Dreary Day

We woke up this morning to the coldest day we have had yet here in Texas. It's in the upper 30's and really foggy and rainy. I know this is nothing to complain about considering what most of the rest of you are dealing with right now for weather.

We had planned to drive to Lost Maples State Park today but decided (obviously) to wait until a nicer day to go. Instead I bundled up and set out with the camera to see if I could find a few bright spots in an otherwise dreary day.

I did find some lovely bright orange feet...




My own yellow rubber clad feet...




And of course Christmas adds a nice splash of color to the scene.



Who knew Texas was so wet? We have pretty much stayed inside reading and chatting on the phone with friends and family for the better part of the day. I may have to take a drive up the street to get a chai tea in a few minutes. It's a perfect day for one.

Wow. Cowboy Christmas.

So. There's somethin' you don't see every day right? This uber Christmas-y/Western-y scene is in the town of Bandera, TX. We drove down there today to check it out and to see if it lived up to it's self proclaimed title of "Cowboy Capital of the World." Well. I don't know if the folks in the picture above qualify as real cowboys or not, but they are trying harder to live outside the norm than most people I have seen around. I don't think that real cowboys use orange safety cones to guide them in the parking of their horses... but maybe after a few beers, who knows?

The drive down to Bandera was a real treat. We pulled off to the side to shoot pics enough times that what was supposed to be a 45 minute drive ended up taking 2 hours. Here are a few of my faves from today...

Ernestino's Warning!

OK.... Obviously I had to borrow this pic from google images. I needed an image to accompany my story. As soon as I can grab my own shot of a giant anaconda to post here I will take this one down and replace it with mine. So, yesterday I bought a vintage Kodak Instamatic camera at a thrift store for fifty cents. I bought it because it had a roll of film still in it with 19 (out of 24) exposures taken. It was too much for me to resist. I need to see what is on a camera from 1973 in the middle of nowhere Texas. Today I set out to get the film developed. As it turns out I will have to mail my film off to Oregon for processing because there are only like two places in the whole country who even CAN develop this film (because it is so old) but that is not the real meat of my story here. I stopped in to Walgreens on my quest to get the film processed. On my way into the store I had to walk past the Salvation Army Christmas bell ringin' guy. You know the guy. Here is what happened next...

Bell Guy: "Excuse me ma'am?" (you have to do the bell guy with your best heavy Mexican accent)
me: "Yeah?"
BG: "Is that your truck with the boat on top?"
me: "Yeah."
BG: "What kind of boat is theese? Do you go in it here?"
me: "Well, we had hoped and planned to use it here but the Guadalupe (river) is too low right now."
BG: "Ohhhhh.... NO ma'am! NO! The Guadalupe! NOOO!"
me: ????????????
BG: "Ma'am... (now he points to his stick on name badge, which reads "Ernestino") Do you see theese? Do you see where I am from?"
me: "Ernestino? Umm, no where are you from?"
BG: "Meh-hee-co! I am from Meh-hee-co! Ma'am! The river...is SNAKES!"
me: (laughing) "What?! Snakes?"
BG: "Rattlesnakes? NO! Moccasins? No! We don't worry about theese! Tall grasses ma'am, bushes and weeds! Is the ANACONDA!!! SIXTY FIVE FEET LONG!!!!"
me: (still laughing) "No!? They are not!"
BG: "In Meh-hee-co ONE HUNDRED FEET! They ATTACK the VILLAGES! (wild eyes) You see theese car? THEESE IS HOW BIG IS THE HEAD!!!!"
So at this point I realize Ernestino is not out to pull a funny on me. Ernestino really believes that The Guadalupe River in Kerrville, TX is inhabited by a sixty five foot long man eating anaconda. He goes on to tell me that he and his uncle were once attacked while trying to cross a slippery bridge in his uncle's car. He demonstrated with one huge black mitten clad hand how the snake had slowly risen up out of the river and bashed into the side of the car actually breaking the window! He then told me that when this happened he laughed. (????) He also told me that his Mother taught him never to drink the rattlesnake water even though to some people it may taste sweet! (again...?????) Let me also mention that he continued to ring the Salvation Army bell through all of this. It made it really hard to follow what he was saying. He talked a lot about how the snake likes it near the dam and in the tall grasses and weeds. And he said with the utmost sincerity that he did not want to see me get hurt. Clearly, I am just asking for it.

I finally was able to pull myself away from Ernestino to get inside Walgreens where once again (I had already tried at Walmart and CVS) the film counter person looked at my roll of film like it was a prehistoric cat turd. I exited the automatic doors at a near run in order to escape further doomsaying from Ernestino but managed to toss him a wave and yell "Thanks!" To which he replied "Be safe! Be SAFE!!" While waving me off with his giant mittened hand.

December in Texas

We are settling in pretty well in our new digs here in Kerrville. This is where we will be for Christmas and New Years. The weather has been pretty darned reasonable so far. Today and the next few days are kickin' around in the low 70's... nothin' wrong with that. It makes for good times sitting around outside with a book in the afternoon sun.



