Hello Sunshine

Come Along......to the Pumpkin Festival!

Won't you come along with us today to a Sarasota tradition - the annual Pumpkin Festival.  It's on the north end of town, on the acreage of a very large farm, a far enough drive from where we live that it seems like a "little trip." 

As we get close to our destination, we find ourselves sitting on the highway, part of a very long line of cars, waiting to get parking in a big field. A little "local color" is provided by the signs of an enterprising person trying to "make hay" from the traffic waiting to get into the festival. 

 
You may be surprised at the nice change of seasons we have here on the Gulf Coast of Florida.  Although there are no autumn-colored leaves drifting down, the sun has noticeably shifted into that interesting low angle that offers  a new perspective on our surroundings, and our temperatures have cooled enough that long jeans are actually comfortable. As we finally pull into the lot of the festival, the smell of hay, scattered about on the ground as well as in big bales, signals the new season, wonderfully scenting the air. We can hear music pulsing from the bandstand. We're here. The little girl in me says ...Lets go!


The recently harvested pumpkins have been gathered under an enormous tent.


Ethan, Selby and Sage ride into the tent with Papa on his scooter.  This is baby Sage's first Pumpkin Festival.
  

Dianne and Liz are here too.

 

There is so much to see and do but first, we're hungry.  The delicious aromas from a plethora of food booths are calling.  What shall we choose?  A banner proclaims the "Best Bar-B-Que in Florida" but there are also booths tempting us with shrimp, gyros, Greek salads, grilled chicken, and the usual pizza and corn dogs.  The kids, as always, choose pizza and corn dogs and we opt for gyros and grilled chicken. Yummy!

 

You'll get a kick out of this!  Fall "Florida style" involves the usual scarecrow, but instead of it standing in a field scaring away birds, this one is swinging under a shade tree in a hammock.

 

And how creative is this...a scarecrow as the engineer on a train engine constructed from bales of hay!!

 

The classic cars exhibit is a "toot."  Daughter Dianne asked me, as she was taking my picture, if I had actually driven this model!! PLEEEEASE!! 

 

Let's keep going.  There's a petting zoo, an Endangered Florida Panther exhibit, little train cars made from barrels to ride, clogging and singing on the stage, a plant and gourd exhibit building, and so on and on.  My feet are starting to hurt, but I must show you the huge turkey roosting up high on a very narrow branch.  I had no idea this could be accomplished.....

 

We're winding our way out, stopping on the way to get some fresh veggies.  The kids helped! They were mostly interested in the little worms in this very fresh from the field corn...twelve ears for three dollars is quite a bargain (plus free protein from corn worms).  We added a cantalope, seedless watermelon and some collards to the baby's stroller basket and trugged our way to the car.  What a fun, fall day.  So glad you came along.

Tomorrow, I am going to paint a watercolor from a photo I have taken of the georgeous roosters I saw. 

BE-WITCHING....Quoth the Raven "ever" more!

Time to get into the Halloween spirit!  Our air has turned cooler (83 during the day and 63 at night).  Fall has arrived. The good times are starting to roll on the Gulf Coast.  Windows and doors are open and that fab tropical breeze refreshes the entire house.  It is absolutely BE-Witching.

My purchase for Halloween decor this October is a dramatic blackbird.  It called out to me during a recent foray into Target.   I saw  blackbird paintings on a wall in the HGTV Design House several years ago and I have been thinking about them since.  Can't determine why they "call" (forgive the pun) to me but this one seems to offer satisfaction.

I have perched him on an assortment of preserved fall leaves under a cloche on a table in the foyer.

This is the spooky scene as you enter the house in the evening. 

I had lots of help from Selby making this arrangement.  She has been in the Halloween mood for several weeks and is giving the hat from her witch costume a tryout.

Getting "Centered"

It seems we are all "reeling" from the events going on around us - from the very personal to global happenings.  I find myself trying to get the right perspective on current situations - working to make good choices - needing to draw from deep within myself.
Where do you go to contemplate and find those peaceful moments in these hectic times? I have a peaceful backyard that is truly a haven to me.  Although part of it contains my garden and it's mystery plants, freebies from the kitchen compost bin, another area evokes peacefulness and contemplation.  A small "goddess" water garden with it's one goldfish (a true survivor) and a wonderful small swimming pool (solar heated to ninety degrees) make for a relaxing meditative moment.

