Rain, rain, rain...

Happy Rainy Sunday!

It's been awhile since my last post and a lot has happened since then. Halloween, preparing for a Christmas Craft fair, book reading, paintings painted, mushrooms gathered and a wild animal sighting. Busy, busy, busy. I haven't had a lot of time to post. So, this post will be a catch up and a collage of ideas melded together.

Today is a very wet and rainy Sunday and it seem like a good day to write. 

HALLOWEEN

This year was on odd Halloween as our kids were with other friends, we didn't get many photos of their costumes and we were traveling during the weekend. However we didn't forget to carve pumpkins and I got a great photo of them. There is something magical about pumpkin carvings and candle light.

HUMBOLDT ARTISANS FESTIVAL, DECEMBER 2, 3 & 4

These last couple of months I've been really busy trying to get ready for a local Christmas fair the first weekend in December. Not only have I been busy producing product to sell at the fair, but it is my first fair, so I am building a booth for the first time. This has been a very time consuming and expensive task. I sell clothing and art, so I have different mediums to think about and how best to display them. Figuring out how to fit everything in a 10' by 10' space is not an easy job. Lighting, walls, a floor, how to hang art and clothing, a dressing room and more! Yikes. Here is a photo of the first time I set up the tent and what it might look like. I've added a lot since this photo and will definitely add more photos once the fair has happened.  

 I've added colorful curtains in the open areas where my art will hang by chain with hooks. I'll have baskets of prints on the wooden table. There will be nice carpets on the floor and I've added a small dressing room in the upper left corner. Also, I'm working on a full length tapestry to hang on the outside of the dressing room with my business name and Etsy sight along with other creative designs on it. Any feedback or tips on selling clothing and or art in craft fairs welcome. I'm still thinking about the possibility of offering credit card sales, but not sure I want to deal with this for one three day festival. hmmm...

BOOKS READ

I've read two books since my last book review. The first book I finished is called "Runemarks" by Joanne Harris.

I've read most of her books and love all of them, but this one was very different in my mind. Most of her books do have a thread of magic woven into a modern story along with delectable food and long lost secrets. This book however is primarily myth and magic. 

It begins with a young girl named Maddy who for reasons unknown to herself has magical powers. She quickly begins to unfold a whole world of Goblins, Magic and Norse Gods. Thor, Odin, Loki and others begin to appear in mysterious form and she realizes that she is very much a part of them. Much of the story takes place in the underworld and revolves around the world above that has been taken over by the "order" who follows life by "the good book" and the world below full of the Norse Gods who have been banned and forgotten. Maddy quickly unfolds a war that is eminent and realizes she is at the center.

The second book I finished is called "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

My daughter was the one who convinced me to read this book as she had read all three and loved them. The idea of the story seemed a bit grotesque and violent to me, and still does, but somehow the author is extremely skilled at weaving words into a story that sucks you in and keeps you teetering on an abyss so you can't put the book down. 

It takes place in the future USA where everything has been destroyed except a capital city surrounded by 12 districts which are fenced in by electrical fencing, impoverished and controlled by a tightly supervised dictatorship in the capitol. Every year the capitol holds a televised event called the Huger Games where each district has to give up one female and one male teen to fight to the death until only one survives. This is their reminder to the districts that the Capitol is in control and their way of discouraging them from a rebellion. Of course there are many messages in this book that parallel with modern day society. Oppression, exploitation and questions of humanity and personal choice are woven throughout the plot.

EGRETS & POPPIES

This is my most recent painting. Egrets are a local bird and I've always loved them. They are so tall and slender and graceful. You often see them along the highway grazing in the marshlands and streams along the side of the highway. I think of them as our coastal version of a swan. I hope to do more paintings of them in the future, but here is the first one.

The original mixed media painting on canvas is available for sale. Please contact me at contact@reneethompsondesigns.com if you're interested in buying the original or click on the image to go to my etsy sight to purchase a print.

WILD MUSHROOMS COLLECTED

There is a place near my house that often produces a nice crop of chanterelle mushrooms and this year we hit the jackpot! We had almost a whole garbage bag full and ate every last one. Yummm!

WILD ANIMAL SIGHTINGS...

I had a very exciting day this last Friday morning. I live in the woods surrounded by a forest and there is often wildlife roaming near by. I heard my dogs barking wildly off in the forest and tried calling them back to no avail, so I decided to check out what was up. I brought their leashes and began my trek up the drive way. I finally got to where they were barking and called them out of the bushes. One of my dogs came running out and I put him on the leash. The other one didn't want to come out, but eventually started making her way towards me when I saw a movement in the trees. I thought they must be chasing a squirrel and so began to look up into the trees above me. At once my eyes came face to face with quite a different type of animal.

Northern California Mountain Lion. Not the one I saw, but it looked the same. BIG!

My heart stopped for a moment. It was only about 15 yards away and staring right at me. I calmly put my other dog on the leash and began backing up down my drive way. The dogs were pulling as hard as they could to go back and bark at the cat, but I kept moving them away down the hill. This Mountain lion was twice the size of my dogs and looked very calm in the tree. I remember thinking to myself. I wish I had a camera, but probably wouldn't have been brave enough to stay and take a photo even if I had one. I walked slowly away until I couldn't see it anymore and then ran the rest of the way home, yelling out my boyfriends name. What a rush.

Well, that was a lot.. I'm out of breath. :) Happy November!