I have been trying to grab a nice shot of the deer which hang around out back on the river banks but I have not been too happy with anything I have taken so far. They are pretty skittish and I just don't have a good enough zoom on my camera to get anything better than this...



Yesterday while I was shopping in Fredericksburg I found a cute little foil Christmas tree at a shop called Red. They have great vintage/modern stuff in there... it's a dangerous place to hang around in for too long. Anyway, I brought my little tree home and stuck it out on top of our patio table. It looks pretty cute.



If Billy would let me I would cover the entire trailer in Christmas lights. And the inside of the trailer too. And Billy... he would look good covered in lights.

ETSY HANDMADE!

On my last post I stuck in a link to ETSY for Christmas gift inspiration and shopping. For anyone unfamiliar with the site it can perhaps feel a little daunting to navigate and find what you are looking for. Especially if you have absolutely no idea what you are looking for... then it's pretty hard to find it. So I have put together a postie here of some neato shtuff I have found while poking around on there. It truly is a fantastic go to place for an unusual, special gift.



People.... I think this is cool. If you send this guy your plain assed leather shoes he will custom paint them in one of 36 different designs. Granted... this design entitled "Amoeba" may not be for everyone... but I am here to tell you, it works for me. Think of the things you could do while wearing your Amoeba shoes! You would be unstoppable.



This is a print from a shop called The Black Apple. I think her work would be really great for a child's room. She has pages of prints to look through at a great price... they would be so fun to frame and hang!



Don't even go HERE if you are currently hungry or if your sweet tooth rules the day. This chick will blow your cookie lovin' brains out all over the walls. So beware. I would like to request samples of each and every thing she has there. She is kickin' some cookie ass.



Again... avert your gaze if you are a sugar whore like me. This is the evil lair of The Fat Daddy Bake Shop!!! They make a positively sick amount of delicious sounding cupcakes that come to you in an individual little mason jar! How cute is that? Look through the list of flavors and I dare you to not drool on your keyboard.



Enough with the sweets... I love these silk screened/decoupaged votive holders at Mary Ink! Look here's more...




Super cute! And again a great gift for someone who loves candles and has eclectic, fun taste.



Everything in Larime Loom's shop pretty much kicks the teeth right out of my head (but in a GOOD way.) Italian handwoven scarfs, bags and shawls in gorgeous fibers. Gooood stuff. This scarflette pictured above is my favorite.



Because WHO can resist a chick with a huge goiter? Not me. I'll follow her home every time. Seriously though... if this does not prove my point about Etsy... you can find ANYTHING on there people, and it is all handmade. Oh... and if you fl you must purchase the goiter lady pendant? It can be had HERE at Sushipot Shop. I actually love her shop... she has truly bizarre, cool stuff.

Photo Problems with Blogger

Just a quick note to let you all know... when you try to click through to a larger image file here and get a pop up window asking you to download the image file it is a problem within blogger itself... not a problem with your computer. They are working to fix this... hopefully it will be resolved soon.

Good Linkage

I thought I would do a post of some of my favorite sites online to shop for Christmas gifts on... for those of you who like to shop from the comforts of home and want to find something handmade or different. I have a bookmarks file the size of the New York library but here are a select few that I find particularly interesting and inspiring.

Wrapables

Etsy

Think Geek

Violet

Here are a few show stoppers I have found while window shopping...


These hand blown glass bowls can be found at MossOnline for $250. So beautiful!




We had these chocolates while in San Francisco and people... they are crazy good. They offer a multitude of gift boxes and other fancy treats at Recchiuti Confections online.




I am oh so very loyal to my Frye Harness boots. They are the most comfortable, long lasting, ass kicking, compliment getting boots you can wear. And they are super fantastic to give or get as a gift. They come in a few moderately different styles and a bunch of colors too.




This is the new Couture Blend Kit by Susanne Lang which can be found on Lucky Scent for $95. I love the idea of being able to mix your own scent on a daily basis... depending on your mood.



This is super cool... it's a Sun Jar by Suck UK. It's a solar powered LED light in a frosted glass jar. What a cozy night light! Greenergrassdesign.com has a lot of neat stuff other than this too so take a look around while you're there.

I also have a list of good alternative gift sites as well...

World Bicycle Relief... this is a great charity. They purchase bikes for AIDS care workers in Africa so they can reach more patients with meds and medical help in a more efficient manner.

Heifer International... Most of you have probably heard of Heifer, they offer a great alternative for x-mas gift giving. I mean, where else can you buy a water buffalo for someone?

Seva... I love this organization. We have donated to them several times in years past. For $50 you can pay for a surgery to restore sight to a blind person. They also have Native American programs and community development programs that are great.

The Nature Conservancy... these are good peeps working to protect some very important natural resources worldwide. They have a nice array of alt gifts.