A thought - "Respect all things.  This encompasses everything - human beings, air, water, land, plants and animal life.  Radiate a deep love towards all life.  The continual outpouring of a feeling of peace and serenity to everything, no matter whether you think it deserved or not, is the key that unlocks the door to Enlightenment." ---- Kanai Sensei and Regina Hawk, Terra Bella

My, I am getting serious.  Let me leave you today with a bit of humor!
Gem of the Day:  Try to do something nice today, even if it's just leaving someone alone.

I promise to see you soon in the painting studio. 

There's Something in the Garden......

Autumn on the Gulf Coast of Florida offers a lovely alternative to the glorious colors of the changing seasons we so enjoyed during our 5 years spent in the mountains of Asheville, N.C.

Here, in the fall season, there are still new happenings in the garden.......actually there is a lot going on in the garden.  No killer frosts (well, sometimes late in January) and the bugs are still munching along on anything they can find.  Speaking of insects, at this point I must share my "parsley story."

Last month I sauntered out to the herb garden to clip some parsley for a recipe. What I found, instead of the beautiful lush parsley plant I had been snipping during the summer, was an interesting episode of "Days of our Lives" herb garden style. Little remained of the parsley plant and some very interesting little critters had taken up residence in its place.

A few days later I went back to view the next installment of this story and witnessed  how caterpillars spin a silk "button" to attach themselves to a stem.  But I could only find one chrysalis from the dozen or so caterpillars that were there originally. I hope they just crawled away to a safe haven and weren't, shall we say "consumed," by the  lizards, birds or "etc." that  are around everywhere in this tropical paradise.

 

Googling this event for more info, I learned this type chrysalis would become a Swallowtail butterfly.  So....I just kept watching it develop.  Finally, I could see the butterfly inside as the outer covering became transparent.

 

At this point I knew a "home birth" was emminent.  That afternoon I went back to the garden to check the chrysalis.  There was only an empty skin there and perched on the end of the branch was a Swallowtail butterfly with its wings tightly closed.  As I approached it fluttered away in the breeze.  I like to think it was just waiting to say "bonjour" to me before it left.  I poked around the area more and found another chrysalis on  some milkweed planted early in the spring. This chrysalis looked quite  different and more research showed it to be a Monarch butterfly.  A few days later it also was "gone with the wind" leaving an empty skin.

Now I am down to some serious gardening for the winter season.  Butterleaf lettuce, tomato plants, more parsley and bell peppers have been planted.  The second crop of sunflowers I seeded are in bloom.  The compost bin was able to donate several buckets of good looking stuff for this new planting season and the mystery plants it always contributes are sprouting.  Looks like it is butternut squash again and heaven knows what else all the little sprouts coming up are....a little time will tell.

 

Another crop I haven't mentioned is citrus.  Our selection includes grapefruits, oranges, tangerines and limes.  This years abundance of maturing fruit is so great that the tree limbs have dropped very low.

The Vanda Orchids are coming into bloom as well as the Vietnamese Gardenias.

There are some new watercolor paintings coming from all of this!! Great subjects right here on site.

What's going on in your garden?? I'm anxious to hear!

Ta Da....Introducing Daisy...this blog's dog!!

I am pleased to present this blog's official dog - Daisy. 

Obviously, she is a very well-bred West Highland White Terrier ( "Westie" ) and she knows it!!  She is 22 months old and her chief occupations are barking, chasing lizards and snoozing (preferably on a pillow or on the bed if she can sneak up there). Daisy is a real sweetie -- loves children,  gives face kisses if allowed, and acts cute upon demand.  

She loves spaghetti, apples and carrots.

If  left unattended with a roll of toilet paper that was not put on the holder, this is what she can do in ten minutes.

Daisy and I will be back soon.  Thanks for visiting. Woof! Woof!

Signed. Sealed. Delivered!

Signed. Sealed. Delivered.  That is "literally" what happened.
My art opening was a real "happening"  for me.  Lots of new paintings were completed, signed,  archivally sealed and delivered to Towles Court for the evening Gallery Walk.

After the help of my promoter, family, and friends unloading and arranging the tent, lights and flowers, the paintings finally were arranged and the show was on!!  The weather gods were really with us - low humidity and a marvelous tropical breeze.  When the walk began it was still daylight.

But the as the sun went down and the little star lights began twinkling a magical feeling permeated the evening.

Lots of visitors wanted to know about my process - a watercolor painting on paper that doesn't need glass. 

 

Well this has been a great experience - the artistic juices are really flowing.  Come back soon and view my online gallery. Marcy