Winter Wonder or How can something so cold, be so beautiful?

Our adventure last weekend took us someplace warm and lovely,

then Tuesday morning, 

Ice Storm

Cold, but lovely

My Sweet Husband took all but the last photo for me.

Thanks Love!

The old barn

 Visiting Vultures

 Lace

 Ice bud

Evergreen 

Dogwood in ice 

 Close up

Cold Visitor

Stay warm and cozy

Cheers

Kat

Autumn Faire

We attended the Annual North Carolina Renaissance Festival a couple of weeks ago and it was fantastic! The Festival is still on this weekend and next, so if this post inspires you and you can make it to the Charlotte North Carolina area, join the fun.

 

 

Your tour guide for the event (me).

I get the feeling this is going to be a little different...

 

 A Reaissance Festival (or Ren Faire) is a trip back in time.

This lovely old time traveler was parked near us.

 OK, maybe it is not 100% accurate Medieval Recreation, but it is fun.

We started with a trip to the Cappuccino Inn shown above.

Have a good look at the buildings, this festival occurs out in a field.

I do not know if the buildings are from previous years or not, but they were substantial.

We certainly met some interesting people.

Some of the people in costume are paid performers, but not all.

Some, like me, just love an excuse to play dress up.

Dressing up is certainly not required, but it is fun.

 

 I found a friend.

 Looks like My Sweet Husband found a couple of friends too.

(Hey, that is my Pumpkin Ale he is holding)

I am rather fond of Pumpkin.

There is music everywhere at the Faire.

Some performers have set stages.

This One Woman Band provided a very pleasant accompaniment to our lunch 

(I'll show you that later). 

I believe this is Twig, the Fairy (and yes, I do believe in Fairies, do you?).

Charming. 

I have added a new band to my list of favorites. Cu Dubh.

Awesome, how can you go wrong with pipes and drums?

Check them out Cu Dubh

There was plenty of food on offer.

The stuffed baked potato was an excellent choice.

(Although, once again, not really historically accurate. Potatoes came from the new world.)

Click here for potato info.

 If you are looking for a new career, the Faire has many possibilities.

You could be a flower seller.

 





Or a target.

This young man hurls insults at the audience and some of them pay to hurl tomatoes back at him.

Tomatoes also originated in the New World.

I can't imagine what cooking was like before they became popular.

 These look like fun. Once again, options for everyone.

What sort of career requires the outfit on the right?

Then of course there is the Knight in Shining Armour.

This one was the bad guy.

Great show.

 This is one of my favorite photos!

Meet The Lady Christie and Widget.

I learned several things at the Festival.

My traveling companion.

My best friend.

The reason I am such a lucky girl!

 

Cheers,

or shall I say

Huzzah!

Kat

 



The Blue Fairy

My latest effort. This is a combination of photo manipulation and digital painting.

I am quite pleased with it.

What do you think?

Kat

Anniversary

On May 18, 2008, I posted to this blog for the first time. The first posting did not have any photos, the next several had one or maybe up to three, but not as many as there are now. My early posts were shorter, and more frequent, sometimes 3 in a week. They have gradually grown to their current size and number of photos and these days, I usually post once a week. In honor of my one year blogaversary, here is another look at some of my favorite things and pictures.
Photoshop Elements Flower Fairies
Winter Sunset over the old Summer Kitchen

Tea

Strawberry Pancakes

Spontaneous and her new toy

Squirell

Rosie and Ruth

Polaroid Land Camera

Backyard

Houston, we have liftoff

Study Buddy

Mountain View

Shy Visitor

Old Propeller from Slide

Charleston Fountain

Home made "Challa" bread

Thanks for joining me,

What is your favorite photo?

Kat

Hodge Podge

This weeks art project is another Fairy Scrapbook page for my great nieces. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I took the mushroom and niece photo then combined them with help from Photoshop Elements 4 and wings from http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ The frame is a shape tool included with elements.



It has been a very busy week but I do have some photos that I wanted to share.
This lovely specimen of turtlehood is a rescue. My sweet husband keeps extra paper towels in his car for just this sort of occasion. Whenever he spots a turtle in the road, he stops (if safe) and carries it out of harms way. This was a particularly beautiful creature. One of the many reasons I am still crazy about that man.
The bees are in a friends yard back in Utah. They were in an old walnut tree that had died. When he cut the tree down, he discovered the hive. He set the portion of the tree that they were occupying back up and put a cover over it to keep off excess sun, rain etc. Wild hives need to be protected wherever we can.

The tombstone is another art project. A recent trip to the bookstore and Halloween issues of various women's magazines have got me in a Halloween mood. This tombstone is a photo that I took early in the summer. I removed the name, there wasn't a date, and then used my trusty photoshop elements to change the texture and make it look more like a watercolor. I am not sure what I will do with it, but I like it. Sometimes that is all that matters.

Last, but not least, another great culinary treat provided for me by my Sweet Heart. Cherry Scones. He started with a basic recipe while we lived in England and over the years he has perfected it. The flavor and texture are perfect. This was breakfast a couple of Sunday's ago. I am not sure what sort of delights he is planning for this morning, but I hear intriguing sounds coming from the kitchen and the Tea is lovely. (PG Tips)
Have a lovely week.