BUY HANDMADE!

i know many of you out there take part in the "buy nothing day" the day after Thanksgiving. i understand that and have participated in the past. but i feel there are exceptions. call me a hypocrite but many of us artisans and craftsters rely on sales from craft fairs around the holiday season. Many of these fairs fall on "Black Fiday." Such as the one i am participating in this weekend in Mendocino.
i ask you, i urge you, i jump up and down and yell at you- to support your local artisans and craftsters and buy handmade gifts this holiday season. most towns have craft fairs but there are also many awesome websites out there that make it very easy to buy handmade wares- such as Etsy and 1000 markets. here's another website if you want to take the "buy handmade pledge." click here too.
okay-enough ranting- hope ya get my drift!

gotta run-but i wanted to let you know that we found a home for one of our banty roosters!

FDR is going to live at Avalon Gardens up the road from here. I hear he is doing well and the girls love him! he is handsome isn't he? thanks mimi and jori!

fungi & pie

first of all- i need to share with you a card i received in the mail! a real card-made of card stock paper-with a real stamp on it!!! it sure made my day. thanks milissa!!! the card even had a real handwritten letter in it! how wonderful-so much better than an email or electronic card. in my younger days-letter writing was a favorite past time for me. i think i just might have to revive this old favorite pastime of mine. yes! here's the card-grand isn't it?

i also got a bundle of postcards to share in the mail for our holiday craft/art fair in mendocino.

i'm too busy right now to be blogging as i have much to do to get ready as for the show. so the rest of the post is more of a photo essay of what's going on here -besides all the fibery goodness.


view from the front porch. we've been mushroom hunting lately. the recent gentle rains have brought them to the surface. lovely bolete:

here's more we saw on a walk:

it's been a long time since i've made homemade pie crust. gave it a shot-not too bad. made apple pie from our rogue wild apple tree that never gets watered.

cute vs. Eeyore

this morning i had about 5 minutes to read some blogs-never enough time to read them all. i managed to catch up on birdsong's blog and the picture of her new granddaughter was just too cute! then i traveled to scotland to check on magnusmog. she also had cuteness all over her blog with a photo of a wood mouse. i'm sure other blogs were full of cuteness as well but i only had time to read these two.

as i started stressing and focusing on everything that isn't going very well right now-i felt myself slipping into the dark land of "Eeyore!" i pulled myself together and decided to focus on"cute." cute makes people smile. cute makes people feel warm and fuzzy. everyone needs a dose of cute now and then. so i'm going to try my luck at 'cute'.

acorns to me- are really cute. i've posted many pics of acorns so i won't bore you with more- but check out what i got on etsy. actually soxchik turned me on to these cuties and i HAD to have them....

they are hand blown glass with real acorn tops-and they are tiny! cute huh? i think so. if you need a pair as well- go here.

blue was cute today. he actually sat with kitsie on the outside couch without attacking her.

now here is some real cuteness- remember blue as a puppy?-the cutest of all puppies ever!

check out these oh so cute baby booties knit from rowan felted tweed. NO! i am not pregnant- at 46 yrs of age with a "fixed" husband-this would not be cute!

instead-i've been wicked busy dyeing wool and yarn and knitting things for our upcoming show. sorry no pics of the other stuff-yet. i do hope to photograph later.

how's that for cute? that's all i have for cuteness today-it did make me feel better to focus on that instead of whining. i did want to quickly update you on the banty bungalow-i did finally finish the nesting boxes and even painted them before yesterday's rain!


the bantums are very excited about this and are laying in them instead of the floor.

on a completely different note-our family loves the "film noir" genre of movies and last night we watched a great one. "gun crazy!"


need to go play "clue" with the family- don't forget to add a bit of "cute" to your day.

Happy Samhain!

Last night was a fabulous treat or treat fest! Trick or treating in our little town is always special. like the ole days. Liam dressed up as Judge Van Cleef-a poker playing judge from the 1800's.

here's part of our motley crew:

Birdsong's house is always the best-how's this for spookiness:

i dressed as a crazed zombie knitter. while getting ready i realized i don't own a stitch of make- up. how could i make my face zombie-esque? i can tell you what doesn't work- face cream and a dusting of flour-definitely does not work. burnt wood chips from the burn pile didn't work either. what a dilemma i was in-no stores for face paint or make up. i had to make do- oil pastels from the art box! at least i could put on some stitches-

red modeling paint on my knitting needles worked great!

can you see the blood tipped needles? should have done a close up. oh well. Liam brought in a haul- jeez we only eat this stuff once a year. some houses gave out full size candy bars! and one even gave fancy italian truffles-wow!

check out the baby ruth bar-i totally snagged it. i can't remember the last time i had a baby ruth bar. all this candy brings back memories. liam got a huge score of kit kats. did you know the Japanese are REALLY into kit kats and they have tons of different and unique flavors.


i leave you with a fabulous image......the book in the buggy is "rosemary's baby"