Pictures taken of twin fawns born in my hay field on Mother's Day one year ago. We could see the doe hanging around for a couple of hours, before she gave birth. This was so awesome to witness. The mom left them for a short time after getting them all cleaned up, just long enough for me to get theses pictures. Deer often have their babies here on the farm, some have babies here every year and many times they are twins. After a while you come to recognize the deer that frequent here year after year. As well as deer that are just passing through. We love watching the deer activity all year long.

Twin Fawns

About one hour old

One of my favorite photos

Painted this chair for a local "Chair-ity" Auction. These chairs were left in a local warehouse, for which the owner decided to have area artist paint, sculpt or decorated in anyway of their choice, he said they did not even need to be usable. Use your imagination. Upon completion of the chairs, they will be displayed in different shops around town, that are part of the "Bedford Artisan Trail" so that people can view them before the auction, as well as be made available to social media. The opening bid on each chair will be $50 with increment of $10 minimum. Each chair will also have a "buy it now" price of $200. Money raised for this event will benefit local youth art programming on the Bedford Artisan Trail. I'm working on a second chair, if I finish it in time, I will post a picture of that one as well.

                                             

      Detail on top (front)

Close-up of seat

Completed Chair

For more information on the "Bedford Artisan Trail" please visit

                       www.artisanscenterofvirginia.org

This is a hot dog chili that I make, this came from a lady who was kind enough to share the ingredients with me, but did not give me the recipe. Her chili was delicious and smelled terrific, it was the smell of hers that drew me in. I was happy to have the ingredient list and felt sure I could come close to the taste. I make this chili often and everyone that has tried it likes it. This chili is on the spicy side, but not hot. Just very flavorful.

                                           Hot Dog Chili

             2 lbs. ground beef (80%-20%)
             1 large onion, chopped into larger pieces
             1 packet McCormick chili seasoning mix
             1 packet McCormick taco seasoning mix
             1 12-oz. jar Sofrito (found in mexican food section)
             2 beef bouillon cubes
             1 teaspoon Adobo seasoning
             1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
             1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
             1 15-oz. can kidney beans

In a medium saucepan, thoroughly cook the ground beef, adding the chopped onion half way through cooking time.

Drain cooked beef well, and return to saucepan.

Add the remaining ingredients, except the kidney beans, allow to simmer on low, stirring occasionally, for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Add drained kidney beans, stir in gently, heat on low an additional 10 minutes.

Serve with your favorite hot dog and enjoy!!
                           

More Fair Winners: This peacock wreath is another fair entry that took first place. I made this using lots of peacock feathers, which I embellished with rhinestones, artificial flowers, I made the peacock body out of polymer clay (my idea) and of course added more feathers for the tail and pretty cord for accent.

First Place Winner

Little More Detail

I have two male (males are prettier than the females, they are mostly brown) blue indigo peacocks, it takes them about two to three years for them to reach there full potential as far as there feathers and color. This summer they will be two years old. When the weather allows I will share some pictures of them, they should be beautiful. It would be neat to see what they look like at three years old.

A few things I made for my sons teacher for "Teacher Appreciation Week", last year. I sent her a small gift for each day that week. She loved them all and was so appreciative of each one. She said "It made her feel so special". One gift not pictured was a mini clear plastic paint can filled with chocolate kisses.

Bright Flower Arrangment

Candle

Decorated Box For Candle

Light Bulb filled with Tic Tac

Chinese Take Out Box Filled with Cookies

            Happy Easter to Everyone!!!

                               
                      Have a Blessed Day!!!

                             Today April 2 is 

               "World Autism Awareness Day"                  

The month of April is "Autism Awareness Month". Today I would like to honor my daughter and recognize all children and their families, whom deal with and are touched by Autism Spectrum  Disorder (ASD) each day.  Acceptance, Educating, Advocating, Love and the real power in numbers, is what will make a huge difference in the lives of our children. We can all learn and help teach others in the importance of Understanding and Acceptance of this disorder. So today wear blue, hold your heads high and stand proud, knowing we are all working hard (each and everyday) to make this world a better place for our children. Take your child's hand and together celebrate today and everyday!! For more information please visit www.autismspeaks.org

                                                                       

Have you ever looked for or found any sheds? This is a pair of sheds I found while riding in a truck, of all places. Most of the time you find sheds on foot, in the woods or in a field, maybe a trail path. This pair was found in the same spot, up on a bank that was lined with trees and an over grown fence row. Just at eye level from the truck. I figured a buck must have bedded down there. When I spotted them, I told my husband to stop, and that it looked like some sheds. At first he thought I was kidding him. He did stop the truck, got out, walked back down the road a short distance and looked on the bank in the area I thought I had seen them. I was watching in the rear view mirror, when he reappeared back in my view, and when I saw that he had a pair of sheds in his hands, I was so excited. Of course I could tell that he was pretty excited himself. How cool, this was a great find. I have searched many times for sheds but had never found any. I actually just looked on my property just about a month ago, found nothing. Guess I need to brush up on my shed hunting skills. My husband put this pair of sheds on a plastic European skull-mounting kit for me. I think they look awesome.

European skull-mounting kit

Side view

Close-up of plastic skull