Anyone there?

I've been going through photos from trips to Artfest, Montreal, The World's Longest Yard Sale, Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, South Carolina, Nashville and a recent trip to the North GA mountains for a short hike on the Appalachian Trail. Way too many stories and photos to sort through before we head off to Montana and Idaho for more camping and hiking.

I've missed my friends in blogland and hope you haven't forgotten me! I'm itching to catch up but the weeds are tall, the lists are long and there's packing to be done. If I survive backcountry camping in -30° weather then I'll be back to catch up when I can. Are you still there? I hope so.

P.S. That's not -30° weather, it's supposed to be <30°. Less than, colder than, way colder than I'm used to in Georgia! Oh, and the picture is of a photo transfer I made on a piece of wood. It's from a photo booth photo while we were in Montreal. All made by hand, you know...wood, photocopy, gel medium, sandpaper. No Photoshop trickery on this baby! :-)

Thing-Finder

Last night as I was reading LK Ludwig's inspirational book called True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling, I sat up in the bed and said to my husband: "That's it! I finally know what I am. I'm a THING-FINDER!" I then went on to read him the quoted passage from Pippi Longstocking where she explains to her friends what a Thing-finder does, they find things. When asked what kind of things, Pippi explains "Oh, all kinds...lumps of gold, ostrich feathers, dead rats, candy snap crackers, and tiny little screws, and things like that." If you looked in my art room right now, you'd find everything from that list except the dead rats.

It's taken a long time to realize there really are others like me. I suppose you can say that I've finally found my tribe. Which gets me to thinking about ArtFest! It's almost time to get on the plane with my big girl suitcase all packed with warm clothes and art supplies. I need to start thinking about trades. I don't think I'll make the PMC charms like I did last year. I'll need something fresh and new for my 2nd ArtFest. No need to be an over-achiever. Ha! Famous last words.

I've been spending a lot of time in my art studio lately. First to clear a path to my art table and then to actually sit at the table and be able to experiment with soldering. I'm getting better with each piece I make but I'm still not convinced I'll be able to s0lder a jump ring onto a soldered piece of glass any time soon. Even with two 3rd arms, a couple anvils, a steel block, a c-clamp, self-locking tweezers and a drawer full of pliers it's still difficult for me to manage. I'll keep trying until I can at least feel confident enough to make something to send to a friend. That's usually my benchmark. If I can feel good about giving it to a friend then I'm heading in the right direction.

I've had lots of time to work on things indoors because in case you hadn't noticed it's been COLD down here! I'm talking single digit, pipe freezing, 3 quilt and 2 cat sleeping cold. Today was the first warm day we've had in weeks. It was beautiful, sunny and warm. I sat on the back deck with my feet in the sun for the first time in months. I do believe I'm almost thawed out now.

Lots of excitement around here lately: A 700+lbs. cow in the front yard that my husband had to wrangle back into the pasture across the busy street with our 90 year old neighbor. Frozen water pipes due to the extreme cold followed by a broken water pipe from the house down to the barn. Luckily our friend Farmer Sue was over visiting when we noticed the leak that was pouring water into the crawlspace under the house. She told me not to panic - she knew all about the cutoff valve under the house and draining the pipe until spring. Just another thing to add to the "To Do When it Warms Up" list.

I realize it's already February and I haven't posted the photos from the rest of our trip to Coastal Georgia! It was such a wonderful trip. Very relaxing with lots of exploring, seafood eating, Geocaching and general low key goodness. We stayed in a great little cottage called Oaks of Eden that was definitely off the beaten path and very peaceful. I often found myself getting up early and sneaking to the observation deck to watch the sunrise over the marsh or packing a thermos of coffee and going with Marty down the dirt road on the bicycles to a place we called "The Green Lagoon" to watch the wildlife. We couldn't have asked for a better place.The owners were great! There were yummy muffins, fresh wild caught Georgia boiled shrimp and organic green salad from their garden waiting on us in the 'fridge when we arrived. We were so spoiled with all the good seafood we ate on this trip that we ended up bringing back 25lbs. of IQF (individually quick frozen) fresh wild caught Georgia shrimp. Of course, this lead to the purchase of a new freezer for the garage when we returned but it's packed with shrimp now and there should be room for vegetables about late spring!












