A Fanciful Twist

Lovely Little This and That's...

Hello friends!!

I've been a hostage to monsoon season, oh my!

Failing internets and no phone.

But glorious clouds and grey thick air days make up for it.

And now here I am again.

Hoping I don't lose this post as I've lost a couple in an attempt to visit this week.

I've been up to all sorts of fun things.

Lots of nature and visits with old friends.

Too much fun perhaps, haha!

I decorated a wooden post in the middle of nowhere.

There are so many wildflowers out in the green desert these days, I simply couldn't resist.

 

This weather has me in all sorts of scary movies and tea times.

I've taken everything out of my old trastero and am moving things here and there.

I think this will be the place for whimsical tea time, as opposed to fancy tea time in my other hutch.

Sip sip sip.

The autumn love is trickling in.

My delivery boy, who insists on carrying the mail, is making some mighty fun deliveries.

Early this morning the air was so different.

Normally it's warm all night.

But today...

It was pitch dark at 5 a.m.

And the air had a crisp tinge of cool before the sun came out.

Quite unlike last week, or even the day before.

The skies have been utterly magical.

Churning and turning in their own enchanted spell.

Phone pic sky from my backyard.

What an evening that was.

Perfect for inventing tales and hiding out in the tiny cottage loft.

I almost thought I could see Mister Darcy walking towards me through the green.

My Jane Austen dreams do overtake me from time to time.

I think autumn is really teasing its way in.

Sneaky curious little season indeed.

How are you out there?

Wells....

I best wrap up things and get ready for a movie and dinner date with my sister.

Also known as my sinister, haha!

 

Love, V

 

 

ps:  I'm beyond adoring starting to send out witchy spell parcels from my shop.

Soooo much fun!!

 

Pumpkin Tales...

Hello from the land of no internet.

It got taken out twice in a row by storms, but here we are again, hooray!

Just in time for tales, of the pumpkin vine variety.

In the land of never ending summer, a certain pumpkin growing girl lost all her vines to wild pigs.

Yes, wild pigs.

Javelina to be exact.

Yes yes, you've heard that tale before.

I didn't get angry in the end.

But now...

There is a twist!

The Pumpkin King knew she worked so very hard year to year.

Toiling in desert heat.

So, he decided to bestow a little pumpkin magic upon her after all.

And so it was...

That in the flower garden, where the garden swing hangs from a giant canopying mesquite tree...

Pumpkin vines decided to pop through the ground, slowly unfurling.

Curls and leaves gingerly twirling about.

Making their way up to the sky.

Having tea with ivy and swaying in the hot breeze.

Crawling up higher and higher.

Dancing up the bark.

Using string lights for support.

Gracing us with the greatest gift.

What would summer be like in Fanciful, Arizona without at least one pumpkin vine?

And so, I've been swinging with glee.

Watching my pumpkin vine climb the great big tree.

Delighted that the Pumpkin King did not forsake me.

 He found a way to make it happen.

In the most magical little spot.

Where shade and swing meet up with a girl and a couple furs several times a day.

Where songs are sung out of key.

Where popsicles drip from elbow to knee.

Where candles and lanterns and fairy lights bounce off their enchantment by night.

That's where pumpkin goodness has found me.

Thankful hearted I am I am.

I soooo am.

Loving the winding twirling curling dance of the pumpkin vine.

Nature, curious character indeeeeed!

Makes me happy as can be.

 

Any fun little nature things happening in your neck of the woods?

I'm sooo happy to have internet again.

It's been a week and a half of struggling with it.

Imagine what we ever did without it?

I guess without it we never would have met, would we?

 

So, I hate to say this...

Because I adore seasons and appreciate them so.

But...

I think summer has taken a toll on me.

Sweltering endless days.

Feeling just exhausted from the heat.

Going up hills early in the hot hot hot everyday.

I'm ready for a tinge of cool, how bout you?

A week ago I wasn't ready, but now I am.

It hit me, are you feeling it too?

 

I think the growing things would love a tiny break as well.

I'm certain of it.

 

Love, V

 

 

 

Field Trip to a Western Village...

How about we take a field trip today?

In my dreams I live here...

In a little village just like this.

This little Western village is called Trail Dust Town and is located in Tucson, Arizona.

For more into, click here.

It's a place I have been going to since I was a little girl.

It's home to some really popular fun restaurants that people flock to like mad.

This morning I found myself there by accident really, as it's far from home.

In fact, I drove right past on my way to a shop.

Then I thought, oh I haven't been there in ages, so I turned around and went back.

It was morning and I was the only person there.

I had the most wonderfully fabulous and inspiring time.

All alone, just looking around.

It was ahhmazing.

I took some phone pics to share, so hop on in and let's go...

 

Nothing like a storybook setting for a proper dose of everything inspiration.

Fills all sorts of inspiration vaults for certain.

I'd love to live upstairs and run the magic shop.

Imagine?

 

Dreamy.

I had forgotten how cute and well kept this place is.

At night with all the people around it has an amusement park feel.

But alone early in the morning it felt perfectly magical really.

Of course I adoooored the apothecary shop.

I have a tiny little village in my garden and this visit has me swirling with ideas.

I just love the signs and the door.

All sorts of goodies in the windows too.

You can pan for gold...

Or peek in covered wagons.

Of course I peeked in :-)

The general store is chock full of fun things to buy.

