorites in the show, I thought it would be better appreciated here than on my upcoming quilt show post...

"Who's Watching?"

Technique: Pieced

Artist: Tammy Johnson

From a kit designed by Heidi Pridemore

Quilted by: Karen Van Houten

On the day of our visit to the cemetery and picnic among the "Roman Ruins" last week, we also drove by this old home in Sheridan's historic "Residence Hill" neighborhood. It was for sale when BW and I were looking for a place and we made an offer on it, but it was not to be (just as well - ideal location, but way too big and in need of too much work, it would have meant delaying BW's retirement and thank goodness that didn't need to happen!)

A spooky spider, pretty pumpkins, and comely crow await trick-or-treaters

I didn't have to wander far from the home we did end up living in to get these next photos. Our neighbors a few doors down have their place very festively decorated for fall and Halloween, but I especially love these gossamer ghosts gamboling around the festooned spruce...

And up the street in the opposite direction one is greeted by these gregarious ghouls and their hauntingly hospitable howdies! :-)

Remember our friend the Red-tailed hawk? He showed up again at dusk last Friday, perched on our next door neighbors' roof. I took some more photos of him (of course) despite the bad lighting, and really liked this one of his eyes reflecting my camera's flash. By darkening the original a little I ended up with this great silhouette ~ add a few spooky elements courtesy of PicMonkey and our red-tailed friend becomes The Haunted Hawk of Halloween! :-)

It's predicted to be sunny and 71º here today (and tomorrow) with no wind. Combine the balmy weather with the fact it's a Friday night and we're expecting a record turnout of monstrous moochers Trick-or-Treaters, though we "only" bought enough vegan goodies for the first 250 or so. Wish us (and our poor doorbell) luck, and enjoy a safe and happy Halloween! 

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 4

Welcome to Part 4, the last post of this year's annual...

Finally, the final finalist from July's event! Well, better late than never. As you may recall if you saw the first three posts from this series, eight finalists chosen by the local greenhouse that sponsors the event competed for the public's votes to determine a winner in each of two categories, "Amazing Backyard Gardens" and "Amazing Estate Gardens." This large property in the neighboring small mountain community of Story was the winning Estate Garden…

❦❃❦❃❦❃❦

Property-owner Robin and her husband spent six years converting a large area of marsh into these gardens (to the dismay of the local moose, no doubt), a task that included redirecting water to help create this spring fed pond, the centerpiece of the property...

Did you notice the three multi-colored "gazing globes" on the left side of the far bank?

They're bowling balls! :-)

One of the more relaxed inhabitants of the Fairy Garden in the woods beside the pond. 

The bottle garden in hues of blues even features a Blue Spruce!

The waterfalls tumbling from the woods to the pond and decorated with various treasures was my favorite feature of the property, due in no small part to the wonderful goat ~ a larger version of my own!....

We also loved the mellow mermaid, chillin' on the rocks beside the pond...

A trek further "inland" brings you to the beautiful and colorful Peace Garden...

…and into the presence of its compassionate guardian, a sweetly carved St. Francis, who ~ as the patron saint of all fellow creatures, the environment, and peace ~ is very much at home among the birds and flowers in a Peace Garden...

I hope you enjoyed this year's tour! Though the real gardens have been put to bed for the winter, you can visit five other gardens from the tour anytime you want...

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 1

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 2

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 3

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 3

Welcome to Part 3 in my 4-part series of this year's Garden Tour!

We toured seven of Sheridan's eight competing gardens on July 19. The finalists, chosen by the local greenhouse that sponsors the tour, competed this year for the most votes from the touring public in two categories. Part 1 and Part 2 featured finalists from the Backyard Garden category, while this post showcases our favorite finalist from the Estate Garden category...

The beautiful English style gardens of Lloyd and Diana enticed us in and entertained us during our visit with enchanting and soothing harp music...

Major bonus points for the lovely touch of a harpist among the roses!

As I was photographing the harpist another woman approached me with a similar camera, and as we were comparing them I noticed her shirt was a perfect match to the pink roses in front of us, so I offered to take her photo with them. But she politely declined - since they were her roses! Turns out she was Diana, delightful co-owner of this slice of paradise, who (she humbly disclosed during our conversation) worked for 20 years as the master gardener at Trail End State Historic Site, whose gorgeous gardens and grounds have appeared in some of my posts, this being my favorite. This explains why her own gardens are so exquisite! During the 22 years she and Lloyd have lived at this property they've planted 300 trees, designed and planted all the gardens (including a large vegetable garden), built all the sheds, cupolas, gazebos, arbors and fences, and installed all the rock walls. And now that he's "retired," Lloyd has taken up iron work (he built the handsome iron railing on their new deck, which I failed to photograph), and is now growing hops and grapes to use in making spirits. 

I loved many of their decorative touches, including this beautiful Victorian birdhouse…

And this wonderful dragonfly crafted by Lloyd from vintage utensil handles, one of two that I spied hiding in the foliage of their extensive gardens...

Diana designed the gardens to create outdoor rooms and secret gardens. The peekaboo glimpse I got through some tree branches (those dark green blobs in the foreground are leaves) is my favorite of her secret gardens…

I'm convinced that sweet woodland creatures bed down here at night, 

falling asleep to the softly twinkling sound of singing faeries.

