You can fool the fans - but not the players.... John Cage

Yosemite in May - just another version of breathtaking.

Sometimes you just get lucky and hit it just right. Not too many other people, no road work, not too many wildfires and the accompanying smoke in the air... just the always amazing views of Tuolumne and the Yosemite Valley.

Tenaya Lake, which we were skating on not four months ago...

Just beginning to wake up from its snowy sleep.

Dogwood in full bloom in the valley - the lower elevations are fully green and lush.

Shot along the banks of the rushing Merced River.

I could have stayed here all day.

This is the time to get to Yosemite. Even though the campgrounds are full on the weekends you can still squeeze in midweek.

The view from Tunnel overlook on Hwy 41. Classic.

Bridalveil Falls.

Taken from along the road below. The Merced on one side, this on the other.

I don't know the name of this waterfall, but it was across the valley from Bridalveil.

Merced River.

Oops!

Get on a plane, train, bus or in your car and go there, NOW!

Yosemite in May - just another version of breathtaking.

Sometimes you just get lucky and hit it just right. Not too many other people, no road work, not too many wildfires and the accompanying smoke in the air... just the always amazing views of Tuolumne and the Yosemite Valley.

Tenaya Lake, which we were skating on not four months ago...

Just beginning to wake up from its snowy sleep.

Dogwood in full bloom in the valley - the lower elevations are fully green and lush.

Shot along the banks of the rushing Merced River.

I could have stayed here all day.

This is the time to get to Yosemite. Even though the campgrounds are full on the weekends you can still squeeze in midweek.

The view from Tunnel overlook on Hwy 41. Classic.

Bridalveil Falls.

Taken from along the road below. The Merced on one side, this on the other.

I don't know the name of this waterfall, but it was across the valley from Bridalveil.

Merced River.

Oops!

Get on a plane, train, bus or in your car and go there, NOW!

Is the bloom off the Anthro rose?

If  you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know that I've had a love affair with the Anthropologie displays for some time. Whenever I visit a city with an Anthropologie store it is high on the "to-do" list to check out the windows and the store displays. The creativity has always inspired me and I love that most of the materials are ordinary, everyday items (like paper plates and fabric scraps) and that many displays are made up of salvaged or recycled items.

The last couple of visits to San Diego, though, have left me less than inspired. Okay, so maybe kind of inspired but not to the degree that I used to be. So what has happened? Has it simply run its course? Or is my opinion colored by the recent articles I've read about the Urban Outfitter / Anthropologie / Free People CEO Richard Hayne? Am I able to separate the design team and the whole aesthetic of Anthropologie from the man who runs the show?

 

And what the heck is this? Pantyhose?

Ugh.

I've also read a little more on the design "internships" offered for college credit and the criticism levied on that topic. You can read a recent Atlantic Wire article on the unpaid Visual Design Internships here.

 

How much should the company matter to me? I usually end up buying something on these design jaunts, so my money supports the current practices of the corporation. And it bothers me that the path to becoming a real part of the design team seems to be opaque. Do you have to start out as an unpaid, college-credit earning intern?

At the same time the color, design and inventive uses of materials still makes my blood race and more than any other store Anthropologie encourages a menthod and style of decorating that anyone with DIY leanings can emulate and be inspired by.

I don't think there's any danger of losing me and my camera phone as a visitor anytime soon, but these things have been on my mind this year and I've thought that I should seek out creative, independent shops that have creative design teams and tout them in my blog. Like Junkee in Reno.

And Monticello in Portland. Problem is, how often do I get to Portland?

This is where you, my dear readers, could be of help. Is there a great, independent shop in your town that embraces the art of display? Is there a designer that you know of that uses ordinary materials in extrordinary ways? Uses recycled, salvaged, or waste materials?

Send me your submissions - let's start a data base of great independent designers.

I'll continue to blog about Anthropologie but I'd like to start blogging about people and not so much tooting the horn of a big corporation.

And where do these designers go once they've completed their unpaid internship or their stint with Anthro?

The trumpets are sounding and the calvary is gathering: To the independents! To the solitary shopkeepers who toil away at displays without the benefit of unpaid help!

