It's all in stories...Brothers Odd

Yeti once again was complaining that Wisconsin Winters  would be too cold for him.  He moved back from the Himalayan mountain ranges because he was sure it would so much nicer back in his homeland. 

He was a huge Legend in the Himalayan mountains, but he was tired of the winds, snows, and frankly all the humans that were trying to catch sight of him. 

He thought at least if he could get back to his place of birth he'd find the climate much more to his liking. 

Yeti lit a huge on a large match and was going to get a huge bonfire going and put it in the Brother's Odd Hut....

Big Foot shouted out and ran over! 
"Don't burn the Hut down Yeti!"

Hmmm. Whew! 

The Brothers Odd then stood around the fire to discuss the upcoming winter months.

How were they all going to fit in this tiny hut?

A fire inside will surely burn it down and then they wouldn't have a home at all. 

Chewie watches, hidden from view. Maybe his half siblings could use some help. Well, at least some guidance.

He ponders Yeti's aversion to cold. What is that all about? Yetis, by legend, were supposed to love the cold and snow.

He recalls Yeti's father, a mixed breed of Squatch, telling his mom that Baby Yeti was not quite what he expected. Yeti was born pure white in the middle of summer. They decided to send him to a snowy climate so he could hide from the humans.

Chewie thought poor Yeti had gotten a bum deal.

Chewie took a walk to think bout things. The forest animals always seemed to follow him around he noticed. He didn't mind. 

In his galactic travels he'd come across many critters. The forest animals were nice company and not too demanding or dangerous. At least none of them were raccoons and owned a space ship. That was a fella to watch out for.

Chewie hiked to the creek and climbed a large old Oak stump. He closed his eyes and summoned up the powers of heat. 

Perhaps he'd go back to his ship and see if he could figure out a way to help his odd half brothers.

On his way past Miss Stinky's place he made a nice warm fire for her and her little Stinker. Miss Stinky thanked him. She loved Chewie's warm flames that never burnt a thing but gave off beautiful heat.

He rather liked these woods. Perhaps he'd stay a while.... 

But.....

A bit of fungi and whatnot

 Forgive this post if it seems random and disconnected. 

My brain is like that some days. It
 jumps from one place to another without
giving me prior notice!

This black icky looking stuff is Black Witches Fungi. Perfect I think for the upcoming Halloween celebration.

I found a lot of tiny fungi/mushrooms growing last week after the last rainfall. It was pretty gloomy in the woods so I took along my cell phone for added light along with a string of fairy lights.

I thought it added a fairy tale feeling to the photo. 

It was interesting enough to try a second time...
Hobby looks surprised and pleased to find such cute little mushrooms!

I did find some Shrimp of the Woods, but they were aged so I left them be. 

There is more rain coming this week with some warmer days so I could find some more interesting fungi and mushrooms. 

Fingers Crossed!

Earlier this week I decided to take a predawn hike. Thick fog was forecast but I didn't see any as I hiked up to the ridge. In fact, the whole scene was pretty drab and uninteresting.

That is until the sun broke through the clouds on the horizon and fog came sliding in from the north. I've never seen it move quite like that! It was like watching a movie of attack fog!

I'm glad I waited around for the sun to poke through the thick fog. It was beautiful.

I do enjoy those mornings when I get out by myself and just stand on the ridge and watch the sun come up. As we charge towards late fall and winter, there is something about watching the light come into the world.

I am trying to be positive about the next month and how I can visually enjoy nature's beauty. 

I think I may concentrate on some Still Life skills indoors and outside.

Last winter, I made a stick lean-too just for fun. Creating things out of sticks, glue and moss took a bit of creativity. I finally found a use for it! You can find the build I did in February here: Indoor Project

Squatch [who travels in my pocket almost all of the time] finally found a home! 

[For this shot I added little fungi to the house. I had to be quick with setting up and taking the shot as the sunlight moves off quickly!]

I thank Boud -- from Blogger for some of her ideas involving leaves, cornhusks and weaving of natural fibers for creative ideas. I also thank Aurora for this marvelous little Squatch guy. He really does get around!

In fact, it seems as if Squatch found his half brother Big Foot wandering around. 

I guess they decided to get together and discuss their other half brother, Yeti. Apparently they plan to embark on a journey to find him in the Big Woods and they hope to spend the winter together.

They heard that Yeti prefers the snow and cold. Would he sit by the fire with them? Or would he build an igloo? Time will tell!

Happy Wanderings and Exploring!

Saturday Adventures Abound

 Here is the prize Ugly Chair I got. I love it! It has been painted green underneath which shows through the ugly brown paint. It has scratches and worn spots, but it is sturdy and fits me just right. This summer I'll sand it and prime it, then paint it into a wildly colorful Happy Chair.

Hubby wants me to strip it and finish it. A Happy Chair is always more popular. My grand kids used to try and get to the colorful chairs first when they stayed with us. It is no secret that I like fun stuff. It is no secret that there is an in law who is horrified that I don't have one matching wooden chair around my old wooden table. 

The kids loved this chair! It was an old wobbly one I found in the shed and cleaned up. I did my best to unwobble it with glue and screws, but eventually it came apart.

It has been a while since I got to do a nice chair for inside. I found another neat chair at the Flea Market, it was SO ugly I loved it. The last layer of paint that chair had was bright pink with a white splotch on the seat. 

Another great find at the second hand shop was this jacket. Since I wear children sized clothes, this XL kids jacket fit perfectly.

Bonus! Mickey Mouse! Yes!

I went out to the woods after breakfast and chores to see if the Spring Beauties had appeared in the upper woods.

Imagine my surprise at finding Mayflower plants emerging where I'd burned weeds a few weeks ago.

