Freedom Festival

It's the 4th of July, and we headed to the Freedom Festival in Provo. We had not been before and really didn't know what to expect. It was larger than I had imagined and the crowds made it hard to navigate the sidewalks. Wayne had to be persuaded to go this time, (but he did go) and was a good baby sitter for Emerson as Amy and I went from booth to booth to look at the crafts, art, and "for sale" goodies. A stage was set up for the musical acts that played throughout the day, and since there were lots of food booths, Wayne could feel at home.

Glad we had the stroller and E's backpack leash.

On the way in there was a contraption that you could go on to simulate a trapeze. We never did see anyone that was able to do it. They all fell.


The times that I was at the stage, the musicians were not there. Instead there was a mime.
Not terribly impressive.....but are they ever? They try to get out of an imaginary box and do a sort of moonwalk. Ho hum!


There was a puppet show and E was interested for 10 minutes because of the blue Elmo look-alike, but that didn't last long either.

I liked the Colonial section of the park where people were dressed as, and were doing the chores
as the colonials did at the time. This was the candle maker. It takes 25 dippings to make a candle this size from beeswax.

In the women's tent, this wig was set up. I thought they had big hair in the 80's but this beats all. Can you imagine the heat, dirt and bugs that this hair-do would attract? I am quite sure it was a long time from wash to wash.

This was an ordinary soldier's tent.

One of the soldier's with his canon.

Now here is something I could have used when the kids were teenagers.

Why, oh why did they get rid of stocks?

A colonial lady

The wooden spoon maker must have needed a potty break as I never did see him, but his spoons were wonderful. You could see how he started out with just a block of wood and had to carve each one into a work of art. Now we can run into the dollar store for a set of 3.

The broom maker's outfit and glasses were so authentic that I felt like I had been in a time warp back to the 1700's. He makes his brooms the way they did back then with sorghum straw that he weaves together. It takes skill and an artistic knack to get a strong and handsome broom.

The finished products

Here was the blacksmith making some wrought iron pieces. It was a hot day and his booth was even more so. I'm sure he was glad to quit at the end of the day. It gave me a better appreciation of the real working conditions for those men at that time.

I am also very grateful that I wasn't there with them. Thank you God for allowing me to be born in the the 50's. No, not the 1750's or 1850's. The happy and carefree 1950's where my biggest worry was, "does the fork go on the left or the right?" Freedom....what a wonderful privilege.

This is What Happens

Enlarge to see better.

What happens when you get your entire family....parents, kids, grand kids and dog together for a family photo? Phil Struthers knows, since he was our photographer and neighbor. Luckily he was patient and gave it a few more tries. This is the one that didn't work. Notice
Wes and Amy have their eyes closed, Alex and Wayne got distracted and looked sideways,
Lissie is looking down, Toby is adjusting his hair, Millie is frowning, there is too big a gap between Joey and me and the dog ran away.

Utah Arts Festival

This Saturday Wes, Amy, Emerson, Wayne and I went to the 2009 Utah Art's Festival. It is the 3rd year that we have gone. It's a great people watching event, an art show, a food and film festival and talent show all rolled into one. The poor economy has shown it's face here too with fewer booths, fewer large art spectacles and music groups but it was still worth going. The following pictures show my favorite art booths.

How cute are these? I LOVE THEM!! They are all pepper grinders. I have used my pepper grinder for 38 years but I think I have room in my cupboard for one more of these.

There were several metal sculpture artists this year and all of them did amazing work. This artist did just cacti. They were very expensive cacti. He had photos of them in front of several mansions. They will not be in front of my home but I think they are clever and beautiful.

I think real cacti are pretty easy to take care of, but these need no water at all.

They were quite large, probably life size, so you would have to have just the right place to "plant" them.

This artist did her sculptures using black wire. This old raven looks eerily lifelike.

One of my favorite booths at the festival was this one. This artist builds all of his sculptures by welding scrap metal, nuts, bolts, screws, springs, old machine parts and whatever he can salvage. Each sculpture is full of humor as you can see. This skeleton (I think he is a head hunter)

is actually a torch. He is holding a spear with a butane bottle attached.

Whenever you hear the someone say they will do something when pigs fly, you can now expect it to be done. As you can see, here is a flying pig.

Little Shop of Horrors is missing their plant.

Here is a bolt legged spider and a small army tank.

I have wanted this for three years. It really tickles my funny bone. But until I get my bag of cash from somewhere, I will have to covet it. It is hard to see because with my bad leg I can't get on my hands and knees to photograph anymore. There are two little creatures carrying a gnome away on their shoulders. I would find a place to put it.

There was a booth where you could go and make yourself a hat. Now, just because you "can" make them doesn't mean you have to wear them does it? They were made from paper bags and covered with all kinds of jewels, paint, felt, and scrapbook doodads.

These two pictures are a few of the signs that the artists painted and had reproduced and applied to wood to look like real old signs.

Wayne and Wes were a little bored so they sat in front of the stage acts. Emerson fell asleep and it gave Amy and me a chance to see booths that didn't appeal to their manly senses.

These next 3 sculptures are from a lady named Kathy Ross. Her artwork is very whimsical

and fun. I visited with her and she said she sits for long periods of time just thinking, and that these pieces of artwork are the result. Don't you love the tennis shoes on this one? She said they were once key chains.

