COLOR-MAD CANTINA GARDEN

The ceramic totem pole we purchased this weekend was a total impulse buy. We didn't give it much thought, and had no plans for what we would do with it when we got it home. I guess I was thinking about putting it somewhere in my downstairs courtyard garden, while John was probably picturing it somewhere out in his upstairs beds. It ended up going neither place. We decided that it was so fabulous that it needed to be somewhere near our front door, where all our visitors were sure to see it. At first I placed it out on the corner of our porch, over near the bottle tree. But later, when the winds started kicking up and the totem pole started wobbling a bit, we decided to scoot it over here next to the bench, where it was a tad more sheltered from the wind. When we woke up to 35mph winds, with gusts up to 60mph, we were mighty glad we moved it!

Know what's really amazing? This totem pole is not at all my usual colors. I don't do blue for some reason, preferring deep purples and hot reds, oranges, and magentas in my gardens. However, I loved this piece enough to buy it anyway. So, imagine my surprise when we finally chose a spot for it and got it all situated, only to notice this.

The bottle tree and the totem pole have the exact same colors on them! Know what my hubby did when I pointed this out to him? His eyes grew huge, and he gasped "Synchronicity!"

FESTIVAL FRENZY SEASON & SURPRISING STORIES

My daughter sent me a link to the Austin Busker Festival earlier this week, suggesting we might all want to meet up there. I wrote back saying "Yeah, that does sound fun! Only problem is, we've got at least three things going on at once here in Wimberley this weekend -- the Wimberley Arts Fest, the W.I.C. Pie Social, and a barbecue cook-off!" What can I say? 'Tis the season -- that very brief window when it's not too hot and not too cold. The wildflowers are abloomin', but the skeeters and chiggers are still asnoozin'. Gotta make hay while the sun shines!

Since several of my artsy-fartsy-friends had booths in the festival this year, and since my hubby does love a good piece of apple pie, we opted to stay in Wimberley this weekend. The Arts Fest used to be held in town around the square, but they moved down to the parking area for the Blue Hole last year, and it's working out really well. Vendors can now set their booths up the day before, instead of the morning of, the parking situation is better, everything is closer together, and the bathroom facilities are vastly improved!

First stop was at the Thai Gourmet tent, for some of their thirst-quenching lemonade.

Fiber Art by Inna Miller, from Round Rock, TX

I was fascinated by this booth filled with form-fitting, intricately crocheted and knitted clothing. Reminds me of some of muse Fiber Woman's work, only hers is mostly woven. A young woman with the hint of a lilt to her tongue told me she does all the crocheting, while her mother does the knitting.

So what was the one thing we couldn't live without?

Totem Pole by Ceramic Artist Douglas Oertli, from San Angelo, TX

A totem pole for the cantina garden! Fortunately, they had golf carts to ferry us most of the way back to the car. That stone base alone weighed a friggin' ton! Which is a good thing. I would be very, very sad if this thing were to crash and shatter when the next big wind comes gusting through the garden.

I hate the pie social, hosted every year at the historic Winters-Wimberley House, by the Wimberley Institute of Cultures. Why? Because, unlike my hubby, who heads straight to the apple pie table without a moment's deliberation, I can never make up my mind!

Do I want something fruity? If so, do I want peach? Cherry? Blackberry. What about something creamy? Key Lime? Lemon Meringue? Chess? Buttermilk?

Last year I went with peach, but then I passed the chocolate table, and wondered if I had made the wrong choice. So this year I decided it would be chocolately, but did I want chocolate cream? Chocolate fudge? Chocolate Chip? Finally I gave up and just grabbed this chocolatey, nutty, caramelish thing. Boy, was it good. And rich. Very, very, very rich. After a couple of bites my tummy began to rebel. After three, my toes started to curl. The rest is still in the fridge.

Maybe next year I will finally get it right.

One especially interesting tidbit came out of the event. There is a welder in town named Glen. We were always seeing his truck parked outside of Wimberley Cafe on the weekend, and one day my hubby went over to the geezer table out on the porch and asked "Which one of you owns that truck?" So this fellow Glen ended up fixing a broken gate for us and, just recently, made some new, longer stakes for our bottle tree. He's the only person I know who eats at Mima's even more than me, so we run into each other all the time. Boy, were we ever surprised when we stumbled across a full page spread in the newspaper about him and his illustrious rodeo career! We had no clue. But wait, there's more! We ran into Glen at the pie social. He and my hubby were standing there, comparing whose apple pie slice was bigger, when he casually mentioned that "This used ta be my house." "You grew up here? In the Winters-Wimberley House?" "Nah. It was my grandma's then. She's the one who was a Wimberley. Susie Wimberley. Then after she died it was my mom's. But I was the last one that lived in it, before they sold it to the city." Well Glen boy, you are just full of surprises!

IS THERE ANYTHING MORE SPRINGY...

than a bunch of bouncing baby goats?

Journal pages inspired by my cheese-making goat-mama friend Lisa Seeger, of Blue Heron Farm, and the absolutely adorable photos she has been posting of her "kids" this spring!
 

I SPY...

with my little eye...some...thing...green!

 Oodles of wild baby grapes, down by the creek!
 

