Fall Beauty in the Sugartree Gypsy Camp ~

Hello hello hello!

I hope this finds you well!

I am home and very happy to be here.

Thank you all so much for all of your sweet travel thoughts and wishes.

I'm so glad that I made the commitment to keep in closer touch this time. 

And being able to get a little internet in the gypsy camp helped a lot.

Though I try to keep that as a sort of sacred place for

music and special visits, sometimes it was

necessary for keeping in touch with the rest of the world.

It was a memorable trip!

So many good things happened.

The gatherings with family are always so special and 

it makes us all happy.

The beauty of the country walks are incredible. 

And I have many friends and neighbors that I enjoy

seeing. There is never enough time!

But taking the time to be with all of these people is

important to me.

It's very disruptive to my Arizona life though and I hope to be able

to figure out how to smooth out some of those rough

spots in the future so I can continue these lovely and

priceless visits.

Here are a few highlights..

*seeing my kids and new grandbaby in OK

*visiting my brother in the nursing home

*my nieces wedding

*seeing nieces and nephews

*being with siblings ALtogether

*watching movies with my other sister

*time crafting with my sister

*walks with my daughter

*filling the van and going for ice cream

*visiting friends

and then things like:

 *shopping

*beautiful walks

*listening to the geese fly over camp at night

*collecting a hornet's nest

(smiles)

 I've always wanted one to hang in my art room

strange... I know!

*********

And now, I invite you to enter my woodland sanctuary...

I am so thankful to be able to have these places where I can create my

outdoor sanctuaries. It seems to be a need for me to be outdoors.

I think I must have some true gypsy ancestry somewhere in my background! 

 It seems that my posts are not complete without some kind of critter! haha. 
And there's a little story here. 
I met this colorful creature while hanging my lights. I
 actually touched him, (eek) he moved, I screamed.
But it stayed.... and stayed.

That evening, he was hanging on the lace curtain.  

My daughter and I were happy to have him join our party.

 I hope he enjoyed the music!

He/she could've been singing along as we could hear
 many of the forest creature's singing in the night.

(He was probably a nice tenor ;)

I love those sounds~

The next morning, 
I went searching and our little friend

was in a different tree.

After that visit, it went on it's way.
Au revoir,  little friend.

I was glad to have seen this unique little frog. 
I thought it was quite pretty..
for a frog...  haha! And it actually looked more like a toad to me. 

I've never seen a tree frog like it. 

Golden hour glistening through the tulle..

One evening when some plans fell through,

I indulged myself with an entire evening out in the enchanted forest

 just playing music and listening to the crackle of the fire.

I rarely get an evening alone.

I made a s'more with dark chocolate and sipped some red wine.

It was lovely.. and the treat is a new favorite.

Do you enjoy time to yourself?

If so, what do you like to do?

There are so many wonderful things to choose from!

Thank you for joining me for my tour and adventure.
I do hope that you're having some wonderful and amazing adventures of your own!

Life is good and hard and rich
and sometimes circumstances are crushing and take our breath away...

In the midst of all it's goodness and harshness, we hold on
and create memories and grab the nuggets of beauty.

I have a prayer request for a blogging friend of mine.
We've never met in person but she is one of the sweetest, most sincere
ladies. She has just lost her daughter in an accident. 

Thank you so much and sweet blessings to you.

Hugs,
Tamara XO

The Enchanting Forest... Will You Join Me?

Is there anything as serene as a walk through the forest?

It's one of my favorite pastimes. 

To meander while weaving my way through the trees and brambles,

being ever so careful not to step on anything precious.

Listening to the scurrying of little feet as they run and hide from the intruder!

Taking in all the sights and smells of the moist, rich earth and the life

that quietly abides there.

Wild violets cross my path 
On ventures yet I step,
Into a field (or forest) of dew 
Where once, I think I slept.

Charles D. Layne

Lesser lilac~

A happy little flower that draws you close with her 

wonderfully fragrant, aroma~

Roses in the wild..

A wild, yellow violet.

Be still my heart~

A grouping of May Apples...

Fern fronds.

Oh, aren't they just so enchanting?

Awaiting the perfect moment to unfurl their loveliness and spread open their

little wings.... Just like I would imagine

 little faeries coming out of a deep winter's sleep.

Ferns were such a big part of my pre-teen years.

I used to spend hours roaming about the woods on our 150 acre farm.

And the wooded areas were always my favorite.

Delicacy on the forest floor..

Such dainty, courageous little blooms a livin' in the rough.

Do you see the face?

Ferns a lovely..

Reaching for the light

Clothed in green of bright~

Woodland Sorrel

Pink Trillium

Lovely, moss covered rocks settled by a stream in the hollow.

I love this moss as it spreads and creates a carpeted resting place on the forest floor.

What's left of a tree from ages past.

