...of Jaunts and Journeys

Friday, October 31, 2008

PROJECTS AND UPDATES... #96


Happy Halloween!!!

Here are some photos I promised to share.

Status report on the fall tomato plants. I counted about 15 tomatoes yesterday, but this picture was taken last week. Will try to get photo updates this weekend.



My adventure (discovery?) of vintage 1930s fabrics has materialized (the puns are getting ridiculously obvious, aren't they?) into the following collection. Now I am ready to begin cutting prints and assembling blocks.


This is the apron I made last weekend. The pattern is more vintage than the fabric. I needed a very busy fabric with a rainbow of colors because I am such a messy cook. It is reversible. I want to make a few more. Very easy..... very fast.

Until the next time....

Saturday, October 25, 2008

SEWING...part 2... #95

I had intended on mentioning that I dreamed about fabric all night. Specifically, 1930s reproduction fabrics and feedsack prints. This is rather uncharacteristic of me. These 1930s prints have never particularly appealed to my eye, but for some reason all of the sudden I have a desire to make a 30s project. I have been pouring over websites in an attempt to educate myself on what does and doesn't constitute a 1930s reproduction print. This all started when I got the idea in my head that I wanted to make myself a vintage apron.... now I need to act upon this "need".

Until the next post....

SEWING ..... #94

Lately I've been sewing. Might have something to do with the fact that with temperatures below the melting point a person can actually have some of the sewing project resting in the lap without roasting.

This is a tablerunner of my own devise (with some help from Joyce S.) made from Holly Jolly Christmas brights purchased last year during one of my adventures. If I remember correctly, this fabric was purchased in Waxahachie, Texas at
Common Threads Quilting exactly one year ago during the Texas Country Reporter festival. (That festival is taking place this weekend. We are not going. Mr. High School Senior is taking his ACT Test this morning and I need to drive the taxi later.)


Here is a sketch of what I did for quilting lines... primitive Christmas trees.



There is one festival in the local area today which starts at noon. I'm not familiar with it to know if it is worth attending, but we might give it a try... unless all the college football games are too exciting to leave the house. I know a certain OSU graduate person who is counting on his undefeated #6 Oklahoma State University Cowboys beating undefeated #1 ranked University of Texas. I am biased... the fact that my brother, my brother's wife, my brother's oldest daughter, and both of my sister's sons either graduated from or are currently attending the University of Texas dictates that I, a graduate of Texas A&M University, the bitter rivals of t.u., and now the S.O. to that unnamed OSU graduate "certain person" mentioned above (Harry), must necessarily cheer for O S U!!!! Go Cowboys!!! (and not the Dallas variety).


Until the games are over....

Sunday, October 19, 2008

A BIT OF TEXAS HISTORY...errr...TRIVIA... (#93)

As promised, here is some rather surreal Texas trivia that is all but unknown.



Last weekend we were driving west on Texas highway 31 from Tyler, Texas as we worked our way back to I-35 and thus back to Dallas. Twenty or so miles east of Corsicana, Texas (home of some famous fruitcake that gets sent all over the world!) we looked to the left as we passed the tiny town of Kerens, population well under 1000. We noted that they were having a street festival in the downtown area, so we decided to investigate. Calling it downtown is practically a misnomer. There were all of perhaps 20 storefronts, many uninhabited, and those that were fortunate enough to remain viable were very weathered and in need of some general upkeep. Case in point..... the City Hall building shown below.




I am by no means being critical. I find the condition of the town and its people very charming, very down to earth, and very REAL. A quick look around the surrounding acreage tells a story of cotton growers, cotton harvesting, and cotton gins. The fields are bare of their cotton now, with nothing more than a few tell-tale puffs of white left on the ground as evidence of what once grew in that spot.



In need of using the rest room, we approached the Visitor Welcome Center. Normally it is only open Monday through Friday, but being a special weekend for their festival it was open.



Inside there were t-shirts and caps proudly displaying the name Kerens, Texas. Then something caught my eye. A framed, yellowed news clipping declaring Kerens as the birthplace of Big Tex. Double-take. Huh??? Birthplace of Big Tex???? They had to be kidding.