HAPPY HUES AND HUGELKULTUR

My very favorite color-mad wildflower combo was spotted the other day at my very favorite Austin garden center, The Natural Gardener.  

How gorgeous are these bright red poppies scattered amongst a sea of bluebonnets?

These guys were a special added touch.

Speaking of bluebonnets, what a year we are having! It's been a long, long time since I've seen them this lush. Check out this field near the entrance to our neighborhood -- the same one those donkeys, up there in my banner photo, were standing in.

That property has gone through several different owners and incarnations since we have been here. It started as the B&B dream of a young couple who then fell out of love. That little shed has housed tree-climbing goats and some very fluffy donkeys. Then it was leased out to some very hungry horses, until there wasn't a speck of green left in that field! Fortunately for us, it was finally purchased by a family with a vision.

At our last H.O.A. meeting, one of the usual suspects started griping about the "unsightly" piles of tree trimmings these people were accumulating around their property, which, fortunately for the new owners, is not a part of our H.O.A. Some people are rather short-sighted, a bit too concerned with the "Me & Now", but not this new family. When they first saw this property, did they see it as sad and forlorn? No! They saw it as a food forest, and they are using a technique called hugelkultur to help them achieve their vision.

Hugelkultur, used for centuries in Eastern Europe and Germany, is a permaculture-style practice that uses woody debris including branches, twigs, and logs as the base to form raised beds, rather than burning or removing them. The woody debris acts like a sponge, soaking up rainfall and releasing it slowly into the surrounding soil -- a major advantage in an area like ours, where we get most of our annual rainfall in two or three torrential downpours, where it races across one's property before it has a chance to soak in or do any good! Our neighbors have constructed a series of alternating planting berms and swales that gently lead the water where they want it to go, slowing it down in the process. I think they've already planted at least 20 or 30 food-bearing trees and shrubs on those back berms. Know what's even better? They've got baby goats! I LOVE baby goats!

All in all, if I had to choose between neat and tidy people, and those who are actually making, and doing, and living, well, the latter would win hands down.

Come to think of it, if you've ever been to our place, you probably knew that already, huh?

PREMATURE COLOR MADNESS

I decided I just couldn't wait until Color Mad Monday to share this wee little sampling of all that awaits you, if you ever make it to Round Top, TX during Antique Week. Enjoy!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Bakelite...

and rustic pottery?

Apparently bottle cap art is quite the thing these days.

The same booth that had the bathing beauty, above, also held a collection of "paintings" by another artist -- one who worked, not with paint, but with tiny bits of colored paper he has collected, along with bits of sheet music and book paper. Many art journalists I know do something similar, but these were magnificent hang-over-the-mantel portraits and such!

I probably left some drool behind in this booth full of luscious braids and ribbons.

The thing is, I could have taken hundreds more color-mad shots, just as yummy if not more so, if I hadn't been so busy just soaking it all in.

Guess you're just gonna have to go see it for yourself, huh?

ROUNDTOP: TOO MUCH, TOO LATE

Though I was born and raised in Texas, I'd only been to Round Top once ere now, and that was not during the infamous Antiques Week. What a pity. If only I'd discovered it years and years ago, when each house we moved into was a bit bigger than the last, and needed a bit more stuff to fill it up! Why now, when we've gone back to one not much larger than our first, and divested ourselves of box after box of green depression glass, majolica, white ironstone, gold and white china, crystal, and antique music and doll collections? My friend Outdoor Woman goes twice a year, every year. This year, she finally convinced me and two other Muses to accompany her.

Warm-Up Stretching Before We Hit The Ground Running

We began our day at Marburger Farms, where you find the more upscale, artsy vendors. Our first stop was at Skip 2 My Lou -- Outdoor Woman's favorite creator of unique jewelry, assembled from all sorts of vintage bits and bobs.

The merchandising in some of these booths just blew me away.

Daughter Lex and niece Megan would have loved this one...

an entire booth devoted to mid-century cocktail paraphanalia!

At Marburger, you have a mix of cute little historic buildings and long, elegant tents with walls, with most everything under cover except for the short dashes from one tent or building to the next.

 

Outdoor Woman warned us that the food here was just so-so, but priced more like Ooh-la-la. She suggested that we bring along some snackies for when our energy starts to flag, and save our appetites for Mexican food and Margueritas in La Grange, on our way home that afternoon. Sounds like a plan! So, after a brief rest stop under the trees, we headed over to the wee town of Warrenton, where the booths were more open-air, and where the merchandise wasn't nearly as elegant, but was way more afordable. It reminded me a lot of the things you might find here at Wimberley Market Days.

All-in-all, I'm pretty much convinced that, no matter what you are searching for, you're sure to find somewhere here at Antique Week -- if'n you've got the stamina and determination!

Need some antlers? They've got a whole tent-full!

Need a grassy glider? You got it!

Come to think of it, each of us found just what she was looking for. Outdoor Woman found a wrought-iron chandelier on which to hang her hubby's ever-growing collection of hats; Fiber Woman found some yarn to use in one of her projects; and Spirit Woman found lots of fodder for her amazing photographs.

Me? I found precisely what I needed -- absolutely nothing! Well, other than a zillion steps clocked on my Fitbit, a fabulously fun day hanging with my tribe, and tons of color-mad eye candy, some of which I will share with you on Monday. Does it get any better than that?