Friday, August 30, 2013

Festival Season Creeps Near

In this late summer heat I've found myself standing often at the table crafting book after book. Big ones, tiny ones, ones that are just right. I'm participating in a fall festival this year, selling my handbound wares, feather quill pens, and other curiosities. And so an inventory must be built one stitch at a time. I'm excited to take part in Apple Butter Making Days in Mt. Vernon, Missouri, the 11th, 12th, and 13th of October. Festivals and Faires have always held a magical place in my imagination. And though I've been to many, none can live up to the bizarre, wondrous, and ephemeral festivals in my mind. They pop up one day and are gone the next. Lit by moonlight, candlelight and lanterns, as bats swoop above the tents. Vendors are selling trinkets and tinctures, the likes of which you've never seen before and will never see again. There is magic in the air and you know everything is so fleeting. You buy only one thing with the few coins in your pocket and you treasure it, turning it over and over in your hands for the rest of your life. That weathered little ware, with one glance, recalls all that magic and the ethereal rhythm of that festival you attended so many moons ago.
 
I hope that my books bring a little magic to the festivities.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Summer Swelter

August was wet and mild, full of fog and dew-drenched mornings, cool breezes, and even some chilly mornings. It was sublime. It is ending, however, with a punch of heat which seems forever married to humidity here in the Ozarks. And all of that rain that we got has spawned unbearable populations of mosquitoes and midges. So I'm longing, again, for the crisp coolness that fall brings.
 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Million Mushroom Days


 
                       

Missouri has been wet, sticky, and humid - apparently ideal conditions for mushrooms (and mosquitoes). Walking in our woods has turned into a visual mushrooms hunt (as none of these are edible). It is quite magical to spy these specimens in dark, shadowy nooks and crannies. These mushrooms are the biggest that I've ever seen. And we've been finding mushrooms of all colors, too.