it's the horns that make this post special

This is the road that leads to my sister and brother-in-law's farm. I was lucky enough to visit it while I was in Texas. It leads to rolling pasture filled with green grass and cows. They are part-time/full-time genuine cow rustlers and hay balers, and fence fixers and everything else it takes to raise cattle. Lots of work goes into it and lots of great photo opportunity for me to take some pictures. However, this day, I neglected to charge my camera battery, so most of these are taken with my sister's camera and my cell phone camera.  I had been looking forward to this farm trip for a long while...and I didn't have my camera charged!  Go figure. It was a nice day in October and I loved getting the tour of the farm!

And here are a couple of cows and the rolling pasture, trees, fences, barns and pretty yellow wildflowers. I believe this is a momma and her babe, as were most of the pairs.

And these two cuties. Don't you just want to go up and pet them...they look so soft! But, I didn't get anywhere close to petting them because they're animals and all...and you know how I can be a little apprehensive around beasts of any kind.  I do love the colors of these two the best. Look at the curls on top of her head. And those white eye-lashes. So pretty.

These guys made me a little nervous. I don't know why. Maybe the way the one on the left was eyeballing me. Just an observation. But, those pretty yellow wildflowers...so nice!

So nice. Until I discovered they were actually pretty little weeds and they were the center of my brother-in-law's work day. He was busy mowing, but took a little time to let me ride and drive the tractor. He taught me all about the clutch and lowering the mowing blade and steering and going up and down the rows just so. And lowering the mowing blade. Oh wait...I said that already...but, as it turned out, the action was described and later discovered (thinking I had steered the tractor down the row incorrectly) that the blade  was never actually lowered. No lowered blade=no mowing. I won't say who was responsible for that job...manly person on my right...who was working all those particular levers...while I was busy steering and clutching and concentrating on driving straight.... It gave us a good laugh anyway and a chance to go down that row one more time! It was fun!

And here is another cow softie. She was nibbling away at the hay.

  Let's get a close-up. Pretty lashes. Nice little tuft of hair on top. Soft, velvety skin on her neck. Beautiful two-toned ears. She's showing her age a little with the fine lines on her forehead. A little drippy around the eyes , but despite the picture quality...a nice sweet cow.

And then there were some of these. I don't know what they are called, not a genuineTexas longhorn as we might think, but something in the Brahman variety perhaps? Those are some serious horns!  Look at its cute ears though, the way they droop down all puppy-like. Kind of makes the horns seem a little less ferocious if you say the ears are puppy like...don't you agree? I thought it was interesting that all of the other cows were crowded around this one like she was the queen bee or something. I believe they said she was one of their older cows, so perhaps she was like the queen, with all of her royalty around to protect her. Although, I'm quite certain she would be the one to do the protecting with those horns!

Speaking of horns. Check out these beauties!

They belong to this animal I spotted in the field.

A beautifully rusted, perfectly weathered, very old dump truck!

Lets get a close-up. Nice side mirrors. Pretty custom plate under the window. Beautiful two-toned paint. Original chrome handles. A nice truck.

Another view. And yes, that is my sister in the shadow getting a few close-up pictures.

The insides show some wear as I'm sure many loads had been hauled over the years. In fact, they said my nephews and niece use to drive it. I'm not going to lie...I wished I could take it for a spin. In fact...I wished I could load that back end up with all sorts of rusty and old goodies and haul it all the way back to Arizona! I still know how to drive a stick shift!

Look at the leather detailing on the inside panels. Oh that turquoise!  A truck after my own heart.  In fact...I wish I could get my whole family there for a photo shoot. Wouldn't this truck make a great back drop for a Christmas photo? 

And then there were these horns.

 They have quite a collection of cows that had spent their last living days in the pasture of lovely yellow wild flowers. Some pretty impressive horns. These horns I was willing to get close to. In fact, keeping a longer story shorter, I negotiated bringing a few home with me. I want to try to art a couple up and also sell a couple as they are. Heads and horns , antler mounts and such, are becoming quite a decorating trend. So, I boxed a couple up and brought then home with me. Sadly, not this one in the photo. We just couldn't get it to fit in my checked luggage!

Before I left, I played around with my sister's mantle in her family room. They have had this skull in their garage for awhile. When my sister brought this beautiful gilded frame out of a closet...I knew just what I wanted to do. I told my sister to close her eyes and I ran out to the garage. Here is the result of my excitement. I believe, they are now right on trend with what's happening in the decor world. And...it's still there! She added a little Christmas to the mantle and I think they are all loving it. I believe it is a nice nod to their love of cows and farming that they have enjoyed all these years.

I certainly had a great time visiting their farms and showing them what they could do with some of their cool stuff that's just around.  I have already sold one of the skulls at a vintage market.  This one in fact. I hung it just like this with the frame around it. The lady only bought the skull and horns. I'm sure she has a plan for it! They really are quite lovely when you get use to the idea.

Okay. Since I'm covering the subject of cows and horns today, I feel the need to share this. 

A new bar extravaganza opened near us. Another ride-the-bull-cowboy-wearing-boots kind of place. Actually, I'm really not sure what kind of place it is. But they had this big pink tractor trailer in the arena for a couple of weeks as part of their grand opening.?. And look closely on top of the trailer.

