Monday mop-up...

(click on pics to enlarge - sizes vary)

So much for Friday's outlook-glance of a 20% chance for storms on Sunday afternoon...I captured the above radar snag just before 4pm yesterday, when we had a right nice coverage of storms whipping through the Triad.

As has been the case lately, no moss grows between my toes on the weekends (actually, that would be kind of gross if that ever truly happened!). This past one was no exception. It was a weekend of dusting off the cobwebs and going, "Wheretheheck did I put THAT last time I used it???"

On Saturday I vended my Ugly Boy flutes at a small-ish one-day art festival in the quaint town of Saluda, NC, which I've done the past 3 years...it's right by my mom and sister in Tryon, so it's always good to see and spend some time with family. But setting up and operating a booth (read 10x10 tent, tables, racks, table cloths, office-type items, to start the long list of 'necessities') requires not only a lot of work, but a lot or organization. I let this show be a 'trial run' in advance of my much larger and more serious show booth at Bele Chere in Asheville over the last 3-day weekend in July.

Yep, forgot a little of this, a few of that, need to make some of this, buy a tad of that...and luckily the show, overall, sucked. (I figure it's okay to use that word since I heard Garrison Keillor say it in on a re-run of Prarie Home Companion yesterday!). It was a gorgeous day, but the crowds weren't huge and I had been placed far on the edge of a venue with the back of the display booth mere feet from the active street, and part of a line of 4 booths between said street and an active parking lot that they didn't block off. Gas money and fees were covered with what meager sales I had, hence accepting the 'dry run' perspective for what it was. I did get a 3rd place 'vendor award' for my booth and wares, but when I was called to the awards ceremony, the lady handed it to me and said "Sorry, you only get a ribbon!". It was sadly humorous as the others got money. As always, the best part of any show is meeting some really neat people, connecting through a magical, spiritual musical instrument, watching them get excited...no substitute for those experiences.

As is usually the case when I visit mom, she has a laundry list of questions on how to do this and that on the computer. As you may know from recent blogs, she just got back from a trip to my brother's in Boston, and had taken some of her own pictures...only she had questions on how to use them for various functions. Within her pics were these of whom I call Willie Boo (I figured uncles have 'poetic license' to nickname relatives as they see fit!)...

If the above pics don't define 'cherubic' and 'innocence', I don't know what does...

Remember the post last week where I spoke of my grandfather, Papa? Mom now lives in his house, and when he built it he spent a lot of time strategically planting and placing various flowers and varieties of flowering shrubs. Couldn't help but take the little Canon S2 and do a little plinking, especially up close...


The above 2 rhododendron shots were from a plant that was radically cut back a few years ago, and this was the first year it bloomed since then...


Papa knew his plants...he set many varieties of azaleas out, each disposed to bloom at different times of the spring. As a result, there is a constant showcase colors as one blooms while another shrivels up and yet another's bud's continue to fatten to take over the palette charge. I find the splotches of color inside the blooms fascinating...

Tulip poplars are well-known trees here in the south...they tend to grow very tall and very straight, and they are appropriately named because their bloom is quite a gorgeous looking flower. Normally, you see just various petals and pieces that get blown down from the high canopy, but there were several whole flowers I found in mom's driveway. This one had a leaf attached...poplar leaves can be either 4- or 6-pointed (like the one above)...the 4-pointed really looks like a simple drawing of a tulip, as does the flower.

Anyhow, that's the big and the small of this past weekend. Have a good day, now, y'hear?!...