I just horseback ride

Today I went to Serendipity Farms (yes, it is named after the movie) to go horseback riding and see black angus cattle. I went to horseback riding camp for a week when I was 10 years old.  I hated it and I cried every morning. This was way more fun.

Three of the horses:

Casino.  I rode this one.

Chompers.

Cheyenne.  She followed us around all day.

Just to prove I actually did it:

A man made lake. 

The farm has 54 black angus cattle and 4 babies

June Bug!!!

Everyone should watch this video

Marcel the Shell

HALLOWEEN!!

Hands down my favorite holiday is Halloween.  I wish Halloween was a national holiday, like New Years.  The day after Halloween should always be a day off of work.  Luckily this year, Halloween was celebrated on a Saturday night.  I went to Columbia Crossing Goodtimes Bar for their Halloween party.  The band, Double Eagle, was playing oldies but goodies all night.

crazy 50s housewife with an axe.

There were some great costumes. The competition was fierce.  Unfortunately I did not place. 

The tiger won the first place prize.

Chris in Pocosin's finest.  Charles in icing.

Everyone was dancing.   I tried to learn the line dancing from the local clobber club, but failed.

I gave up trying to learn to learn to line dance. 

What do I make with 40 pounds of Sweet Potatoes?!?!

40 pounds of sweet potatoes!

Last night we made sweet potato gnocchi (see below in the wok) with a butter maple sage sauce. 

 We also made a ginger, carrot sweet potato soup tonight. 

Any other suggestions are welcome! Except for chips, fries, etc, soups.   I have enough suggestions for that.

Some new work

Here is some of my newer work

Steel and silver rings

Sterling silver earrings

Rings and necklace on an antler, generously given to me by Roxy

Broaches with glass and silver

Rings up close

I just bake chocolate chip crunchy peanut butter cookies

As a thank you to Wayne and his crew, the volunteers at Pocosin made cookies and lemonade on Friday.

If you visit, I will make you some!

Thanks!

I just swim.

October 24 at Hatteras National Seashore in the Outer Banks. 80 degrees and sunny.

 What was the weather up north?

i just carve wooden birds and decoys

This weekend Maura and I participated in the Water Bird and Decoy Carving with Charlie Reber.  Charlie is a preacher from east North Carolina who makes rustic like carved birds and decoys.  He is full of great stories and knowledge about decoys.

Charlie holding two of his carved birds

Maura holding her carved bird.  She named him Bernie Biscuit

 Our first project was to make a decoy of either a swan or a goose.  I decided to have my decoy have what Charlie calls a "root head." I carved a Y shaped branch to look like a bird's head, instead of using traditional swan or goose head.

My root head decoy.  This is before the decoy is covered in cloth and painted.

Pam carving a bird.  You can see two decoys to the right, with more traditional heads.

Ernestine carving a bird.  Her great swan decoy is on the table.

Our second project was to carve smaller birds out of blocks of wood.  We mostly used old rusty nails for the beaks.

My finished birds!

After covering the decoys in cloth, we painted and decorated them.  

My finished decoy.  Now I can go bird hunting?

The Mall:

Enough said

Maura

This is the Maura I am living with:

Not to be confused with my sister Maura:

Thursday night at the bar

It was 9:00 pm on a Thursday night, and Marlene, Maura and I are at the local bar.  Naturally we are the only people there.  We asked Jerry to turn on Project Runway for us.  Unfortunately the bar does not get the channel lifetime.  Better luck next week. Gerry is also going to bring me a homemade tin man costume for Halloween.  I am going for the first place $100 cash prize. 

Jerry is a part time bartender, part time cake decorator at Food Lion and part time cattle rancher

Studio space

It is really exciting to see the new metals studio being built.  

wayne and his crew are fast, this is after only two days.

Until it is finished, this is where I will be making stuff:

Manechevitz in Columbua.

Another thing to do in Columbia is go wine tasting at Scupernogg Winery.  Tastes like manechevitz.

 

Blacksmithing

My first day here I took blacksmithing with Randy Hodges.  I made an S-hook and attempted a nail.  Did not work out so well. We also used new nails to make a "sword" and nail that look forged.  Apparently if I was a 12 year old boy the sword would be really exciting. 

 

Small town living

I didn't think that I would, but I do kind of  love living here.  There are only about 800 people in the town, and they are a hoot. 

I am volunteering at Pocosin Arts http://www.pocosinarts.org/.  

I work with these awesome "nekkid" artsy fartsy people:

This is our great studio apartment, that over looks the water. The cot is my current sleeping situation. 

This is the water front, less then a block from out apartment.  I like to talk on the phone here.

This is what Maura and I do for fun:

It is half bakery, half antique store.  It is next door to us, we probably go at least twice a day as the baked goods and items in the antique store change frequently.  Favorite food so far is a chocolate covered peanut butter ball. (They also have strawberry, coconut, and cookie dough).