A mid-size house project is underway, so I don't have much time.  I wanted to share with you two photos from one of the many fall celebrations that went on over the weekend.  It seemed every small town in nw Ohio honored the autumnal equinox with a street fair.  Even though the day was chilled with sprinkles and gray clouds hung overhead, my sister, sister-in-law, and I chose to walk the streets of Fayette in search of fall.  We found gourds, mums, flea market items, home-baked goods galore, and one store selling retro bottles of soda pop just like when we were kids.  (more on the soda pop in another post)

I found a few things I was looking for....mums

Yep, there were chrysanthemums 2 for $5.00.  What a great price.  And of course colorful gourds and mini-pumpkins, 6 for $1.00!  Decorating for song. 

A hear the call of a paintbrush so I must run.  I hope you have a wonderful fall Tuesday!

Of Rain & Dreams

It’s raining here this morning.  A gray September day when lighting a candle is a must to inspire cheerful dreaming.  And I am dreaming… I’m dreaming of gardens to come.  Since the move we’ve spent most of our time concentrating on the inside with unpacking, painting, sewing curtains, organizing, creating personal pockets of home.  A thank you and welcome to our new home party is in the planning stages, but I’m ready to take serious action under the ever-changing canopy of sunshine, clouds, and rain. Let me share with you places that need attention and my dreams for each area.

The entry way to our home is very simple, just a door painted a creamy white flanked by two boxwoods that I love.  Yes, I am a big fan of boxwood shrubs.  Beyond the boxwood are beds and yews.  I am not a fan of yew, but for now the shrubs will remain.  Unfortunately, the beds are full of weeds including a healthy growth of poison ivy.  I do not like to use chemical weed killer, but dealing with poison ivy requires a hands-off technique.  A cottage garden with a mixture of perennials, bulbs, and annuals would soften the line where house meets earth.  There's a slip of grass between the bed and the sidwalk that I'd like to turn into bed.  Imagining the walk edged in lavender and pretty bedding plants makes me smile.

  Around the corner a hill adds angst to my mowing life.  As  I mow, I lean hard in the opposite direction in anticipation of the mower tipping over.  

"Why not turn that nuisance hill into terrace garden?" suggested my former sister-in-law and friend. I've never done a terraced garden, but I think it's time to give it a go. 

 Cottonwood, pine trees, and a beautiful redbud  create a shady back yard. The plan is  to open up the backyard a bit by trimming trees. There's plenty of room for shady plants like hosta, heucheras, hellebores, and oh how I'd love a hydrangea or three.

 Just beyond the fenced in part  of the yard lies a square raised bed with a tree in the center.  A dozen birdfeeders hung from the little tree and below a snarling quagmire of weeds. I envision a sweet little bed of shade plants surrounding a birdbath or one charming feeder on a post. 

The house sits on a double lot and on the other side of the garage is plenty of open area for a vegetable garden, a strawberry patch, and a row of rhubarb.  As I stare out the window I dream of having gardens filled with flowers again and I can barely breathe from the thought.     

Textured Barn on Tuesday

It's Texture Tuesday which gives me an excuse to use Kim Klassen's fabulous textures.  It was photographer's choice this week: Use Kim's wonderful texture, autumn burst, or show how the word "DO" inspired your photography creativity using at least one of Kim's textures that she offers to subscribers.  And by the way, did I mention, they're free?  

 A world lies within the walls of a barn. Neighborhoods of animals converse across rails while slits of sunlight cast a beam on yesterday's straw dust.  Mothers cry for the young, owls scream in the dark, and stamping, snorting and cud-chewing provide a background.  The laughter of long-gone children remains high above the floor bouncing from rafter to rafter. Oh yes, those four walls that make up a barn are a community, country, and world all its own.

I must admit...I did some heavy processing on this one.  It has two layers of Kim's autumn burst texture, one upside down.  I changed the colors by using a 60s app, fiddled with opacity and levels, softened it and turned the exposure up a bit.  In short, I highlighted, softened, faded, twisted, colored, and added to this photo of a simple barn on County Road G.

Check out how others used textures for their inspiring photography at...............

Walking & a Winery

I went walking this morning...something that I've been planning to do for the last week or so, but the rain kept me in.  This morning, the misty weather be damned, I grabbed my camera and an umbrella and away I went down the country road.  I didn't have a clear vision where I'd wander to,but in the back of my mind was Stoney Ridge Farm & Winery.  It's a small winery that the Stotz family began in 2002.  It's such a wonderful surprise to find this bit of cultural sophistication in rural northwest Ohio. 

A few trucks and cars lined the drive and I wondered...could it be picking time? I sauntered up the drive and yes, lo and behold, there was a small group plucking grapes from bursting vines.  One of the pickers was the owner, Pam Stotz.  She gave me permission to photograph and so I did. 

Picking Hands

Harvested Grapes

I heard it through the grapvine...

There is something so magical about the twisting, winding grape vine that looks like an ancient man barely able to wait for that first sip of the elixir of gods.

"What I do and what I dream include thee, as the wine must taste of its own grapes."

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Pam Stotz pointed out to me rows of grapes called Leon.  I was amazed at how plump and full each cluster of grapes was.  The little purple spheres were tightly packed as if held by an unseen hand.

I'm so very glad I went for a walk this morning. 

Stitching

Wanted: A needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.

~ Charles Simic

Photograph textured with Kim Klassen's If Only.  I used it twice flipping it and adding the second layer of texture so there would be stitching on the bottom, too. Oh what lovely, fun things you can do with photography! 

September, Texture, and Tuesday

August is five days in the past and it’s time to take a broom to the Cottage on the Corner.  It’s been awhile since I’ve been here and there’s some maintenance to be done.  The cobwebs in the corner sport little spiders that scurried in when the weather went from 90 to 65 within a day or so.  I prefer to throw the windows wide open so I can hear the blue jay cry out to friends and foes even as a chilled breeze rustles my newly made curtains.  Yep, my friend MJ helped me make curtains for my bedroom and office area…simplicity in linen-like fabric and I like them very much.  The freshly painted white bookcases my dad built many years ago stand on either side of my farmhouse table turned desk.  Yeats, Shakespeare, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Winnie the Pooh all share space on the shelves.  Have I mentioned how much I love the deep sills?  Eight inches! That’s eight inches of space to set a glass hurricane candle with a shell-filled bottom, a place to display an apothecary jar or cloche, and plenty of room for photos, mementos, and cats.

     I’m ready to get back to photography, too.  I’ve missed so many opportunities, but there’s so many more to come.  Today I’m joining Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.  I photographed wooden spools of thread inside an old Atlas canning jar.  I did a wee bit of editing: cropping, saturate the color just a bit, gave it a cross processing and flipped Kim's crackerjack texture on to the photo.  I lessened the opacity and called it finished.   

May your Tuesday be all you want it be!