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.....

When in doubt, make up stories...

I spent the warm rainy day making apple sauce. One of my earlier experiments to make apple butter turned out awful. It was a slow cooker recipe and I must have done something quite awful to make it so bad.

In between cooking, cleaning, and being quiet so the other half could have his naps, I decided to experiment with shooting...what else? Toys. I can be quiet while stuck indoors and my brain is distracted from stressful things.

I used a digital back drop for these shots just for experimenting. Basically, I set the Lego folks on blocks in front of my Smart TV and put up some selected pictures on the screen.

They didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but still, it was fun to try. There were some miserable failures involved. But that is what I like about photography. Try it, adjust, try it again, and perhaps improve.

I was sure at one time that the only true photography was of landscapes, wide open vistas of mountains, lakes, skies, and forests. I don't have open vistas in this area unless I am standing on crop land or a bluff. I turned my attention to the small things in the forest. 

I took a Still Life class on line and discovered the fun of being able to do photography indoors. I didn't find all the subjects I tried exhilarating. But I did discover new ways of enjoying photography.

My first Lego person presented himself in 2017. A child I was babysitting gave me a Lego minifigure. I used it in a Still Life as a joke:

The photo made absolutely no sense what so ever. A cup of coffee with a flower and a Lego person in it and rose petals and baubles tossed around the cup? I really got a kick out of it never the less. My husband thought I'd gone over to the Looney Bin.

Small things in the forest interest me also. The world of tiny is so often missed by those of us looking for the beauty of large.

So I decided to take some time in between rains to run out into the woods by the house and have some fun.

I decided to continue the story of Squatch and Big Foot. They'd heard that they had a brother that was a Yeti and they went searching to find him. Yeti was trying to build a fire. Contrary to popular belief, Yeti does NOT like the cold at all. He'd rather be warm and cuddly near a fire.

Squatch and Big Foot invited them back to Squatch's little stick house.

Yeti was so relieved to have found a fire and his long lost brothers at the same time. As the boys talked, Yeti asked them if they recalled their oldest half brother that was shunned from the family. 

This was new to them, but they said they did recall the family having some arguments when they were little Squatches. They grew up and went their separate ways with their own unique identities.

There was something said about a half brother from another mother that behaved strangely and didn't conform to their standards.

The Three odd brothers decided that they would look for their half brother who had gone missing.

Meanwhile in the forest...
Wait, What?

A space ship?

Chewie crash lands in a forest with his little space cruiser. He sets out to fix the cruiser when something strikes him as very familiar. This feels like a forest he knew long ago.

He finds mushrooms to eat which remind him of the food he used to eat with his little funny Half Brothers. It reminds him of the joyful times he had before the elders found him 'different' and threw him out of the clan.

Chewie takes a bath in the cold creek of his Squatchhood. He is now pretty sure that his space cruiser crash landed in the forest of his youth.

.......

Yep, that's what happens when you decide to let the imagination play out.

I did make some great applesauce without messing it up. Washed windows, did laundry and started to clear warm weather stuff off the porch.

I guess I divide my days between all my chores/farm stuff and daydreaming of what could be...

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!

Squatch builds a house

Do you remember poor Squatch who searched aimlessly with his friend Hobby for others like himself?

He searched for a home and built a stick house in the spring which got flattened with the first big winds.

They considered a nice Lego house at first but it was too fancy with decorations and all. So they got together and decided to get busy since it seemed that winter was officially on its way.

The Cabin looks very nice but it has to be built from the ground up!
It looks to be complicated and even has lights that are integrated into cabin! Here the friends study the first set of lights.

They decided to call in a construction crew to assist.
[Yes, their coffee breaks are very large!]

The skid steer was very helpful as was the supervisor.

By evening, step 1 had been completed and Squatch had the basement in along with the stairs to the new porch. Oh and a place for a friend!

A little pasture for a brown pony!

Everyone pitches in! Day 2:

The actual set we are doing is called FO Fun Whole Wood Cabin with 2097 pieces. It will take a while!

I love the detail I am finding in this 'build'. 

The bathroom with a tub, toilet, and sink [I fixed the spigot after
I saw this photo...]

Living Room complete 

with a record player

and a Foyer Cabinet
with drawers that work!

Seems I finally got my 'dollhouse'. I had a metal one as a kid and we played with them all of the time. Of course dolls didn't live there, any small toy animal we could find lived in our dollhouses. 

Thank goodness for Lego stuff!

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.