Howling Good Times

The first thing I can say about that is this... Billy is a MUCH better harmonica player than what you hear there... but if he plays it right we get no results from the d-o-g. This singing is a new development which we are working hard to encourage. If Rudy really has the music in him... we could join the circus and make our million. Because circus people have money... lots of it. Don't be fooled. Especially circus people with funny dogs.

So today I explored Kerrville, the new town we are camped near. I won't go so far as to say it's cute, but it does have enough stuff to make it interesting and comfortable for our stay. It has a big grocery store, a great antiques mall, a really nice used book store and there is even a real live vegetarian restaurant in town. And to fuel my very bad habit... there is even a brand spanking new Starbucks a few miles down the road. Bad. Bad. Bad. I know.

When I got home late this afternoon we took the pooper/chewer for a run out on the river bank. He freaking loves it out there... a little too much actually. It's the 4.9 million squirrels (who are none to happy about his arrival) and the 12 dozen deer who are standing around like they're at terminal 92 X at O'Hare and their plane has been delayed for three hours. They all look mildly stunned and bored. The deer that is, not the squirrels. The squirrels are running crazy at all times. And then it's as if an announcer comes on and says "Attention all deer waiting at terminal 92 X! Your plane will now be departing from terminal 142 Z!!!" And then all the deer run to the other side of the field and resume looking bored and stunned. Do you follow me people? Or have I lost you all like 5 sentences back? Because if I have lost you it's OK. There is no reason why you should have any idea what the Hell I am talking about. So anyway... this all makes Rudy crazy. It makes the squirrels angry and it makes the deer wish they had just booked a rental car to drive home for the holidays instead of flying.

So here are some shots from our walk/run with Rudy and some general scenery shots of the river and the SPECTACULAR trees that line the banks. They are huge.

On the Road Again

Sorry for the lag in posting since last week. We have been tidying up the joint, readying ourselves to pull up stakes and move to a new spot tomorrow (Wednesday.) Things tend to get really disorganized and spread out in a way unbecoming to a nomadic lifestyle when you actually stay put in one locale for a whole month. It takes a minute to get your shit together again in a way that is suitable for highway travel.

We have ended on a nice note here at Cottonwood Creek having met a new friend (she has been our neighbor for the past two weeks or so) Andrea, who is here visiting from London (yes, England.) Andrea has gifted us with genuine, interesting conversation and an intuitive opinion on art sales in the UK (and abroad) as well as having birthed us a brand new internet baby.... www.pleinairstream.com !!! We had our tired old website which was hobbled, lame and kind of depressing for us to even claim as our own... but now, TA DAHHHH! We have a brand new fabulous website to care for and love! It has five fingers and five toes and is not in least bit cross eyed or ugly... it even smells fresh as baby powder on a lily white bottom if you sniff your screen... Ok, no it doesn't, but it really is nice and THANK YOU ANDREA!! We are thrilled. We still have a bit of work to do uploading photos and whatnot but it is more done than not... so go ahead and have a look!

So we will be moving a few hours west tomorrow, remaining in Texas hill country to a spot near Kerrville. I have to say I am excited to be on the move again. Texas is waaayyyy big and we want to see new places and get a new perspective on the landscape for Billy's paintings.

Thanks to Sherry and Les here at Cottonwood... we have had a nice time getting to know you and appreciate your diligence in keeping us on the internet and your support and advice with Rudy!!! He will miss playing with Emma... she has been his favorite chic to make out with of all time.

Cold Dogs and Hot Turkeys

It's mighty nippy here in Texas today. It's the coldest temps we have felt in a long while. Nobody wanted to crawl out of the bed this morning. And by nobody you can see who I mean.

We had a quiet day. Billy worked on a painting while I cooked. We just finished up eating an hour or so ago. Our menu was a Quorn brand turkey, chipotle cheddar mashed potatoes, corn bread stuffing with fire roasted poblanos and apples, Mandarin orange and clove cranberry sauce and broccolini with arugula and garlic. The mashed potatoes were perhaps the best I have ever made in my whole life. I grabbed the recipe off epicurious.com.

As you can see it calls for "perfect mashed potatoes" (easy enough, right?) and then you just add the chipotle in adobo and some super sharp cheddar. I got both my cheese and my peppers in adobo at Whole Foods. The peppers come canned in the sauce... I added about three tablespoons of the pepper ingredient into my mashed where they tell you to just put two teaspoons. And I did not use a full cup of the cheese... only about a half cup. Priorities people... chipotle outweighs the cheese in this household. This was our very first Thanksgiving meal with a Southwestern flavor and it gets a definite seal of approval.

Here's a sloppy shot of our spread. The fake turkey is always good for a visual funny... go ahead, laugh at it. You won't hurt our feelings.



I'd like to send a shout out to our family and friends (spread out across the whole country) saying we love you all and miss you! You are what we have to be most thankful for in this world.