For those of you who have never seen cotton growing - this is it! I've seen it all my life but it still amazes me when I look at it up close.

Southern Charm

"Savannah is better for ya. You'd just get in trouble in Atlanta."
—Mammy in Gone with the Wind

We took a little road trip (only 5 hour drive) to the Georgia Coastal Marshlands. Since Savannah was on the way, we spent a night there and enjoyed a day of exploring before heading down the coast. We arrived late in the evening and had dinner and drinks at a great little microbrewery called Moon River Brewing Company. I can highly recommend the Savannah Fest Bier if you like a good German style beer!

One of the great things about Savannah, if you don't finish your drink and you're ready to mosey down the street to the next place, you can just take it with you! That's exactly what we did as we strolled along the riverfront by moonlight enjoying our beverage from Moon River Brewing Company. Slowly making our way back to our hotel for the night, we ran into some very friendly fellows who invited us into a nearby pub to listen to some friends of theirs who were playing live music. No cover charge and we could take our beer in...sure! Why not? As it turns out, we really enjoyed the music and stayed for a couple of sets chatting with Jason and Eric (the duo) of The Train Wrecks in between their sets. Great guys, we got on the subject of Hank Williams and I told them some of the stories of my family ties with Hank Williams, Sr. and Alabama (the state, not the group). They played songs the last set that all tied into things we had talked about. Really nice guys.

The next morning we decided to let the GPS tell us where to go. I punched in The Mercer House (of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil fame) and we ended up at Monterey Square in the historic district. Walking around the square, admiring the old oak trees dripping with spanish moss and the charm of the southern architecture, we noticed an open door in the basement of one of the houses. It was an antique shop! Needless to say, we ventured inside and had a nice chat with Alex Raskin (owner of Alex Raskin Antiques) located in the historic Noble Hardee Mansion. He told us that it was the largest house in the Savannah Historic District and we were welcome to wander around all 15,000 square feet of it. There was so much to take in, Marty and I split up, both admiring the contents as much as the house itself. We crossed paths a few times and just looked at each other in total amazement. It was technically only a two story house but with a basement and attic it seemed to go on forever. Crystal chandeliers hung high above furniture that was piled up in rooms where you could almost hear the music and feel the dancing in what were once two stately ballrooms.

If you're ever in Savannah and enjoy antiques, old homes with southern charm, and a slight chill on the back of your neck as you wonder if there really are ghosts in this world, then this is definitely a place for you to visit.

Alex Raskin Antiques located in the Noble Hardee Mansion

441 Bull Street (the corner of Bull and Gordon at Monterey Square)

Savannah, Georgia (USA) 31401

Incidentally, that is The Mercer House in background of the top photo with the garden view. I've got more photos and tales to tell of the rest of our trip but I'll stop for now. Photo overload - I'll give it a rest.

Giving Thanks

So much to be thankful for - loving family, good food, warm Alabama weather, two young nephews who were amazed that we could actually write with the guinea hen quills we found in the yard and mama's pickled beet juice from the beets dad grew in the garden. Simple pleasures.

Breathe

I'm still playing catch up! A few weeks ago we took the "FrankenCamper" (hand stitched pop-up tent camper) to Black Rock Mountain State Park. The fall colors were just beginning to change and it was the first really cold weekend we've had this season. In spite of the cold weather and the lack of water at the state park, it was a great weekend. We hit a couple of flea markets early on Saturday and then back to the communal campfire.

Check out my goodies! I love the paintings - they are already hanging in the kitchen to distract my eyes from the apple motif wallpaper in a small area under the top cupboards. The wallpaper that is half torn off in hopes to motivate me to finally get rid of it completely. That's a whole other story for another time.

