Mid-January Miscellany

Fantasy Time . . .

 

I'd love to have a vardo --  a bright-painted  gypsy van--
The traditional interior is spectacular if a tad busy for my taste.

 I've wanted one ever since reading Wind in the Willows . In the

passage below, Toad is showing Rat and Mole his new acquisition.

"He led the way to the stable-yard accordingly, the Rat following 

with a most mistrustful  expression; and there, drawn out of the 

coach house into the open, they saw a gipsy caravan, shining with

newness,  painted a canary-yellow picked out with green, 

and red wheels.

'There you are!' cried the Toad, straddling and expanding himself.
'There's real life for you, embodied in that little cart. The open road,
the dusty highway, the heath, the common, the hedgerows, the rolling
downs! Camps, villages, towns, cities! Here to-day, up and off to
somewhere else to-morrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The
whole world before you, and a horizon that's always changing! And mind!
this is the very finest cart of its sort that was ever built, without
any exception. Come inside and look at the arrangements. Planned 'em all
myself, I did!'

. . . 

It was indeed very compact and comfortable. Little sleeping bunks--a
little table that folded up against the wall--a cooking-stove, lockers,
bookshelves, a bird-cage with a bird in it; and pots, pans, jugs and
kettles of every size and variety.

'All complete!' said the Toad triumphantly, pulling open a locker. 'You
see--biscuits, potted lobster, sardines--everything you can possibly
want. Soda-water here--baccy there--letter-paper, bacon, jam, cards and
dominoes--you'll find,' he continued, as they descended the steps again,
'you'll find that nothing what ever has been forgotten, when we make our
start this afternoon.'" 

It sounds nice . . . 

Of course, to pull that gypsy van, I'd need a Gypsy Cob. 

They're available  HERE

Curves

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By Request . . .

Ms. A suggested that my little garden fella needed ear muffs.

But it's not easy to find winter wear in his size. . . .

 So I improvised. 

Oh, No!

Snow! 

Not too much. . .

But too cold for wading . . .

Already melted at the lower elevations . . .

Winter Color

The Mother of All Rainbows

Holy moly!  I think this is the best rainbow I've ever seen here -- and we get quite a few.

The pot of gold is evidently in the cemetery adjoining our farm.  Hmmm...

What a treat!

All the way from here to there...

And then it was gone.

River Cane

 

River cane grows wild along many branches in our area. There's none on our place -- perhaps in the past the farmers got rid of it or perhaps it prefers a lower elevation. 

River cane was an important resource for the Cherokees who used  it to make baskets . . .

Blowguns . . .

and flutes.

The hot links will take you to more information about these indigenous crafts, as well as to the sites where I found the images.

Impressionistic Turkeys

The turkeys are back -- about fourteen of them. I saw them promenading down the road and hurried out to the porch to get a picture. As soon as they saw me, they picked up the pace and were soon out of sight.

A bit later, I'd forgotten all about them when Willa set up a frantic barking from the dining room window.

"Monsters at the bird feeder! Danger! Velociraptors! DANGER!"

I ran for the camera again. The poor turkeys were panicked at all the barking and between the rain and the dim light and my hurry, the pictures came out very odd indeed.  But I thought that first one had a real impressionistic feel to it as well as a nice composition of straight and curving lines.