Finally Fall

It's fall, and fall is so wonderful here. It is warm and less humid, and it is finally nice to be outdoors. Allen and I went to the Art Show on Monte Sano on Saturday morning. The acorns took us about five minutes to collect when we were on our way to the car. The green and yellow and brown are beautiful. Nature is art.
We splurged and bought one piece of pottery from Guadalupe Robinson, a Huntsville artist. We have always enjoyed her work, but we've never felt we could afford it before. This small bowl with beans is just our first piece from her, we hope. She had a fish bowl we liked as well, and there were some much larger pieces we drooled over. Next time.Last weekend, I saw the flower arrangers use this sugar mold as a set of vases. A bunch of flowers from Target, and I am up there with the pros. Right.
Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie. I see you looking at me, plotting your next heist. He has decided that newspapers are fun to steal and run with. I am starting to believe that the best way to handle the thievery is to ignore it. He hates that. Folding my arms and turning my back makes him upset. Poor fellow, Louie has had a bit of a skin infection this week on his neck, so he is all natural - no collar except for his walks. It's nice to take him out in the autumn sun, and he can't steal much (except mushrooms) when he's on a leash.

Country Living Fair

What a great weekend! Shannon invited me to go with her and two other people from work to Columbus, Ohio, for the Country Living Fair. I can't always take off work, but this time I could. I am so glad that I did! We had an excellent time, even considering the rainy, hot weather. The venue, the state fairgrounds, provided plenty of room for all of the tents, displays, seminars, and, of course, all of the people.
These are spinner gourds. We learned how to take dried gourds, clean them up, and then polish them so that they last for years. By the time we left at the close on Saturday, this display was looking a bit depleted.It rained on Friday, and rained, and rained, and rained. I love this vendor's interpretation of an umbrella tree. I was glad that I made the trip to the store before we left home to buy a small, foldable umbrella. I bought a Country Living tote bag on Friday so that I could carry my raincoat (too hot for it in spite of the rain) and the goodies that I bought.
This was one of my favorites, obviously. The shop is in Iowa, and this is the quilt commissioned for Country Living. I bought this pattern and another little one. Shannon's going to try needle punch, and Vicky liked the looms.
Speaking of weaving, I bought a long, narrow basket to either hang or to use on the dining room table. Her baskets have been in several magazines, and although they aren't oak, I just really liked them. I bought a few other things, but this was the big prize.
One of the best parts of the fair were the seminars. This one by Country Living contributing editors taught me about tablescapes with flowers and holiday items. The other one I enjoyed was no-sew or low-sew bags. We need to have a no-sew bag party now. The presenters made the ideas seem accessible and easy enough for me to try.
The road trip from Huntsville to Columbus takes about eight hours, but when you're comfortable in a new rental van, and you enjoy the company and laugh enough, the trip doesn't seem that long. Driving home through Kentucky was exciting considering the "wind emergency" in the state. This tobacco truck isn't something we see every day in Huntsville. We made it back safely by early evening even though Hurricane Ike hiked the gas prices. We saw the highest price here in Huntsville, $4.89 per gallon on Governor's Drive. Our last fill-up was a mere $4.59, but there was a ten gallon limit. In any event, I am glad I spent the weekend with Shannon. Such fun! I would love to go back again.

Louie Says "Roll Tide"

It wasn't pretty, but Alabama beat Tulane last night. We weren't planning on it, but at the last minute we decided to do pay-per-view and watch the game. We don't mind paying, but why can't they broadcast in high def? We figured if we bought the pay-per-view for all of the games that weren't on regular TV, it wouldn't add up to the cost of going to even one game. Anyway, Louie loves football games. For him, it means that both his people are in the same room watching television, so he can sleep on either lap. Halftime is a quick trip down the block, and then more love for Louie. I remember last year each time we would yell because of something in the game, he would get terribly excited and upset. This year? He opened one eye once, but besides that, he just snuggled down and napped.

Labor Day Laziness and Louie

Elephants on Parade is finished. Nope, not Republican elephants. These are happy batik elephants. I bought the center panel at the Mountain Vally Quilt Shop in LaVeta, Colorado at the quilt shop in July.
I played with some decorative stitches and beads. I am going to have to learn how to do free motion quilting, I guess. Happy colors, happy elephants, happy quilt.

Sunday morning we headed to Scottsboro for the First Monday Art in the Park Sunday. Crazy name, but it is the art show on Sunday which coincides with the monthly trade day each first Monday on the Jackson County Couthouse square in Scottsboro. The biggest one of the year is always Labor Day weekend. This is such a typical hazy view as we drove east past Paint Rock on 72. We didn't ever make it to the trade day because it was too hot and humid and because we spent our money on baskets. We saw the table of white oak baskets and hurried over. We have been buying from B. L. Kelly for about fifteen years now. He lives in Rainbow City, and he does all of the work himself on his baskets. He only goes to several shows each year, but he has a loyal following. He said he'd been busy all morning selling, and what we saw out on his tables was all he had left.
Mr. Kelly signs his baskets for us. I wonder how many he's made all together? I wonder how many we've actually purchased? Lots. We are thinking of gathering them all together in one place to take a picture. I asked him if he minded us taking pictures, and he said we weren't the first with a camera yesterday. He'd like us to send him some.
Mr. Kelly and his wife always recognize us and ask after our family. They told us they are closing in on sixty-three years of marriage. When I said they must have married young, he said he was sixteen, and she was seventeen. Who says marriages like that won't last! Let's see, we're closing in on thirty-three. In thirty years, we'll be about eighty-six. Hmmm.Louie didn't get to go along, but he is enjoying his weekend too. Don't let this lap dog fool you into thinking he's innocent. He has his own baskets of toys, so he's discovered that if he dumps over baskets, they usually have something in them. If his leash basket is in his reach, he dumps it so that he can steal the plastic picker-upper poop bags. He also stands on his hind legs, strains to reach the kitchen table, and when he can knock the basket off, he's rewarded with paper napkins to steal. We've found trails of napkins through the house on more than one occasion.