And it offers a break from the wind to the wild rose bush.

Last years leaves still clinging to the tree.

Hello...Anybody home? 

Mr Groundhog is most likely out gathering his dinner!

We shall call again later for a visit.

And who could forget the Dazzy Dills?

That's what my little grand-daughter calls them ;)

Such vibrant yellow flowers and fuzzy headed relatives!

How beautiful! 

Such perfection with it's tiny, charming purple blossoms.

And all nestled next to the fallen tree that

used to be home for several woodpeckers.

And possibly some 

friends of theirs as well.

Taking strolls through the woods is such a rich experience.

The tranquility is amazing indeed as the forest showcases her 

prized possessions. 

I hope you enjoyed your walk. 

It's in the forest at our Sugartree place in Ohio.

It's one of the reasons that I love to visit there and I'm grateful

to be surrounded by so much beauty and the blessing of being able to 

lose my inside it!

A happy Monday to you and a beautiful rest of the week.

May we find enchanting moments wherever we are!

Much Love,

Tamara XO

My First Time Pickin' For Old Doors and Windows

I hope you all have had a good week.

Productive and peaceful. 

Mine has been good. 

I'm looking forward to

the weekend and hoping to gather

several times with our kids and grandkids.

It's been raining so much and we

have been enjoying it.

I've had these pictures for awhile now.

Waiting to share this little story about my

first "Pickin" experience.

It takes a lot of courage for me

to think of approaching

people to ask them about stuff

that's laying in their yard!

But at least I was in friendly territory!

It was in the little town of Antrim, Ohio 

where I grew up. I recently shared some photos about the area, when I was

visiting family and friends.

Now that we have a little get-away there and 

we always drive our 15 passenger van across

country, it provides opportunities

to pick up things for projects to make and sell

and for decor around the house.

While driving through this quaint little,

country town, I spotted a charming, 

old door laying out in a yard.

And, gathering my courage,

I knocked on the door and

asked some questions.

I found that I went to school

with the family that owned

the little house. When his sister

arrived, we talked schooldays for a 

few minutes and she offered to let me

see some other doors in her shed that 

she had tried to give away but

folks never came and picked them up..

At this point, I was very excited!

 Here are some of the doors.. 

They were old cupboard doors

from an original house in Antrim. 

She even knew the family's name. 

And by now, I am super-excited 

because, as many of you know,

 I love connecting with my past! 

Above are the pantry doors.

This door came with a bonus window!

I love those old glass door knobs.

 The other white, paneled door came

  from the same stop. 

Those lovely spindles and pedestal 

were bought at a Nursery down the road for

a very good price.

 And this old door came from 

the old country store called "Rusty's".

 I use to walk the two miles from my home

to this store to buy candy and chips.

It's about 8 feet tall and very heavy!

It now sits on the porch behind a 

little wicker love-seat. 

I just love all that chipping paint!

I asked her how much she would be 

willing to sell them for and she said that

I could have them!

I couldn't believe it. 

And so she and her brother

helped me load them in my van. 

I gave them a little something for their 

help and was on my way.

I was excited to have found some treasures and visited with old school mates!

The next stop was at a childhood

 neighbor of mine.

I had driven past where I knew 

she had lived with her father but 

didn't know if she was still there.

But I had seen some old windows 

leaned against the side of a shed when

I drove by just 

"takin' the backroads."

Well, since you see the windows,

you can guess what happened.

The story was that she now lived there

with her husband and children and

they were doing some re-modeling. 

They had tried to salvage the windows 

because the house had been 

built in the mid-1800s!

Wow

But they couldn't keep the cold,

Ohio, winter winds from creeping into that

two-story farm house and so they had

to be replaced.

They just wanted to get rid of them..

and it was the same story as with the doors.

People had stopped and asked but

no one ever came back to pick them up.

We had a nice long visit and they helped 

me load them up and my daughter and 

I took them back to Sugartree and

unloaded. I felt blessed.

 Here they are after being hosed down.

 Aren't the arched ones just gorgeous?!

Some of the frames are falling apart and I wondered about taking them but am glad I did.

And I'm currently working 

on a little fall project that is made from 

two of the small salvaged pieces.

I'm almost finished with it and 

will be sharing it this next week. 

I did share some of them with my younger

sister and I gave her the glass-paneled door.

It seems the love of old junk 

runs in the family!

It's so rewarding to find these old things and 

love them into something new.

It always makes me sad when old houses

and buildings are torn down and bull-

dozed into large piles and burned!

Wait.. 

the history and memories..

the craftmanship...

Isn't it satisfying to re-claim 

re-use.. re-make.. re-love?

or whatever one wants to call it..
And the treasure-hunting part is fun, too.
I'm looking forward to
doing some more of that!

I'd love to hear any stories that

you have about special pieces 

that you've found

or experiences that you've had.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Tamara xo