My final garden tour post will feature the Estate Garden winner. Stay tuned!

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 1

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 2

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 4

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my 4-part series about this year's Garden Tour!

We toured seven of Sheridan's eight competing gardens on July 19. The finalists, chosen by the local greenhouse that sponsors the tour, competed this year for the most votes from the touring public in two categories: "Amazing" Estate Garden and "Amazing" Backyard Garden. 

Part 1 featured one of the backyard garden finalists, so here are the remaining three we toured (the one we missed was also in this category), starting with the "Amazing" Backyard Garden winner and their friendly, colorful welcome by the front door…

This home and garden, belonging to Debra and Rob, is just a block away from the house we rented while our current home was being built, so we remember it but had never seen the private back yard before. The most impressive thing about this place (and the last one on this post) is something I didn't think I'd be able to show you: their "before" photos! But happily, I just discovered that Debra, a working artist, has a web site! So you can see the before photos, as well as more of their yard and her art, made from recycled/repurposed materials.

Both the house and yard were in horrible condition when they'd bought the place. In just five years, doing it all themselves, Rob and Debra turned a yard of bare dirt and weeds and a rundown house into this lovely prize-winning sanctuary...

I love the airplane whirligig in the foreground and the shady bench in the back corner. 

Oh, and the guy in the blue shirt, too! :-)

Apparently Rob and Deb also managed to squeeze in some traveling! (Or maybe they just steal license plates off vehicles at the visitor's center. LOL)...

This next contender was a very large property out in the country (we were surprised it was in the Backyard rather than the Estate garden category). Its best feature was the two adjoining ponds that the owners, Robert and Carla, built themselves. The ponds (one large, one small) had a little footbridge spanning them, with koi and lily pads and antiques and whimsical decorations scattered around their edges, and so many different kinds of solar lights that I'm sure this garden is best enjoyed at night! But in the daylight, the highlight was this lovely waterfall, positioned right in front of their large covered patio for maximum soothing effect…

I found this unobtrusive little sign pointing to the ponds quite amusing (and relatable!)...

This final Backyard Garden is the one that got our votes. Before we even saw the garden, their adorable cottage had won our hearts...

This time I have no web site to share and couldn't photograph the photo album they had on display that showed what this place looked like when they bought it. Trust me, it wasn't pretty - but in three years, the owners, Gene and Lillian (former stage and screen actors and musicians) had transformed a derelict hovel into this enchanting home...

As if the charm of the front yard weren't enough, when we walked through the gate to the back yard we were greeted by bubbles!! 

And aren't those hollyhocks wonderful?\

In addition to a lot of old-fashioned plants like the hollyhocks (many grown from seed) that went well with their early 1900's home, they had a vegetable garden I wanted to raid right then and there - filled to capacity with heirloom tomatoes and gorgeous kale! Besides the adorable cottage and fun bubbles, another reason we liked this garden so much was that it inspired us with a few ideas for our own back yard and patio, from their pagoda (not pictured) to their solar Japanese lanterns to this very tall lattice privacy screen. BW had me take several photos of its details and Gene generously answered BW's questions about its construction. Since our HOA only allows "privacy" fences to be 5' tall (which only really affords you privacy if you're a toddler!), a couple of these set 2-3 feet inside the fence, with trumpet vines or morning glories climbing them, would do the trick (and give the dogs some shady hidey-spots to nap!)...

We've been enjoying some really lovely weather (though yesterday's high of about 90º was a tad toasty for this time of year!), and everyone's flowers are looking beautiful, veggie gardens are spewing forth an abundance of tomatoes, zucchini, winter squash, herbs, etc, while just a few trees are beginning to turn. Late summer/early Autumn can be so delightful.

Except when it isn't! Here's our forecast as of this moment... 

A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY EVENING THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. 

PERIODS OF HEAVY WET SNOWFALL MAY IMPACT THE BEARTOOTH, ABSAROKA AND BIG HORN MOUNTAINS AND THEIR FOOTHILLS WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. 

* ACCUMULATING WET SNOW MAY CAUSE DAMAGE TO TREES AND POWER LINES. 

* HEAVIEST SNOW WILL FALL ALONG THE NORTHEAST SLOPES OF THE BEARTOOTH, ABSAROKA AND BIG HORN MOUNTAINS.  SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW ARE ALSO POSSIBLE ALONG THE NEAR NYE, RED LODGE, DAYTON, SHERIDAN AND STORY. 

 * WINDS NORTHEAST 15 TO 25 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS OVER THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
Oh, UGH! Remember what happened to us last year? (At least it had the good graces to wait till October!) I sure hope this forecast is being overly dramatic, but the predicted low of 23º Thursday night is going to wreak havoc even if snow doesn't. We'd planned to leave today with the girls and Girasole for Havre, but since this storm is barreling down from northern Montana their forecast isn't any better than ours. So we're staying put until Saturday. (And so will do my best to publish a SkyWatch Friday post this week).

Anyway, Parts 3 and 4 of the Garden Tour (which may not materialize till October!) will feature two of the three gardens from the Estate Gardens category (the owners of the third one were rude and pissed us off, so their garden doesn't get to be on my blog. That'll show 'em!) 

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 1
2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 3
2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 4