A Week or Two of Wandering

Loaded up little "Rosie"  and hit the road.  We had a destination in sight (meeting the kids in Mesa Verde National Park), but not a specific way to get there.  Found this beautiful camp spot high in the Colorado Rockies.  With a place to fish, tall pines, and a great camp host,  it was so beautiful we stayed for 3 days.....just because......... it was so beautiful.

As we traveled around we discovered a National Park we didn't know existed.  Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  Set up camp in the park for a couple of days, but hubby was a bit claustrophobic from staying in the camp trailer, so we set up our tent.  We were voted by the nightly camp strollers as the best camp!

I had purchased 20 of these mums on an after Memorial Day special.  Didn't have time to get them all planted before we left so they were thrown in the back of the vehicle and brightened up our camp table each day.

A friendly doe settled under a tree to get of the sun in the adjoining campground.

found a great second-hand junk store in a small town in New Mexico

Absolutely fell in love with this quaint home turned into a Vintage Store in Taos.

Met Virginia, an ole cowgirl who makes these wreaths.  We had a good visit, come to find out we had both lived in the same little town in California, just at different times.

She can be found every weekend at the Farmington, New Mexico Flea Market.  Stop by and say "Howdy".

I began making my own soap several years before I was married.  I even rendered the fat of hogs to make lard for the soap making process.  My college roommate's dad was a butcher, and provided me with all the tallow or fat I needed.  I appreciate the many soap makers who continue this time honored craft.  I  just had to stop and see this little store, it was filled to the brim with the most delicious soaps.  Had a real nice visit with the owner, Michelle, and purchased a couple of bars.  She gifted me this bar of soap as we were leaving.

Michelle grows many of the ingredients she puts in her soaps.

find her products here

www.CherokeeSoap.com

She had these great mats on her floor, painted cardboard with  Sparkly stars!

When traveling, it is not always the places you go or see that make the trip memorable, but the beautiful people you meet along the way.

ROSES, RUST, REFLECTIONS

Found this old antique mirror several years ago.  I wanted to hang it in my bedroom, but it was extremely heavy and I didn't want it to come crashing down off the wall.  I wandered out through the farm looking for a solution and spied a rolled up section of rusty barbed wire in the "bone yard", a place where we keep all things you just might need on a farm.

"What if I just wrapped this old wire around the mirror"  I thought to myself.   Actually I probably said it out loud.  I do tend to talk to myself.  After several attempts I got it just right.  Added a few paper roses from the thrift store and now I have this beautiful, antique mirror with time worn corners and flaking back.  I wonder about the people that have been reflected from it's surface.  Were they happy, sad, a country doctor, a tall willowy figure adjusting her hat just so, or was it just an ordinary farm girl with large, square, work worn hands putting on her hat, in too big of a hurry to stop and look at herself?  The mirror reflecting the red glow of her sun burned nose, the color of her wind blown hair, and the shine from the buckle of her overalls as she hurried by on her way to milk the goats and tend to the vegetable gardens.

I wonder what will this mirror reflect in the future?

A grand-daughter checking her hair one last time before going to the prom, a new mom holding up her little one for it's first glimpse of who they can become, an old tired woman who has lived a wonderful, fulfilling life?

I  am filled with wonder of all the possibilities!

MY KITCHEN CHALKBOARD

MY COUNTRY KITCHEN CHALKBOARD AND ISLAND

click on this link to see the project start to finish

click here
   CRICKET SONG FARM 

Kick off your boots, sit a spell and read about all things organic,
My life living close to the land, raising kids and animals,
sharing my mishaps, adventures, experiences and lessons learned.
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

Just around the Corner!

Light streams in through my southern windows during the day.  My Geraniums,

 brought in from the summer garden, soak up the warm sun.  Their bright cheery faces bring me solace during the long winter months when I can't be out working in the gardens.

In the evenings the soft light from my blue vintage cherub lamp shines on the pages of gardening books I read.  Their pages of beautiful gardens help satisfy my desire to be outside digging in the dirt.

Spring is just around the corner.

I will begin planting soon!

The Geraniums will be moved back out into the gardens.

Bright flowers will be planted along-side the rock pathways

Sweet smelling Lavender will be harvested and made into sachets 

and snuggly tucked in the linen closet.

Yes, Spring is JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

Vintage Chandeliers

I began collecting the old brass/crystal chandeliers over 20 years ago.  Every time I happened to find one at a thrift store, I would drag it home, screw a large hook into a ceiling joist and hang them up.  Many of them weren't even hooked into a power source, just hanging and sparkling in the sunshine.  I had several high up in the eves of the sun room, over my desk, and even hanging outside in the trees. I have always been fascinated by lighting.  Quirky, vintage, antique, I collect them all.  Many items I sell at the store I work in, Gypsy Mama's, are lamps and chandeliers I have collected over the years. 

When I lived in the "Little Red House"  I had a small chandelier hanging over my office desk in the sun room.

After living in our current rental for a couple of years, we finally took down the nondescript fan light hanging in the bedroom and hung one of my beautiful, sparkling, antique Chandeliers.

Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Season, filled with joy and happiness.

We set up several Nativity Scenes around our home and I wanted to share this one with you.

It was made by my youngest son when he was just 6 years old.

An Angel and the humble stable where He was born

The Sheppards

And the Wise Men

This beautiful Nativity means so much to me, 

 I leave it sitting on my piano all year long.

Dresser Drawer make-over

I purchased this antique dresser at a yard sale this past summer.  It is beautiful, solid wood and very well kept.  However, I did want to add just a bit of glamour.

I cut up an old velvet dress I purchased at a thrift store to fit in the bottom of the dresser drawers.  Using a glue gun to adhere the velvet around the edges and adding trim I pulled off a set of pillow cases I also purchased at the thrift store around the edge to give it a nice finished look.

This project is very inexpensive if using second-hand clothing. 

 Purchased velvet runs about $25.00-$35.00 a yard.

You could also use other materials, denim, broadcloth, etc. that hold their shape.