Got Costume?

i'm having to dress mid 1800's for the Ball this weekend.

i'm going for the disheveled victorian look like this...easy to glue and pin.

but what i'd really like to be is the hedgehog

im wishing i had serious sewing skills right about now...those bustle dresses are mind boggling!

children: greek goddess

presidential bodyguard

the outhouse monster boy raised by wolves

bette go heat up the glue gun!

xo happy costuming

milady

My Life in th Bush of Ghosts

Beaumont Hotel

remember when i alluded to this?
well, thats what i've been up to lately. bringing history to life one ghost story at a time. it all takes place in the quintessential western mining town of Ouray nestled in a gorgeous box canyon dubbed Switzerland of America. I get to have fun, be creative, be a storyteller and make money WITHOUT being a dreaded waitress. It affords me to do what I want all day which is supposed to be art but then those darn kids keep needing me....kidding, well not really. :) My art isn't contained on a surface these days.

my life in the bush of ghosts music i enjoyed in art school

my life in the bush of ghosts one of my favorite books

xo milady

Wild Mushrooms

an unknown photo of a girl and gnomes 1887 - this is how i felt and wished i looked! :)

Holly and Lily

A lovely bolete!

Courthouse Rock

just a hop skip from my front door is this...the glorious Cimmaron mountains

with all their crags and points and magical forests. My friend taught me to identify chanterelles, boletes and hedgehogs but most importantly the deadly

kinds that are oh so smiliar . The day was crisp and fresh, the first day of school actually...we dropped off our children and drove here, hunted for our prizes, had a picnic on a stump then drove down the mountain to town where we fetched our kids. To think the kids were working so hard that entire time while their mothers were skipping through the woods like 2 little red riding hoods.

Dinner that night : Quinoa pasta with a Marsala wine and Chanterelle cream sauce with fresh sage.

What kind of adventures await you near your home?

Would love to hear!

vintage mushrooms for crafts

photo credit>

xo milady

Back up part 3 Rodeo

Every year, we cap our summer off in serious Western style . Out come the flashy tops and sparkly belts, tiaras and buckles, canned beer and sno-cones. Horses are washed and trimmed, pigs are srubbed and shaved, animals are hustled into the fairgrounds where they will be shown and sold to charitable customers.
Its all fun and games until the last day when the kids prepare for the truck that comes early in the am and takes them all away. Except ours. You see, i have a pet lamb who is now a very fat sheep, and have recently been adopted by a goat who enjoys the afternoons on the chaise lounge on the deck. I am not a rancher - in fact , i'm a weenie. So when the truck comes I feel just as traumatized as the little girls who get in their lamb pens and snuggle their goodbyes with their summer friends. Every year I think "what am i doing ?! "
But then i think...well, we aren't vegetarians so why not really learn where it all comes from?! If it were left up to me to harvest my own meat i'd become a vegetarian immediately. My kids pigs are still here at home.
Its a tradition in this little cow town to end the summer with a rodeo and 4-H fair complete with a spotty attendance of macrame entries, a few pies, canned goods and "art". This year I didn't enter a thing. who cares! Rosie, my daughter,the Rodeo Queen's Attendant dramatizing about something

The husband and Blue who is Red watching the Labor Day Parade in Ridgway

Roscoe showing his hog "Bonnie" for the 4-H judge. He had blue fingernail polish that matched his cowboy shirt. We Rogers like to shake it up a bit. "Clyde" missed the show, he was too fat and stayed at home. It's true, a pig can be too fat.

Did you ever think you'd see this? A chicken getting a bubble bath. Now, all she needs are some diamonds and a raspy voice like Carol Channing.


xo milady

Suprise Guests

8pm bedtime Once upon a Time.... a large beaked dodo bird and a wise deer appeared

and as i offered my hand for a pet an elephant
tried to snatch an imaginary peanut right out of my hand.

when i turned around to see it , it was gone, like that.

but the wise deer remained

and enchanted us with his stillness.

goodnight

xo milady's boys

(paint swatch in the boys room + one lamp = magic.)

Back up part 2 mini harvest

every year there is a time when i have to let go of growing things and let them wane instead, call it a day, a truce, say goodbye to my garden. this year i planted very late hence a barely fruited crop at this inevitable juncture. the smote of frost has killed the leaves thus killing any chance of plumping up the mini zucchinis, spaceships, carrots and potatoes. I have to wave my flag and start salvaging what i can, dig the potatoes and fry up the blossoms that never amounted to a vegetable. what a bust!

the potato hunt, however, is like a treasure hunt - delicious little gems that have magically sprouted from a single potato like grapes.

xo milady

back up part 1

Best to start in the recent past. that way i can hook into the original impetus, the spirit, the notion i had to take the pic in the first place. Once i get on the line I can remember it all...sort of like when im telling a big story and have to be reminded mid sentence so i can find my way back to the point. I'm a wide caster, i cast my net impossibly wide in hopes of reigning in something of worth out there in the big world of infinite possibilities.

where was I? oh yeah, backing up. Its fall in the mountains. The leaves are turning and the air is crispy. Cows must be collected from high pastures, brought back to the ranch (my neighbor's) and sorted from their youngn's (ugh)

School has begun, homework invades my leisurely evening plans and thoughts are all about collecting and storing. Out here, on the land, one becomes accustomed to living by the seasons. Right now i am a big squirrel.

xo milady

Its About Time

roscoe and duke herding up the mamas and babies from the mountain

can u see morgan?

roscoe & pistol

Hello dear friends out there! I have been a busy art farmer ranch lady. No time to sit inside and hyperlink (which, BTW takes me wayyyy to long...any easy tips? why is it always duplicated? i'd sure appreciate it - i may even post more often!) I have so much to tell you.

My adventure to the ocean, my life as a ghost host, my car that sounds like a monster truck and has left parts of itself across america, the demo that was my boy's bedroom and bathroom because of an internal leaking pipe, kids sleeping on the floor like dogs...pig raising, showing, horse grooming, parades, rodeo, gardening, the dream kitchen reno on a fantasy budget (why do i torture myself?)and oh yeah! the first day of school and all that jetlag from waking up so un-naturally early! x x (those are my eyes)

its about time, time i posted, time i haven't.

so get ready for some catch up.

im serious about the hyperlink help...it drives me crazy!!!

xo!

milady

She still loves me

Blossom finally got a haircut. It was a big deal finding someone with the proper shears for her overdue coat of wool. I thought she'd never hold still, would hate me for life for subjecting her to nicks and shaving trauma but instead she is happy. She still lets me play with her ears and scratch her bony head. We didn't even have to hold her down. The pigs got out and found her wool on the ground. They went CRAZY! Rolling and snurfing and coming up with wooly moutaches and beards dangling from their snouts. It was one of the most hilarious farm moments to date.

Blossom is the best Lamb dog a girl could ask for.

One drawback...the sheep part, she poops often & on the go and eats my flowers.

oh well.

xo milady

Saviour

i woke this am to hear the squawking of a bird in my house, a baby blue jay who had fallen in the toilet whilst trying to escape ">Jujee. The little brothers have been on a Lord oF the Rings kick as of late. Roscoe the Brave put on his elfin cloak and lead the way into the Fairy Forest where he searched for a safe place to rest and wait.

we did what we could.

too bad we weren't real elves with special powers.

xo milady