Captured moments

Fun Finds – Bluebonnet Festival – Burnet, Texas 2017

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Hello!

Recently Burnet, Texas held it’s annual Bluebonnet Festival.  It is always a fun event and  brings many wonderful artists to town.

One of my favorites is a booth that sells penny pendants.
The business is Wicked Whatnots of Texas.
I have bought charms from them in the past and I always love exploring their booth.

Wicked Whatnots of Texas

Kat of Wicked Whatnots of Texas and Kat of Wonders

Pendant earrings

Having grown up in Austin, this one made me smile.

This year I met Kat & Austin O’Burke.  They have partnered with Julia, the founder of Wicked Whatnots of Texas.  In addition to the penny art, which includes, charms, pendants, bracelets, earrings, cuff links and wine glass charms, they also carry uniquely decorated flasks.

Kat

Kat & Austin also have other creations that were at the booth, but have a separate website from Wicked Whatnots of Texas.  Their site is called Kat of Wonders.    This is where you will find their fun and whimsical creations.  These include potions, wands and props.

Wands

I wish I had a video of the potions in action.   They contain  rheoscopic fluid. When you shake them they have a wonderful swirling motion.

Potions

 

 

 

 

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https://www.etsy.com/shop/katofwonders

 

 

 

 

Yeah! It’s Friday!

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Good morning and happy Friday!

The weekend is almost here and I am ready to relax.  Well, not really.  I have a long list of things that I need to do, but I still plan to make time to relax while working in the garden, or enjoying the wildflowers while running errands.  I may even enjoy a glass of wine or an ice-cold beer and watch the sunset.    When I found these cute earrings in Blanco the last time I was there , they reminded me of all these things.

I found these earrings at Brieger Pottery.     I attempted to find the company listed on the display paper.  I did not find any active sites, but I did find funbeadwork.com , which I think is the same person.

I hope you have a pleasant weekend,

Melyna

Time for autumn flowers

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I have a favorite planter for flowers.  It is a strawberry pot.  I, for some reason, cannot grow strawberries, so I use it for flowers.  In the spring I plant it with moss rose.

Strawberry planter filled with moss rose

Strawberry planter filled with moss rose

Cream and pink moss rose

Dark golden peach moss rose

Now that autumn is approaching central Texas (it is still in the low 90’s everyday. :-/ )  I decided it was time to change the flowers.  The moss rose was looking a bit tired, so I transplanted it to the larger garden and replanted the strawberry pot with fall flowers.  I decided to go with pansies and asters.  The aster will be a pink color because I picked up the wrong container at the store but I think it will be pretty and be a nice pop of color.

Strawberry planter with winter flowers.

Dark golden-yellow pansy

One thing that I realized about the flowers that I choose is that I pick containers that have golden-yellow flowers in the mix.

When I was a little girl we were traveling from Texas to Oregon to visit relatives and passed through Santa Fe, New Mexico.  They had a market with people selling all kinds of things and I saw a handmade doll in a dress the color of golden maize.  I remember thinking that was the prettiest color.  I guess I still do.

Melyna

 

Good Morning!

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I woke up way too early this morning. The sun had yet to peak over the horizon and I was in dire need of caffeine. Still there were things that needed done.  As I went about taking care of the pets and plants, I decided to take my camera along.   I went looking for spiders, but oddly, none were to be found.  Trouble followed me.  The cat. That is her name.  She always follows me when I am out for a walk.   ❤

Wishing you a lovely day,

Melyna

Hummingbirds

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I went to my mother in laws house Yesterday.  Her hummingbirds are not as afraid of people as the ones that come to our house which allowed me to get a bit closer.

Close up of Hummingbird

Close up of Hummingbird

 

Humming Bird in flight

Humming Bird in flight

 

Hummingbird in flight eye on the Camera.

Hummingbird in flight Eye on the Camera.

 

Hummingbird feeding with effects.

Hummingbird feeding with effects.

 

The rain continues and the flowers are loving it. (so am I)

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I am almost afraid to say anything to jinx the unusually pleasant weather we have had (so far).  It has given us a bumper crop of dewberries.  These grow wild near our house. We picked two quarts today.

Dewberry bloomsThese beautiful flowers have now become this:

Below:  These Gaillardia pulchella have just started blooming on our land.

They are beautiful along the roadsides in the Hill Country right now.

This thistle was a bit weather beaten but I loved the way it looked.

This little Syrphis Hoverfly did too.

Sensitive Briar (Mimosa quadrivalvus) grows wild along the railroad tracks.  I remember it being more fragrant than the ones I found today. Oh well, it is still beautiful.

 

Throw back Thursday. Way Back

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I grew up with my grandparents. They were wonderful people.  We would take vacations that were quick trips from point A to point B in the most expedient way possible.  I never knew it was because money was tight.  It always felt like an adventure with bottled soda, peanuts, summer sausage, cheese and crackers. We would make touristy stops along the way to take touristy photos.  It was fun and I loved it.  I also appreciate it more now than I did when I was fifteen years old.  I miss them very much. This is why I love captured moments.  Nothing artistic or special about these snapshots except for the people in them and the memories they hold. These are from a trip to Oregon with my grandparents in 1976.

Me New Mexico sign  me and T-rex 1976   Mountains and golden grass edit

me welcome to AZ sign  view of look out grand canyon 2 edit  view of look out grand canyon edit

me back and Pa side grand canyon  me camera grand canyon  Grannie and Pa 1976

Bear at Hoover Dam 1976 edit  Hoover Damn 2 1976  Me by redwood sign 1976   me and Pa Welcome to Oregon the beach Oregon 1976 edit  me and Pa on the beach editGrannie on the beach Oregon 1976

 

Equus africanus asinus. The day the donkeys came to visit.

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We live just outside the city limits of a small community.  Since we have yet to fence in our property all the way around, we often are graced with visitors. No, the neighbors do not just drop in, but their live stock does.  I wish I would have had a camera when the neighbors billy-goat dropped by.  He was huge and apparently did not like our dog.  When our not so small dog, think tall enough to put his head on a dining table and weighs about 115 pounds, ran to meet him, the billy-goat reared up then came down for a head butt that sent our poor old dog tumbling.  Needless to say we did not go out to greet that particular neighbor and our dog has since kept his distance.

This week we had much friendlier visitors.  Two donkeys came to pay their respects and explore a while.  They appeared hungry as they tried to get in the chicken feed.  They did do a nice job of trimming the grass around the house and took a couple of carrots we offered.  After about three hours they decided it was time to go home and made their way back the way they came, not before leaving us with several piles of fertilizer. They were thoughtful like that.

They were pleasant guests and I would gladly have them back anytime. 🙂

Awww

They decided the can containing chicken feed was really a hidden treat for them, even the bird feeder wasn’t safe.  The light gray one eventually had it swinging pretty high.  I had to run rescue it.

When they could not get the lid off, they went back to see if they could find anything else (notice the feeder is gone)

This one decided to try and make friends with one of our kitties.  She put on a brave front until the donkey left.

She went in to stealth mode after this photo and stalked the donkeys.  It was all good fun until one of them turned around and started walking towards her.  She is a fast runner. 😉