Big Tex is a gigantic cowboy that stands at the entrance of The State Fair of Texas (located in Dallas), which coincidentally was currently running (we went last week on "senior day"). He is the voice and symbol of the State Fair. Periodically he lets out with a resounding "Howdy, folks!", to the delight of fair goers, whether local or out of town. He is put up each year right before the Fair begins the end of September and stands watch until the end which is late October. A big fanfare is made about the size of his boots and the size of his waist. Very folksy lore in these parts.


Back to Kerens. The story goes that it was November 1949 and the local retailers of Kerens were tired of losing all the Christmas trade to the bigger cities of Corsicana and Dallas. So they came up with an idea to entice shoppers to their community. They decided to erect a giant Santa. The story goes that a certain gentleman fashioned the welded frame after two well-known townsmen. The claim is that he took their respective measurements, found the average and then multiplied by 7 to get the dimensions for Santa. Local ladies sewed the Santa suit and the men contributed by helping unravel lengths of rope to make Santa's beard while sitting in the barber chair. This was the result.



The story goes on further to tell of a strong wind that whipped up and tore Santa's pants off the huge frame. Rather than remake the pants a "chimney" was constructed around him to give the appearance of making one of his infamous Christmas Eve stops.


There was no mention whether or not the retailers succeeded in enlarging their Christmas revenue. Supposedly the novelty eventually wore off and the frame was sold to a Dallas businessman who turned Santa into Big Tex.



Here is how Big Tex looks in modern times. This was not the picture from 2008. This year his western shirt was bright yellow with blue yokes. Other years it has been plaid. Regardless, the framework was made in Kerens, Texas and lives on each year in Dallas, Texas at The State Fair of Texas.





Isn't this a cool story????








Until another time....

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME.... (#92)

Autumn in Texas is really quite wonderful once you get used to the idea there is no such thing as showy autumn foliage until around Thanksgiving and then all it takes is one cold December rain to put an end to the display. The leaves fall off the trees and there is nothing but bare bark.

October is also the month full of Fall Festivals. Every weekend we have our pick of anywhere from 4 or 5 up to 9 or 10 festival destinations. It is often hard to choose, but we have a rule that we try a new venue if the choice includes a festival we've attended in the past. This past week and weekend were no exception. We chose to drive to East Texas to the community of Tyler, home of the Tyler Rose Festival. It is a very big deal to that area. There is a Royal Court filled with lovely young women in even lovelier sequined gowns. The day starts with a parade (which we did not see because we would have had to leave Dallas about 5 a.m. There has to be a limit some place!!) of wonderful floats, some carrying the Royal Court.

I got to see Clydesdale horses up close. This is no big deal to some folks, I'm sure, but Clydesdales remind me of my childhood and the annual 4th of July Circus Parade we attended with annual regularity. I had not seen one of these majestic beauties up close in decades, so I was beginning to think it was just my recollection they were so huge based on my relative size at the time I was near them. (The last time I saw them was likely when I was younger than 10). I am delighted to report that they are definitely as huge as I remembered. The hooves could have easily been 12" in diameter, and as you can see, their shoulders are quite a few inches above the heads of their handlers. Truly magnificent creatures.


Here is the back of the float carrying the Tyler Rose Queen. The back is more stunning than the front of her gown because there is a sequined train flowing behind that takes one's breath away.


There is a rose garden open to the public with no admission. The fragrance of roses fills the air and the only drawback is the need to conquer the fear of bees if one exists.


Below are photos of various specimens. The names are all very technical and so varied I don't recall them except randomly.... there was even a GREEN rose; yes, really and truly green, the color of its stem and leaves. I forgot to post a picture of it.