Yep...a genuine Texas long horn steer!

The side of the trailer says. "Buffalo Express...It doesn't get any more western than this!"

There you go.

Horns. It's all about the horns.


Thanks for the great day at the farm Helen and David!

quote monday

                            " One picture is worth ten thousand words."
     

Please click here to see a really beautiful story.

glass at the desert

Two weeks ago, before the cold weather arrived, Austin and I went to the Botanical Gardens. I knew there was a special exhibit there, but I had no idea how beautiful it was. It is the Chihuly exhibit . Click on the highlighted word to read more about Dave Chihuly and his incredible work with glass. All of the pieces are just amazing and then to see them placed throughout the gardens is just awe inspiring. We were so surprised and amazed by all the beautiful glass pieces that we insisted Chuck meet us later to see it too. We took a lot of pictures and even decided to stay longer than planned in order to see it at night.

I had to include almost every picture that I took here, because each piece is just so beautiful.

Please enjoy.

                                               Catching the sun just right behind the glass fire ball.

                                   And here it is from a different angle.

One of the only non-glass photos I took. I love this cactus sun dial. And it was just about 3:30. Pretty accurate!

 They have a small exhibit inside where they showcased some of his smaller pieces. They were for sale.

The bowls were really pretty. Works of art. And art can be expensive. Like 5,000 dollars expensive. Can you just imagine what those very large pieces in the garden cost ?

We were there at just the right time of day. The sun was low in the sky, creating the perfect light on the sculptures and the cactus themselves. I love getting the angle just right to capture the sunspots!

There is a loop that the trail takes which goes through an area that displays plants and habitats of the Sonoran Desert. They have samples of homes built from natural material and show different habitats that have provided people with useful plants for fiber, food, medicines and such for 2,000 years. In this particular area the glass sculpture was in a boat. Very cool.

I didn't get a great shot of this one showing how tall it really is. But, believe me, it soars up as tall as some of the saguaro cactus. It is a beauty.

The sun, as it was setting, sparkled on the tips just perfectly.

And then we spotted these large globes suspended from the archway. They actually slowly move as the breeze catches it just right. Each globe was different. Have I said yet how amazing these pieces are? And it is all made from blown glass. Truly incredible!

Our reflections!

By now the sun was on the horizon and the lights were beginning to come light up. We were so excited to walk through a second time and see the difference a dark sky made. Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Remember the large fire ball. Now, against a dark sky, it literally was a fireball!

Here is the tall one, almost as tall as the cactus around it.

 This is the same piece that had the sun spots coming off of it that I showed earlier. This piece was called Baluga. Perhaps like little Baluga whales. I loved how they displayed it with the petrified insides of a saguaro cactus. An interesting juxtaposition of texture.

I wanted to insert this one here. It was taken during the daylight, but I want to show the progression from daylight to night.

The sun was perfectly on the horizon.

The details.

 And lastly, these delicate pieces of lavender glass. Most everything was in bold colors except for this display of pastels. The edges were so very delicate.

To say that I enjoyed this was an understatement. My yearly membership pass expired at the end of the month. I'm so very tempted to renew it...just so I can go back and see this again. And the Luminarias exhibit has now started, in addition to the Chihuly glass, for the holidays. I believe that will be beautiful as well.

The Botanical Gardens has been one of my favorite places to visit here in Phoenix. I have never been disappointed with any of the special exhibits they have had. Yep, I really like it there.

If you haven't been yet, or if the Chihuly exhibit comes to any gardens where you live, I urge you to see it.

It's beautiful!


Post edit: My sister Helen and her husband David celebrated a big anniversary last year. They had a nice celebration party at the Dallas Arboretum which, as it so happened, was hosting the Chihuly Exhibit. We were not able to make the big event, so in honor of them (a year late, but hey, this year is a year bigger then last year's anniversary) I thought I'd post a photo of them in front of one of the same glass pieces that we saw here. You will recognize it is the background. Happy Anniversary Helen and David... a couple of weeks early this year!

quote monday

                                                          Wherever you go, 
                                                no matter what the weather, 
                                             always bring your own sunshine.  
                                                        -Anthony J. D'Angelo

This cute fox was spotted in the mountains of  Colorado during my trip in October.

To all my family and friends who have been under blankets of snow, ice and grey skies... I hope a little sunshine falls down on you today! 
~norma~

sunday funday

I saw this recently and thought it was grand. Or royal...if I may. Or royally grand.

Sometimes fairy tales do come true!

if I were

still in Colorado, I would be making snow angels right now. We hear that the schools our kids attended were closed for a snow day! The 20 years we lived there, it never happened. Nope, not even once. 

And, we had some pretty terrific snowfall, so I can't imagine what it was like to produce a day off of school. Our kids would have loved a snow day!

The first month we lived here, the girls got a rain day. School closed because of rain. Interesting.

We are suppose to have freezing temperatures tonight, so we covered the plants outside. Everyone is getting weather from this storm that is passing through. Snow, ice and freezing temperatures. So, if you are where there is snow...make an angel for me. I'm a little green with jealousy. Actually, we are heading up north tomorrow to watch Leah sing and play her guitar. Maybe I'll sneak in a little snow angel time some where!

Everyone stay warm and safe.

quote monday

~norma~