I'm glad that Anthropologie gives creative people a platform on which to perform their magic and inspire those of us who like to see unique displays. I don't want to lose that platform or not support it, but I think there is as much value in seeking out the indies and shining the spotlight on their work.

Please, feel free to post information on any local designer you know who is elevating the art of display in the comments. If we get enough I'll gather them all together and link them in a post.

A weekend watching and listening to Buck Brannaman

Over the years that I've had horses I've been fortunate enough to attend a few horsemanship clinics and I've read my share of books & watched more than a few DVDs on training. Ray Hunt, along with Bill and Tom Dorrance, developed and taught a method of horsemanship based on learning to feel a positive response from a horse and build on that. It has changed many lives, both horse and human, and Buck Brannaman is following in Ray Hunt's footsteps. One should never pass up a chance to learn from a master, so when I found out that Buck was going to be teaching a four-day clinic not 10 miles from my mom's house it didn't take me long to plan a trip that coincided with the clinic.

It, of course, was full and had been full for a long time, so I couldn't participate with my horses, but I could still go, listen, watch and learn. And I did. I came home with a head stuffed full of tips, "Buck-isms", things to practice, things to strive for. And I got to watch all kinds of riders AND the man himself.

The mornings were horsemanship and the afternoons were cow work. The photos I took of the horsemanship aren't very exciting, but the cow work was a lot more action.

 

Cutting is a really exciting sport that depends so much on the horse having cow saavy, wanting to do the work, and being physically ready to do the quick turns, stops and spins that it requires.

 

A good cow horse is a thing of beauty, power and focus.

That little calf wants to get back to his buddies,

And the job of the horse is to stay between the calf and his buddies...

Those calves are quick and agile,

The rider needs to stay on and stay out of the way...

Stay balanced on the horse...

 

So the horse can do its job.

It is quick and exciting to watch and I can only imagine how much fun it must be to be on the horse.

Probably not as much fun for the calf, but it doesn't last long.

No wonder this sport attracts all kinds of people. I'm ready and I've got the horse - I just need to rise to her level and start doing it. I'm going to start today by practicing all the things I learned over the weekend, the biggest lesson being that there is no gift like the gift of time. Time on the horse, time to let the lessons sink in and become a part of riding, time to let things sort themselves out.

Like everything else - like art, like relationships - it takes 10,000 hours to get through the crap and on to the good stuff.

Champagne taste on a beer budget

I've been looking for a leather sofa (and gray linen sheets and sisal rugs and cage lamps) but at our budget we can't just go out and buy these things. Besides, there is something undeniably appealing about watching, waiting, and finding. Meanwhile, our house style is described as something as non-descript as "comfortable".

And I continue to be inspired by the great ones, the master designers, the display teams, Pinterest.....

Renovation Hardware is a company that reinvented itself over the last few years and I love, love, love walking through their stores.

For the past six months or so it has been all about linen and subtle colors - creams, grays, taupe. You walk in and there is all this big furniture, high ceilings, huge lighting fixtures. Who is even living in houses this size anymore? Aren't we all downsizing?

 

I love the feel of these "rooms" though. There's a definite French feel but they use American craftspeople too. Everything feels rich but not "in your face" wealthy, comfortable wealthy.

Big family wealthy.

 

There it is - there's my leather sofa. Of course, this sofa is oversized and would not even fit through our normal-size front door, let alone in front of the window in our living room. But you get the idea.

 

And there is JC's comfy chair. We actually took these so that we could compare these lovely pieces with what I went home with:

 

Here it is at the local Salvation Army nestled in between the other cast-offs. I had only been in town for about an hour and here was this little sofa and *bonus* it was discovered during a 50% off sale.

 

It sat on my mom's driveway for a couple of days while we did the rest of my visiting and then we had to fit it into here:

 

We weren't sure it was going to make it and I had to be prepared to leave it until I could bring down the big truck - but no leather sofa is a match for three determined women, let me tell you.

 

We jammed that baby in there and it is now sitting in my dining room waiting for the other sofa to disappear.

