Copper And Sunflowers

Today we travelled fifteen minutes from home to a small company that sits in the mountains of Botetourt County.

This is a company I knew nothing about until I found mention of it on the Beaver Dam Farm's Facebook page.

It is a small company that will be one of the vendors at the Beaver Dam's second annual Sunflower Festival which is being held the week-end of September 9th and 10th.  If you live in Virginia and are looking for an outdoor way to spend a week-end, you may want to visit the festival.  Lovely people. Fabulous sunflowers!

I snapped this photo at last year's festival.... the First Annual Beaver Dam Sunflower Festival.

Now.... back to our drive this morning....

We drove fifteen minutes to visit Caldwell Mountain Copper.

For the past few years we have had a 'copper plated' compost container on our kitchen counter that we purchased from a local retailer, and the copper plating is chipping and wearing off, so we decided to see about having a similar container made by this local copper smith. It's my understanding that there are only a handful of coppersmiths in the U.S., so we felt rather honored to speak with Elliot Muncey who learned the trade from Porter Caldwell.

This is a family business, and they make special order pieces to your specifications.

Copper is NOT inexpensive, so having something made may not be your cup of tea when it comes to the pocketbook, but these pieces are forever and will be items you will want to pass down through your family.

Our piece will not be started until mid-September, so we look forward to seeing how it looks when completed.

Here is the link to their website which has a video of them doing their copper work.

AND

Here is a video I made last year at the Beaver Dam Farm's Sunflower Festival.

If you get the chance, pay them a visit this year.
There will be acres and acres of sunflowers, and also vendors this year.
I'm going to be there!

Buzzing Wings

We didn't have many hummingbirds this year.  I know that some of you have them by the dozens, but I think the fact that our elevation may be higher than yours, that it keeps them away.  We generally have two or three, at least that's what it seems like, and I suppose that simply has to be enough.

One thing we do have is hummingbird moths, and they buzz around flowers, especially our butterfly bushes, and feed very similar to the way a hummingbird would.  They are not as great at the maneuvers of a hummingbird, but they sure do try to mimic them.

The buzzing sound is quite nice too!

Here's a video I put together.... just a short one.... of a butterfly on the bush and also a hummingbird moth on the butterfly bush in our small flowering bush area of the yard.

Plant the correct plants, the ones they love, and they will come to your yard also.

Hope you enjoy the buzzing wings of late summer.

Poor Fashion Husbands

This pretty much sums it up for many of the men married to fashion bloggers.

Poor bastards.
LOL

Everyone Shut Up

How about just some fun videos and photos?

Like this one, which one person commented...."why you gotta be such a cocka too?".

 How about a beautiful song, as sung by Aaron Krause, the song that Bindi Irwin danced to on Dancing With The Stars.  So soulful.

THIS

found on Facebook made me laugh.

I do believe the poem will be my new morning mantra.

A photo of Isabelle standing under the porch so as not to get wet on a rainy day.

A photo of me, the hippie mama, and my daughter in 1974 in my parents backyard of the house I grew up in, in the Midwest.

I still remember that top I was wearing!  It was my favorite top ever.

Even back then I loved fashion... Hippie Fashion, which is now back in style.

Go figure.  LOL

 Hugs to all.

Middle Of The Week

I've been up since before the eggs were a twinkle in a hen's eye this morning, and THAT'S EARLY!

So what to do but make a pot of coffee, feed the pups, and snoop the internet for daily blog scoops.

I subscribed to Bloglovin quite some time ago, and they send links that they think will interest me I suppose.  Mostly fashion blog links, so I have fun seeing how the gals on the blogs are dressing themselves every day.  Sometimes great and sometimes simply repetitive of all the other gals, i.e: like seeing the same plaid scarf on Every.Single.Blog.  

Time for some originality in fashion, rather than everyone showing the same thing week after week when the season goes from summer to autumn.

My fashion posts certainly aren't perfection, but I do make my best stab at originality.

Let's move on, shall we?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

When I awoke today and took the pups out prior to the sun even being up, I noticed every star and three or four planets in the sky, as well as a Cheshire Cat moon.  No really... it was smiling at me and totally worth being up so early.  This will however require a nap today which is fine... many retired people nap during the day.  Not surprising I suppose.

