Two Sisters Recycled

Last Saturday my sister and I did our first craft show at the local college.  It was their "first" annual craft and rummage sale in their parking lot.  What a beautiful day it was.  Perfect weather and the kids did an awesome job with organization.  EXCEPT they didn't advertise very much.  Lots of vendors but not many customers.  But it was a good experience for us to learn how to set up the awning and display our stuff.  Here are a few pictures.

We sold a couple totes and a couple rugs.   So now we will know what all we need for the big craft fair in October that is a well established event.
I am off tomorrow for my weaving demonstration.  I like to say that the Grasshopper is now the Master!  LOL!  Anyway it is fun to show off some of what I have learned.  It is a state park north of Joplin.  They celebrate the prairie thus Prairie State Park,  (you can google it)  An all day celebration with music, hay rides out to see the buffalo and the living history loop (That would be me)  in my prairie dress.  Please let it not be to dang hot.  Mid 70's is forcasted.  I am sure I will have pictures next week.  I will also be ready to take a picture of my weaving from class that I took off the loom this week.  I can taste that buffalo BBQ right now!  Woo Hoo,  or is that Moo Moo?

Go West they said, so we did!

Back from a week long trip/vacation.  We spend 2 days in Wyoming at Saratoga.  Here is a pic of the Platte River, it was low enough that you could walk across it.  Weather was beautiful. Got a sprinkle the first nite there.  Ate at the old Wolf Hotel.

Mountain range east of Saratoga in the Medicine Bow Range.

Next is a peak into the bar of the Wolf Hotel.

We got a private tour of the old museum in Saratoga,  Hubby's cousin is a volunteer there and here is an older picture of her modeling their grand mother's wedding dress from around 1900. Their grand parents homesteaded in Saratoga and later he built a butcher shop to provide meat to the miners and she built a hotel called the Palace Hotel which she ran till she died in 1960 and it was torn down by her last wishes.

We left Saratoga on Wed. and dropped down into Colorado on the western side of the Rockies so missed the rain that Denver had.  We had beautiful weather the rest of the week. 
Here is a picture of the lake where we spend 2 days.  It is north of Gunnison Colorado, Taylor Lake.

We stayed in one of these rustic cabins.  You can see part of the lake in the back ground.  We were at 8,000 ft. elevation. It was 27 degrees both mornings we were there so had to scrape a little ice from the windshield before we could go fishing.

We caught a total of 10 trout to bring home.  Very good eating! The lake level was really low here also.  We drove our vehicle down to the lake edge where we used to park 20 to 30 ft back up the bank.
As we left this area we drove over Monarch Pass, and the trees were beautiful.

As we got over the pass we saw the first fresh snow that fell in the night mountain tops a couple days before.

Over all we had a good trip and hubby's sister was a good sport for staying in a rustic cabin for 2 nights.  We love that stuff but she missed her Fox news fix everyday.  Last night we stayed in Dodge City Kansas at a decent motel and she had that TV on so fast she could hardly eat any dinner! 
Me?  I could have cared less.  But we made it home safe and sound. 
Short week at the store this week.  Will be closed tomorrow so I can do my first craft show.  Anxious to see how it goes.  My sister and I are working together on this with our hand made crafts.  Will take some pictures and post next week. 
Where the heck did September go???  So glad to be having nice fall weather at last!

My Toad cactus (Star cactus)

This was the first bloom before I moved it out onto the front porch.  I don't think it liked the heat but it was my only option as it is in the shade at least.  Poor plant is used to 76 degrees in the house and its been in high 90's this week.  Glad it is about done blooming.  It really smells up the porch and attracts these really big flies.

As you can see in this close up picture.  I feel privledged to have such an unusual plant and enjoy tending them and watching them grow big.  Have a couple other unusual plants I will mention later.

Been getting stuff ready to do my first craft show later this month.  Will post some pictures about that.

Almost ready to give birth!

Well not me but my toad cactus!

I have only had one blooming about 7 years ago from the plant that I took this start from.  The old plant got a fungus on it and I finally had to give up on it.  So this plant is about 4 years old.  This morning I could cup the biggest pod in the palm of my hand. Its about 4 to 5 inches long. 

Here is a picture of the old plant when it bloomed. The bloom measures 12 inches across and I wish you could feel it.  Sort of a cross between velvet and rubber.  But oh, the smell is terrible.

I have 10 good bloom pods on my cactus now.  About 5 tiny ones dried up.  I copied the following from a site that I looked up for more info.  There seem to be several varieties as some blooms are fat and more toad like.

  "Orbeas are a genus of succulent plants in the Apocynacea family, they're evergreen- leafless plants native to Africa. Starfish Cactus and Toad Cactus are misleading common names because this plant is not a cacti-it is a succulent. A better common name for this Orbea is Carrion Flower or African Carrion Flower."

From reading this article I learned that the smell of a "rotten mouse" is to attract flies to help pollinate the plant.  It also said that to get the blooms you need to let it get pretty dry during the winter then put in more sunlight (hot hot sun) and give more water in the spring to get it to bloom.  So guess I just accidentally did something right to get it to bloom.  I know I have killed some of my starts by watering them to much.
So there you have my Toad/star cactus which is not really a cactus.