I love this curtain and window frame sculpture.

You can make up your own interpretation for this one but I love to read and this one touched my heart. If you want to see more, go to http://www.krsculptureanddolls.com/

Are you hungry for citrus now? Kelley Somer, a talented artist from Alpine, UT

paints her paintings using only a palette knife. You can see more of her artwork at

http://www.kelleysomer.blogspot.com/

After walking around all day it was nice to just sit while the barbershop quartet group regaled us with old fashioned and patriotic melodies.

It's the end of the day. We are tired, hot and our feet are sore but are happy to have spent a day together enjoying the talents of others.

Blog Awards

My daughter Amy sent me this award for my blog. Oh thank you Amy, you made my day. You can find her clever blog at this site:

Amy's Poppies and Papercuts

I have chosen 15, but I have many more that I could have put on this list.

To pass on the loveliness, here are the rules:
* Accept the award, and post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
* Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have discovered and love.

(You may not have that many, but whatever)
*Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Thank you bloggers for all the good reading and pictures.

1.THE RUSTIC CHICK I don't know this gal, I just stumbled upon her blog and I think it is clever and a fun read. A story of a country gal.

2.Wayne's World My hubbies blog. I LOVE to read his stories. He just doesn't update it enough. We wait with baited breath for each saga....the stories from his life.

3.Jordan Ferney Oh Happy Day! Another blog I just stumbled upon. She talks about fashion, art, and just cute things and stuff you wish you had.

4.Margaret's Blog My sister's blog. She has a way with words and has had some funny incidents in her life that make this a fun read.

5.Ron Marchant's My cousin's blog, who is a fantastic photographer and although I don't understand most of his camera terms, the photography is BEAUTIFUL and well worth looking at.

6.Welton Family Blog My friend Susan's family blog. She has clever children who contribute regularly and you find yourself wanting them to contribute more and more often.

7.Ask Kari & Kijsa A blog of creativity. You find yourself wanting to copy their ideas.

8.Making Memories A scapbook blog with good photos of scrapbook ideas.

9.The Red Bulletin Board Random musings and ideas. (very clever)

10.UNCLE EDDIE'S THEORY CORNER! A bit raw sometimes, but he waxes nostalgic about people, comics, art and ideas.

11.Tip Junkie Just what it says

12.Stephanies Kitchen Simple food at it's finest

13.Pumpkinseeds Folk Art Holiday folk art

14.Totally Looks Like… Famous People and Celeb Look-A-Likes Just a funny and fun look alike site
15. Scraps of Kee My daughter-in-law's blog. She is a deep thinker and clever writer.

Idaho Part 2

These are the photos (taken on our trip to Idaho) that make me smile. I am always on the lookout for unusual things to photograph and I have my eye out for the quirky or different things to make my trip more interesting. Sometimes I really have to look and sometimes they just present themselves to me. On this trip, both things happened.

Look at these yummy baby Canadian geese. Look even closer. I must be a pretty good photographer to catch the baby on the left just as he....well you see.

For those who wonder what Wayne does for a living, this is it. He engineers the building of these large feed and grain mills. They put together everything from the elevator legs to the augers to the bins and storage tanks. Wayne sells, plans and oversees their construction.
Halverson Company Agriculture Solutions Home

Blackfoot, Idaho has to be one of the quirkiest places we have driven through. We try to never take the interstate unless we have to, because back roads are the way to go when you want to find the interesting and unusual parts of a town.
This is a lady that must have had her hey-day in the late 60's. She is wearing a mini skirt, her hair is in a straight bob, and she is wearing white lipstick. I remember white lipstick (and maybe even wore some at one time). Alas, the restaurant is no more, but her glory is still beckoning people to town. I love her!! She is very tall as you can see as you size her up to the buildings behind her.

This is a miniature bridge of the real thing that goes over the Snake River.

I love little donkeys and always tell Wayne that I want a miniature one in my back yard. As we pulled up to a stop light, we saw this little donkey head sticking out the back window of a van.

It was definitely one of those double-take moments.

This is a wooden carving next to the entrance of a golf course. I couldn't get the top of the feather in the photo because I was in the car when I snapped it, but I would guess it to be about 20 feet tall.

Who can go through Blackfoot without taking a picture of a giant potato?

Mmmmmm, makes me hungry. There used to be a sign saying that you could get a free potato
if you visited the museum. The sign is gone and so are the free potatoes. Darn, this economy.

These are the fuel storage tanks at a gas station that are painted to advertise Coke products.
I wonder if they make people driving by want to stop at the station for a cool one?

Wayne was in a meeting and I was sitting in the car reading when I noticed this van. Enlarge the picture and you will see it's a little ironic that the messages on the back and middle doors are about an Orthopedics business and the front door advertises a ski resort. It's a kind of "you butter my palms, and I'll butter yours"

situation.

This is just a great old smokestack that is still standing next to a business that no longer uses it.

It must have been something in it's day.

This is an amazing bronze sculpture in Idaho Falls of eagles and their babies. The nest was made of what looked like large logs and water was cascading down from the mountain. The whole sculpture was built in the middle of a round-about and there was something to see at each side. It was beautiful!

The other side.

Well, I am ready to go again. What is unusual in your town? I want to see it.