 Here is what yesterday looked like around our yard, which is why I chose to take my fashion photos outdoors.  Who could say 'No' to this weather?

 The very last of the tomatoes were reddening, so hopefully they will end up edible for my husband's sake, tomato freak that he is.

 These flowers were planted in the garden in 2014, and a patch of them decided to bestow their beauty on us this year as well.

 And there was one lonely bee humming a tune as he was seeking the last of the pollen for the year,

 his wings glimmering in the warmth of the October sun.

 If you own a tripod and your camera has at timer setting on it, then outdoor fashion photos, at least for me, always seem to show off an ensemble better.  Take advantage of the natural outdoor light of an autumn day and get some fresh air and vitamin D all at the same time.

Here's a quick video that shows just a part of our backyard where I do my fashion shoots.

Enjoy the sound of the wind chimes and the sight of our pups.

Chilled To The Bone

That's right.

October is off to being a chilly month, and it truly does chill me to the bone(s).

Let's have some boney fun!

Bwaha hahahahaha

All Things Skulls
Posted by All Things Skulls on Thursday, September 24, 2015

This dude TOTALLY needs a toasty warm sweater! 

Listen To My Voice

I cannot stop giggling over this.

Now, everyone listen to me and send me all your money!

LOL

Okay, so that's just my version.

Have the best Wednesday EVAH!!

Listen to the smooth sound of my voiceLMAO

Posted by Kit Dale on Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Let's Play!

So, the snow is cleared enough that we can get out the door and go expend some energy after being couped up for 24 hours while Mother Nature did her thing.

Rowdy and Izzy are in heaven playing in the fresh snow.

Wish my energy level would allow for leaping and jumping in snow too!

It is now VERY cold and springtime is on my mind.

Must be cabin fever taking it's toll.

Just Wait Five Minutes

How it was a couple of days ago with warm sunshine all about.

You will note that the black threshold on the front door is shiny and new and was installed by my husband so that a storm door could be installed for us to take advantage of warm, sunshine filled days. If you can't let the sun in then what good is having all this sunshine on cool days?

The previous homeowner never had a storm door and the previous threshold was simply not deep enough to support one, but we took care of that little problem, didn't we?

New threshold.... Check

Sunshine.... Check

Oh, wait!  Wait five minutes and the weather will change because this is after all Virgina.

It's snowing today, wouldn't you know... the day that our storm door was delivered, and my husband is out installing it in the cold, because he's such a He-Man.  LOL

So, yes... this is what we woke up to this morning and four hours later it is STILL coming down in those big, fat, snowflakes that our area is famous for.
None of that blowing across the road, sideways snow as in the Midwest.
Thank you, Norman Rockwell for depicting what a beautiful snow is.

Here's a video taken earlier this morning.
Enjoy!
And if you can't view it there is nothing different I can do to make that happen, the changes will have to happen on your end of this connection.


 Now, it's nearly Thanksgiving... so go shoot a turkey and enjoy stuffing, basting, roasting and eating.
Ciao.
Or just go buy a Butterball like we do.

A Must See Any Day Of The Year

We all need to give and receive love and pay attention to the needs of others, at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Any/Every day of the year.

Enjoy YOUR holiday season this year.

XOX

Lay Down Your Weapons

Wouldn't this be a lovely world if all men would simply refuse to fight for their leaders, lay down their arms, and shake hands. 

Trying It Out

So along with the new ios8 for my iPad, there is also a new app called Replay that I thought I would give a whirl.  

Yesterday was dental day for me so we took a drive down I-81 to get there and whilst my husband drove, I did a wee bit of filming clips of the view.  Here is the video that Replay put together for me.  Not sold on the music choices they gave me, but suppose I could open up my wallet and purchase a few more.  

Here ya go.

A view of southwestern Virginia.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=784608431595910&l=5522971756297974680

Something Beautiful

Sometimes we all just need something beautiful to start our week off down a positive pathway,

or simply something to help us relax our minds and chill for a few moments, take a deep breath

and let something wonderful wash over us.

This did it for me this morning.

Please, with all the negativity in our daily news and around us...

enjoy these few moments as you view.

A special thank you to Cindy Cook for letting me find this on your Facebook page.
XOX