Sweets and treats a plenty.

I looove these mechanical horses.

When I was a kid I had to always ride them.

Remember they had them outside of supermarkets and such?

Now I never see them, do you?

I'd looove to own one of these cigar guys.

The colors and vibe are wonderful all around, wouldn't you say?

There's still much more to see than what I took snaps of.

The uber popular steak house is called Pinnacle Peak.

If you wear a tie they cut it off after making a loud scandal about the whole thing.

I've been there so many times over the last 30 years or more, I've lost count.

My parents used to always take us there as kidlets.

As a grown girl, my heart was particularly drawn to this urn.

How I would love to have that in my own garden.

What a lovely little visit I had.

Hope you enjoyed a peek in.

It's been ages since we did something like this on the blog, hasn't it?

Maybe we need lots more field trips.

Me thinks, yes, yes indeed.

 

So there you have it, Trail Dust town.

6541 E Tanque Verde Rd.  Tucson, AZ 8571

 

See you soooon!

Love, V

 

 

August Petals & Other Tales...

Hello there & happy Friday!

I thought I'd pop in for a short visit with some sunny summer petals.

I can't believe some brights are popping in on these hottest days.

The big yellow dahlias finally popped open.

Leave it to nature to inspire paint colors galore.

My garden is really happy in late summer and fall.

Everything grows so tall in summer, and then blooms madly as days get cooler.

Although, the days have not been cooler at all yet.

We're still melting.

I'm so grateful for the blooms that grace us in this ridiculous heat.

I adoooore when the marigolds, in their ruffled yellow, turn up.

The wisteria is giving another wave of blooms.

The hollyhocks have kept up all summer.

The California giant zinnias have started blooming after growing ever so tall.

It's all so much fun.

So, I thought I'd wish you a happy Friday...

With a smattering of color inspiration from nature.

Paint, yarn, fabric, pencils...

For some reason the colors of the petals inspire all sorts of artistic whims in me.

As I take my photos Miles wades in his pool while take big sloshy gulps of water.

He had a giant pool, but for some reason they prefer the little one.

I went hiking this week.

What a huge adventure.

It was really hard at some point.

Mostly because the air was so thin and the sun was so bright.

But the low area heading up to 9,000+ feet and the trek back down through the forest...

Oh my, talk about inspiring.

Streams, butterflies, toadstools.

You name it, the forest had it.

It was beyond fairy tale goodness in ways I can't even describe.

Well, you know what I mean if you have a forest.

I squealed and swooned the whole way.

Getting to the top seemed like the biggest task ever at about 3.5 miles uphill.

It got so hot and sunny as we left the dense forest headed to the top.

We had to go 4 miles uphill.

So my friend and I did a total of 9 miles in the end, it was great.

I try to do about 5 miles a day with hills, so it was a great challenge to tackle this hike.

Definitely not for the faint of heart, but the view from the top...

Totally worth it.

Did you know that at the top of the Santa Catalina mountains (which you see from Tucson) is a wonderful place called Mt. Lemmon?

And did you know, it's a forest?

Yep, a forest right smack in the middle of the desert.

Such a gem.

What a great week.

And now, I'll put my petals in proper vases, and perhaps pick up the yellow paint.

You can peek in on my instagram account to see more pics and videos of the forest.

The forest really is a magical place, isn't it?

I feel inspired and delighted with all I saw.

I should go up there more often.

How are you out in your neck of the woods?

 

Happy weekend!!

Love, V

 

 

A Recipe for Inspiration...

Sometimes, it's fun to create a magical concoction.

A dash of that, a sprinkle of this.

Colors, textures, sparkles.

Toss together randomly.

Voila!

The reason would be, for no reason at all really.

Other than to get the create vibes swirling.

After summers and projects and busy days and hot air...

Stepping back into the studio for a little creative alchemy is just what you might be craving.

I am.

No need to measure.

No need to write it down.

Just toss it all together.

Pointless fun.

Ever so necessary.

Petals and thread...

Tiny things and lace scraps.

Faux winged creatures...

Millinery flowers.

Old letters.

Whatever you love.

Bring it all together for a little game of inspiration fun.

It's in those moments that ideas and faces start to appear.

You don't have to go into the studio to create a set thing.

A masterpiece.

Just jump in with some madness.

It always sparks the soul.

Always.

Then put on your wings of imagination...

Sewn together with old thread....

Write your own fairy tale for the day...

Pen or keys...

And off you fly.

 

 

A little good nonsense.

I think we all need this, don't you?

Summer is winding down a little in the heart.

People are craving a new season.

Yet, it will still be warm a little while longer.

It's the curious time where feelings and creative desires shift.

So, I like to hide in the studio and whip together some meaningless fun.

Which usually tends to be meaningful fun.

Because it's when you relax and go a little bonkers that the ideas pop in.

Don't they?

 

How's life out there?

It's great here.

Lots going on.

Getting to share fun things very very soon.

Little projects and things coming to fruition.

The dahlias and zinnias and cosmos are huge, blooming now.

Getting ready to explode if it ever cools down a little.

Summer summer.

Summer in the desert makes you forget that one day you will not be melting.

One day you will feel breeze again.

What a delicious longing.

But for now, we have baubles and sparkles and a little studio fun.

Inspiration love!

 

xoxo,

Vanessa