It isn't the perfect sofa... the perfect sofa would be one section longer so that we could lay on it... but this one is pretty darn close and can be used with the perfect sofa once we find it.

Ahhh, the quest, the hunt, the find. Love it.

A chick weekend in southern California

JC and I spent the long weekend apart. He had a boys snowmobile weekend up here and I had a girls movie and shopping weekend in the city. Mostly I had time with my mom and one of my sisters and I must have needed it cause it was completely satisfying. Sometimes you just need to go window shopping and not have an impatient spouse waiting for it all to be over.

I even took Bella with me for some one on one time and we went for long walks each morning in the hills outside my mom's place. She was a perfect travel dog. Just curled up and went to sleep while we drove and was ready for each and every adventure while we were there.

Of course I went to Anthropologie. I actually made it to two of their stores. One in Carlsbad and one at University Town Center in San Diego. I like seeing the variation in the displays and even though the stores carry the same merchandise it feels fresh in each location because they aren't cookie-cutter.

It was so nice to see green and there were flowers blooming on our walk and of course my mom's yard is busting out in bloom.

 

And it is just so great to see the ideas and inspiration. JC and I are on the verge of a big transition that potentially sends us into a panic so it is important to focus on the possibilities ahead - both little ones like projects and decorating - and big ones like buying a house.

 

I just love all the plays on trophy mounts that are out there right now... the ones made out of paper mache like this, plaster or cast ones like the these at Renovation Hardware:

 

By the time I get around to having something like this it will probably be passe, but that is the good thing about living in the sticks - nobody cares.

 

The folks at Anthropologie find some amazing pieces and every store has different salvaged cornerstone treasures. They are priced, but not anywhere near my budget. Only good for eye candy in my world. And ideas like paint finishes.

 

The windows right now are paint sticks. Painted and splatter with more paint, then hung with kitchen string. Do you think the folks at Home Depot would notice if I grabbed a hundred or so paint sticks?

 

I actually do think that this could make a wonderful window treatment in a home... and they would move in the breeze, make a little soothing clacking sound...

 

I'm sure there is a place to get bulk paint sticks and I'm equally certain they don't cost much.

 

One of the two stores had this in the front - is this a rickshaw? Or some variation?

 

The tilt of that seat does not make me want to go for a spin in this thing. I think I'd want to be the driver of this get-up. But more than that I want to be in the group that goes around the world and finds this stuff. Sign me up!

 

This metal gate I would have in my yard in a heartbeat. What a grand entrance to a little cottage. We are scared to death to move out of our comfy home but there is another one out there waiting for us. One of our own. With room for the horses.

 

We laughed at this since I had just purchased a secondhand leather sofa that needs to have the mesh fabric redone underneath... guess I don't have to really get stressed over it.

 

And these, these are just great. What patience to loop all this fabric and ribbon and seam binding. Again, there must be big warehouses where one can go in and buy this by the pound.

 

More great paint and detail.... just mounted on a wall...

 

Love the colors.

 

Even shower curtains become infinitely more interesting when they are hung like dresses on a rod.

 

And this beautiful piece was in the dressing room...

gorgeous, no?

 

Tomorrow, we'll take a little visual journey to Restoration Hardware.

Living in big sky country

I know there is another state that claims to be the big sky country, but we here in the Owens Valley can make the case that we also live in big sky country - that the sky sometimes dominates the day. Especially when there are clouds.

 

The big arc of the sky is held in place by our mountains to the east and the west and there isn't much on the ground to compete - no big city, no large formations of rock or earth. A rain-shadowed, sage-covered landscape that really just redirects the attention back up to the sky.

I love our sky here -  the fiery sunrises, the huge moon-scapes, the enormous expanse of stars.

When we drive north to get hay we have a good opportunity to sky-watch since we are driving along the valley floor with a great view of the Sierra crest and we ascend a little as we drive into the tri-valley area. When we are headed home there is often a beautiful panorama spread out in front of us.

 

I like our hay expeditions (except maybe for writing that check - but even then it is such a simple transaction between buyer and seller - no middleman). We take the dogs and they are free to run around the hay barn while we load, and unloading the hay is like putting money in the bank. Feels good to have a ton of hay in front of each corral.