After eating lunch, we got on a country road headed west and thus back to Dallas. Oh the things you can see and learn by traveling country roads. I saw camels and zebras. I saw a buck deer with a huge rack of antlers. There were baby calves, raccoons, hawks, emu, horses, longhorns, shorthorns, goats, and more.
We stopped in a very small town, Kerens, and learned something VERY interesting. That will be saved for another post.
We eventually wound our way back to the interstate for the final approach to Dallas. We stopped in the Czech town of West, Texas to purchase some of their famous kolaches for our Sunday breakfast.

All in all, it was a wonderful day, ending a wonderful week! Thank you, Harry!!!

Until the next post,

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

TIME TO BLOG (#91)

Disney has kept me very busy lately. Lots of accounts to visit with the recent release of Sleeping Beauty on DVD. Tonight I decided to schedule some "ME" time and I made the next block for the Mystery BOM some of us are doing. Here is the block. I see that I am still rusty from the lack of sewing over the past couple of years. I hope my precision returns soon!

Last weekend we went on an adventure to the Heritage Park of Farmers Branch, Texas. There are homes, log cabins, churches, etc. from the late 1800s and early 1900s. One of the "homestead houses" has a garden and features some wonderful examples of agriculture of the day. Isn't the flower below beautiful.... so white and unblemished. Can you guess what it is?

After time, the flower above evolves into the PINK flower below. Strangely beautiful though.


As the pink blossom above matures it becomes the swollen pod shown below. Still any idea what plant this is?

Once the pod dries, it opens to exhibit its glorious contents. If you guessed COTTON, you were correct. This is the plant that makes our quilting fetish possible!!!

I thought this made an interesting picture.... okra lined up on a bench.


This is my favorite building at the park. In another lifetime I would have wanted my house to look like this.... heck, even in THIS lifetime I'd like to have this house (with air conditioning and indoor plumbing, of course)!

The old Farmers Branch train depot. The vintage Marathon Gas Station beyond the rail depot has a gas pump in the front advertising gasoline for 17 cents a gallon!!!
The reason we were at the park is because there was a Vintage Base Ball (yes, 2 words) Tournament being played. The rules are oddly different than current day baseball. The thing most different is the players do not use any gloves!! Another oddity is that if a player in the outfield catches a ball on the first bounce it is the same as catching a fly ball and the batter is out!

Here is an update of my fall garden. Tomatoes are starting to set and the broccoli looks as though it can't get any bigger. There are no crowns yet.


Until another day....

Sunday, October 05, 2008

DENISON...FAMOUS FOR a different IKE!

On Saturday we had a destination clearly in mind. Denison, Texas... population about 23,000.... birthplace of General Ike Eisenhower, thirty-forth president of the United States. It was the weekend for the annual Fall Main Street Festival. Street vendors sold their wares down the center of Main Street.

There was a vintage car show at one end of Main Street. The car below is a *true* classic.... just like me; a 1955 model Ford Fairlane. I am reminded that I once took a vacation to the mountains in an exact version of this car. However, I was all of 2 years old and don't remember much of the trip!


The architecture was exquisite. I can spend hours ohhing and ahhing over things as silly as the pattern of cobblestones or the leading of a decrepit window.


Doesn't this alley look quaint and ripe for exploring? The bamboo plants growing off the secluded back entrance were as fascinating as the rusted walkway connecting the two buildings.


Looking down the stairs from the second story of the historic Denison train depot. The lines caught my attention.


This is without a doubt one of the most beautiful leaded glass entrances I've ever seen. The clarity of the irises combined with the high wooden ceilings was breath-taking.


As for Ike Eisenhower's birthplace.... we never got there. We walked around the little town and then decided to travel west to the town of Muenster. We'd visited Muenster in the spring and enjoyed it enough to make a repeat visit. We ate a late lunch at a German restaurant, then shopped at the German grocery store, and ended the afternoon by attending Mass at the Muenster Catholic Church, Sacred Heart.
Until the next post....

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

THEN.... AND NOW

Two weeks ago..... tomato then....

Tomato now.....

Cabbage then....


Cabbage now.....


Lettuce, cauliflower, and broccoli then.....


Lettuce, cauliflower, and broccoli now.....



Until then..... again.....