Another good find were these 2 gallon plastic bags stuffed FULL of junk jewelry. I don't know that I'll ever go through it all but it's fun to sift through and pull out a piece every now and then. Yesterday I wore a mood ring on my pinkie that I found in the stash. It turned from a dark gray into a beautiful teal blue color - so I must have been in a good mood.





I've been feeling pretty crafty these past couple of weeks. Totally inspired by Ms. Mary Ann and her way cool funky journals, I got out my old sewing machine and began stitching up a few things myself. This is the first thing I did - just a photo sewn onto a 6x9 clasped envelope that I folded in half. It was fun to learn to thread the machine, wind a bobbin and try to figure out what all the buttons actually do. That poor machine got no love for the past 10, 11, 12 years. It was moved from one house to the next, from one closet to another and now it's finally made its way to the dining room table. It's out and it's ON, baby!



Don't laugh, I'm just learning. Okay, you can laugh - I did. I cracked up, actually. I had this idea to use a bunch of personal photos and make a booklet type card for a friend... but my printer jammed after only printing 2 photos. You know how that goes - no time to mess with failed technology when the creative spirit strikes. I shifted gears and started going through my F.ART (Future Art) box. Lots of random things - it's a work in progress with many more layers to be added but it's done out of love.








More news on the crafty scene here at The Pharm...I crocheted a purse! It's a small miracle because I don't even know *how* to crochet. Well, I know 2 stitches (chain and I don't know what the 2nd is called) that someone must have taught me about 35-40 years ago. Seriously, I can not even glance over a page of crochet instructions without feeling dizzy and almost passing out. Even the drawings just confuse the heck out of me and I'm supposed to be a visual learner. So, I made it up. I just crocheted this THING, folded it over, stitched up the sides with that same stitch I know and looked at it. It could have been a sort of squarish hat, or maybe a double handed oven mitt (not safe) or possibly a triangular shaped pillow. Nope, I thought it looked more like a purse than anything so I got two handles and used that same stitch I know to attach the handles to the purse. There you have it - my first crocheted bag. I finished it last night with one of the cats on my lap right before going to bed. I was so proud of it - I took it upstairs and hung it on my dresser to look at.



The next thing planned in the crafty arena is to make place mats. That's right, I am going to actually try to sew cloth to cloth. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Aside from being silly and playing with the sewing machine and crochet hook, I've been enjoying the true fall colors of late. Like my friend said the other day, it's a panoply of colors. Isn't that a great word?! We've got a couple of Japanese Maple trees by the driveway - I always love how the reds pop against the fading yellowy green of the wisteria on the picket fence.



Our CSA friends just harvested fresh peanuts! Another reason that I love this time of year. For those of you that have never seen a peanut plant, here is what they look like after coming out of the ground, before picking off of the bush, washing and boiling. O.M.G. There's nothing that can compare to fresh boiled peanuts. We're about half way through the batch I made a few days ago. I'll be sad when they are all gone.

Playing Catch Up

We went to Ontario for Canadian Thanksgiving (Oct 13th) and spent a relaxing week with family. I couldn't find my copy of Eat, Pray, Love so I bought another one at the airport. I figured I would pass it on to a friend when I'm done reading it. Also picked up Water for Elephants which I totally devoured. Odd for me, as I'm usually reading some sort of reference book. Perhaps I enjoyed it so much because it is an historical novel. The author is a tech writer from Ontario - something I didn't know until I got to the end of the book. Very good read!


My mother-in-law's insanely delicious Canadian Butter Tarts made with pecans from my father's orchard in Alabama! Mmmmm...I'd have to say that these are better than pecan pie because of the sweet to flaky crust ratio. Speaking of that, I learned a trick from my father-in-law on how to maximize the pumpkin pie eating experience. He puts a hole in the top of the piece of pumpkin pie and then fills it with Canadian maple syrup before covering with freshly whipped cream. *Smack!*