Bottle Collections and Throwing Axes

Last weekend we attended the Old English Fair, a summer tradition in my family. The last few years it has been a bit of a let down. They used to do it in this huge open state park, there were tons of merchants, actors, musicians, anything you could imagine and then some. One of my favorite memories of going, I went with some friends from the camp I worked at. One friend had made her own dragon horns and wings, and another had made her own medieval dress. I felt left out so I bought a fantastic gypsy chain to go around my hips. While we were walking around we were followed by a priest selling indulgences, he kept offering us 3 for 1 deals. As a high schooler who just barely knew what he was talking about and was in on the joke, I was just tickled pink by the act.

After I went off to college, I came back every summer to attend. Unfortunately, they moved the fair to another location just down the road from the original one. The first year it was there, they hadn't properly cleared the field and I tripped over a buried stump, badly injuring my ankle. It was so hot and there was absolutely no shade and all of the food carts were running out of water. It was miserable. After that, they moved it to a more shady area, but I think they lost quite a few of the returning acts and merchants, so it was a much more bearable area, but there just wasn't anything to see or do. But finally, this year, it started to pick up and become more like I remembered it. There were people yelling for us to come see a "Real Steel" show with unchoreographed sword fighting, fairy story tellers, a pirate stunt show, and my favorite, homemade root beer and cream soda. I'm always taken in by the homemade root beer, but it is usually flat and tastes terrible. We have amassed quite the collection of interesting bottles through our purchases though.

Our new bottles

Our collection of bottles

Now usually at fairs and other events like this, I prefer to be more of a spectator. However, fairs don't typically have a booth that lets you try out throwing weapons. Luckily for me, this one did. I could have thrown knives, throwing stars, or axes. I chose axes for three reasons. 

1. The girls out at camp just got to try throwing axes and I was jealous that I didn't get to. 

2. I love the idea of being a "pioneer woman" who could survive out in the wild away from civilization and this activity would just further my confidence that I could do that. 

3. They looked like the most fun because they made a great "thwack" noise when they hit. 

I got to throw 5 axes for $3 and I got a quick throwing lesson along with that. I missed with the first four, but with the last one I hit the target and made  near bull's eye. There is video evidence. I'll have to find out who has it and post it later. I look pretty bad ass.

After my father-in-law and I were done testing our hand with the axes, we started talking about how easy it would be to put together a target of our own and how each of us has the space in our yards to do something like that. I go online and started to look up how to build a target. I wasn't thrilled with most of the results I got, but there was one site that said just to get thick circles of wood cut, not to use ply board or lumber like all the other how-to's suggested. I've been searching Craigslist for cut down trees, but no luck so far. In the meantime, I'm saving my pennies to get a few axes. They are pricier than I would have expected. Hopefully, as soon as I find someone who can sell me a log, I will have the axes and need and then I'll be in the axe throwing business. 

A Foray into Gardening

For weeks now, I've obsessed over the fact that I don't have a hobby. In the last few years, I've been so busy with work that I didn't have time to even think about extracurriculars. I was lucky if I stayed awake through dinner, let alone taking time to focus my energy on something frivolous. Luckily, I've moved in to a much lower-stress job, that allows me to take time for myself and find something I really enjoy.

I tried various arts and crafts type hobbies just to see if they were for me. I made a great lamp shade with some modpodge. But it made such a mess, and it was such a struggle to keep the cats away from it while it dried, that it didn't seem like something I would do just for the fun of it. I would certainly go back to it if I came up with something that I would specifically like to have/make.

I tried decorating ceramics with sharpie (thanks Pinterest!) but I quickly found out that I only had enough patience and creativity to do one mug. Not to mention, black seems to be the only color that doesn't rub off the mug. And, lesson learned, sharpie colors do shift when you bake them in the oven. My mug still turned out really cool though, and I have two other bowls waiting for me to figure out what I want to decorate them with.

I tried what I called a "visual journal," something between a scrapbook, a coloring book, and an actual journal. Those types of  "create everyday things" always the same, you stick with it for about a month and go back to it when you have a specific reason to, but otherwise, they lie there, mostly untouched. I think I've filled in about 10 pages, 3 of which are filled with paraphernalia from a vacation I took. I wish I could stick to this one, but I'm not a journal everyday type of person. However, one of the podcasts that I listen to suggested that I write even about the mundane things, because those can be very interesting to go back and read years down the road. For example, something mundane to me now, might be indicative of a lifestyle that becomes drastically different from the day-to-day of my future, super-successful self. Then I can look back on my peasant life and appreciate how great I've got it.

For a while now, I've been telling myself that I am a photographer. I've even gone on some "photo shoots" trying desperately to do some nice floral photographs. I'll take pictures of anything and everything. Unfortunately, it seems that I just stumble into some of my best pictures. For example, I took this one just walking down the street while I was in high school. I didn't even realize how good it was, I just thought the couple looked sweet.

And this one, I think, is only good because of the bees in the background. I didn't even realize that they were there when I took it. I don't feel like I should be able to take credit for accidentally good pictures.

Then, the other day, I found my sister's Instagram account and it was hard not to give up. Not only has she been a talented artist since she was old enough to pick up a crayon, but she also has an amazing eye for photography as well. It was really difficult not to give up entirely and just leave it to the pros like her. The hardest part was looking through photos that she took while I was with her. She somehow saw something beautiful and interesting, while I just saw a building.

So, I have decided that I am taking up gardening. My mother sent me an Easter basket with a really nice smelling flower, a hyacinth I think. My whole office smelled nice all day. Then my mother-in-law gave me an Easter basket with tomato, cucumber, and basil seeds along with some gardening gloves. Thank goodness for these two, otherwise, I would have no idea where to start. My mother-in-law also helped me realize that, hey, maybe I should get some gardening tools before I start this whole process. So, I've decided that I will plant flowers in the front of my house and some fruits and vegetables in the back.

Now for the hard part. I rent a modular house. The foundation of the house is lined with gravel that is sort of set up like it was supposed to be landscaped eventually. I'm tinkering with the idea of removing all of the gravel and replacing it with soil. But my husband helped me dig up some of the gravel today to see how deep it went before we hit dirt and it turns out that it goes down almost a foot. I'm not sure if I will be able to afford all of the soil that it would take to replace the gravel. On top of that, I don't know if my landlord would actually want me to landscape for him. He said to go ahead and tear up the yard to garden if I want to, but I'm not sure where he would fall with the area around the foundation of the house. If worst comes to worst, I found the coolest idea for a cinder block garden on Pinterest! Maybe we'll give that a go. At the very least, I would like to get one salad out of this hypothetical garden by the end of the summer.