Looks like my pals were out too! Doing selfies! Good thing they found that Quad pod!

Spring Beauties!

They have started! I was so thrilled that I didn't mind sitting in the midst of briers to get close to them. While there I heard thunder and the sunlight faded out.

A big thunderstorm moved in for about 40 minutes. As soon as it passed I trotted back out to look for cool things.

Virginia Waterleaf plant emerging:

Catkins on a Maple Tree:

Another thunderstorm threatened to move in and then hubby wanted lunch. Sigh. Spring was Springing and I wanted to be in it!

After the storms hubby went for his nap and I went to a place where I knew I'd find wild flowers.

Wood Anemones:

Virginia Bluebells:

Trout Lily leaves! That means they should flower very soon!

Remember Frank who had so many misadventures with his Storm Troopers? Well, he decided to get some R&R.
I found him doing this:

After chores and about supper time, we got a visit from Olive, Aiden, and Gerti. But that is a whole new blog entry regarding neighbors and barters. 

Now it is Sunday. It is cold, wet, and yucky. We will be under a Winter Storm Warning tonight into tomorrow morning with 8 to 12 inches of snow predicted. The days after the snow will be in the 50's so this will melt rapidly.

That means more excitement in the woods. Since I can't go anywhere until it melts, I imagine I'll have fun watching a large snow melt and run off in the creek and valley. 

Who ever said living in the boonies was boring? I'm absolutely over the moon with the weather and flowers.

Hubby says I am not quite right in the head.

Dang its gonna be HOT

 When the weather sucks, 

I like to divert my attention

to other fun things.

So I'm going to catch up with what's up with Squatch. Sometimes things in my imagination get side tracked ... and sometimes I go off on a tangent.
Well here it is:

Squatch was feeling pretty down. All the hiking an hunting for relatives seemed fruitless. So he decided to take a nap in a bird nest.

"Hello, there! What are you? You certainly are not a fledgling bird!" a voice said to him.

He woke up and was staring at a tiny fawn.

"I'm a Squatch, not a bird."

"I see that. You are hairy too. I almost didn't see you because your camouflage is better than mine! My name is Fawn."

Squatch sighed, "Well, I came here looking for others like me. I was hoping to find some but so far I've been out of luck."

Fawn said, "Oh golly, can I help? I can ask my mom, Doe, and my pop to keep an eye out for your kind. There's lots of my kind in the forest. I can't imagine being without family!"

Squatch said, "Well, I've had my friend Hobby out looking and she just can't seem to find any trace of them."

"Oh," said Fawn, "I know Hobby. I see her in the forest a lot, but most of us wild critters avoid anything that resembles humans. I mean, we know she is supposed to be harmless and...but we still hide from her."

"Wow, that would be helpful. Hobby is a nice person, she has been very a very kind friend to me. You should meet her," Squatch replied.

"Ahhh. Well. Hmm." Fawn thought for a moment and then said, "Okay, we can arrange it but I hear she shoots..."

"That is just a camera, not a gun!" Squatch said.

Fawn nodded and then ran off. 

Squatch sat in the birds nest and wondered again...

would he ever find any of his family? What an odd little creature Fawn was could he count on Fawn's help? 

To be continued....

Side note:
when I was a kid we used to make up stories for our toys. All toys had a story. Imagine making up a story about a yellow rubber eraser dragon who became friends with a pink kitty eraser.

I imagined that my stuffed animals that lived on my bed came alive when I was at school and had wonderful adventures. The six foot stuffed snake would watch over the kangaroo and the zebra. I was sure that when I slept, they watched over me or went on magical trips.

Toys without batteries was a rule my father had. The toys had to be operated by imagination.
I think it was a wonderful rule.

And so it goes... ~ Kurt Vonnegut

And then...

How about some fun and silliness instead of anything important?

Like a little Squatch and Hobby?

Hobby purchased a Kayak, she was tired of trying to find bark all the time to float down Little Creek to search for Squatch's relatives.

Squatch was concerned, it felt wobbly. Bark was so much more un-wobbly.

So peaceful!

Wild Bill was out gathering Golden Oyster Mushrooms to take back to the Lego Home.

Yeti and Husky gathered Cottonwood Fluff for his winter bedding.

After a few dunks in the creek Hobby announced she was going to do an experiment. 
The experiment was called Baking.

She was going to make Strawberry Shortcake and promised not to burn the Lego House down.

Squatch was not sure....

So he supervised....

and hoped that Hobby had taken a bath after their creek adventure.

 

Squatch and Hobby

"Blessed are the weird people: poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters, troubadours, for they teach us to see a world through different eyes."
~~~Jacob Nordby

Squatch was hanging out with his Gnome buddy, they were discussing spring weather when the Gnome did his usual thing. 
Fell asleep.

Squatch decided to leave Dog in charge of Gnome's Chicken and he took a walk to enjoy the morning air.

He had no idea that the woods could be so full of life! To his surprise he met....

he met...um. What was her name? She presented him with a bouquet of maple tree buds. So charming!

She told Squatch that she was a hobby photographer and she'd love to have company on her forest walks.

Squatch told Hobby that he could show her around the forest. He took her to some plants he'd been eating. 

She told him it was Garlic Mustard and he said it was yummy. She asked if she could take his photo because none of her friends would ever believe she actually met with a Squatch.

He reminded her that all photos of Squatches always turn out blurry. 

She said fine and photographed the Garlic Mustard and some bugs instead.

Hobby and Squatch did some more exploring. Squatch wanted to show her that spring was not far off and that wild flowers would be appearing all over in the woods.

Sometimes it is just enough to spend time quietly with a friend and not have to say anything. Just to enjoy the moment.

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