 

It gives us some car time / talk time and we are just alone in our bubble for awhile.

Our lives pretty much revolve around horses and dogs - we squeeze work in somehow. While JC and I stress about truck repairs and the bills, the dogs and the horses are completely taken care of, content, and go about their day without a care in the world. I should include the cat too - his greatest worry is the cat across the street.

 

This is pretty typical of the dogs' life.

 

And this.

 

And this.

 

What a life. Well, we'll be getting hay again, soon, because that's what happens. You load it, unload it, feed it off twice a day and before you know it you are back buying more.

We love our life in this big sky country.

Ideas to action and fruition

All the while I worked on the wedding decorations the bench sat idle but my mind was still mulling over some ideas. I did get into the studio a few times to try out some techniques and make some prototypes, but only now am I finding the time again to explore these ideas more completely.

 

Southern Charm clued me into a new way to suspend my sheets of brass while engraving and I love the simplicity and how well it works....

 

I wrapped a rectangle of styrofoam (recycled grocery store meat packaging) with masking tape, sticky side out and then pressed the brass on to the tape and put it upside down in the etching solution. The styrofoam floats and keeps the brass from sitting on the bottom of the container, making for better etching. Brilliant, simple and effective.

 

I'm then using the etched brass to make the end-pieces for these cowgirl cuffs, which I am so excited about. These are made with hair-on cowhide, but I'll also make some out of solid leather for a different look.

All weekend I've been sneaking down to the studio whenever I can to make these happen. My goal - in the etsy shop by Monday!

Only three days until we break the no snow record....

I'm guessing we are right in there with Reno and this morning on KUNR I heard that if it doesn't snow this will be the driest December since 1883. That is a long time. It is becoming alarming.

 

You know, from reading this blog, that I am trying to focus on the positive aspects of a no-snow early winter and celebrating the sixty-degree days here in the valley and when I can, heading up to the myriad of skateable lakes in the Sierra. I imagine that is what people might have done in 1883 and since then when there's no snow to ski in, no snow to snowshoe in, and open roads to navigate.

 

We're heading back out this weekend - we celebrated Christmas and JC's birthday on the ice and we'll bring in the New Year on the ice. And hope against hope that it begins to snow soon. Then we can treasure this past month without the threat of drought over our heads.

 

These photos are all from google images and I wish I knew where they were shot and when, but I'm thinking I need to up my game on the ice. I've been wearing standard ski or snowshoe gear but when we go out this weekend I might just wear something more "ice-skaterish". 

 

Just google vintage ice skating... you'll see what I mean. Game on.

Thursday post - random things

There are times in a blogger's life when she gets up, logs on, and wonders what to say. What on earth could I say this morning that might be slightly interesting to others?

It must bee the 'tween time - the season we're in. The glorious leaves are gone, leaving limp, lifeless hangers-on on the trees. There's a dusting of snow on the mountains but not much happening down below. It hasn't been cold enough to freeze the ponds for ice-skating. 'Tween time.

 

I'm struggling to find time in the studio since there is so much to be done for the wedding. This week I've been on the phone with the cupcake lady, one of my favorite caterers sent me some menu choices for our pre-wedding soire at the house, we went looking at a house we probably can't qualify for, and just the thought of moving before the wedding blew my mind.

 

I'm teaching a little class this afternoon on how to make felt wreaths, so I've been cutting up some of my sweater stash. There haven't been many wool sweaters this fall in the thrift stores and I'm working from last year's felted stack. For my sample I'm choosing cream, brown and this lovely sage green - and this morning I'll have to rip up some fabric into ribbon to take along for embellishment.

 

It is time to start thinking of holiday baking and how to squeeze that in. Thanksgiving is just a week away and you know what that means - Christmas is right around the corner. Typing that just struck a panic note in my chest.

The invitations have been on my mind - I have a plan now but no paper or envelopes. Thanks to Lori's suggestion I'm going to sew the invitations on to the prints - and perhaps I should just go online and order some today. Get it done.

It's just too much.

You all have a great day, I'm going to sign off and start freaking out.