Fairy Garden Repairs

On May 9th I wrote a post on the hail storm that hit not only our home, but also my Grandkid's Fairy Garden. We just finished all the repairs to our home, and are ready to repair the fairy homes.

The homes are made out of resin and I used Model Magic clay to repair the holes in the Fairy's Homes. Model Magic may not have been the best choice, but it was what I had in my craft supplies. The first house had a very small hole in it right where the flowers and plants were placed on the front of the house. I just rolled up a few pieces of clay and placed them on the house to cover the hole.  When the clay had dried for a few days I painted the plants with green acrylic craft paint, let it dry and then sprayed it with a clear coat.

The second Tudor stone cottage was a bit trickier. I placed a larger piece of flattened Model Magic and placed it over the hole so that it was on the cottage about a half to an inch beyond the edge of the hole. I then smoothed it out thinner and thinner away from the edge of the hole to help it blend into the solid part of the house.

Then using the handle of a skinny paintbrush I replicated the pattern of the stone and thatch of the cottage into the clay. When it was just the way I wanted it I let the clay dry for several days.

Painting this cottage was a little harder because I had to try to match the unique colors. For the stone I used a creamy white and let it dry. I used a green color that matched the under color of the thatch and the color in the cracks. Next, I rubbed the green on the white to dirty it up a bit. For the bottom thatch on the house I painted it green and then I mixed several shades of brown until I found the right shade. I then painted  over the green with the brown, let it dry and then sprayed it with a clear coat.

The last house was damaged the most and had the biggest hole. I took a thin piece of wood that was shaped like a heart that has from past projects. I glued the heart inside behind the hole with hot glue. This was to keep the clay from falling inside the hole.

 I used a thick piece of Model Magic and placed in over the hole. I molded the clay into a leaf and a half of another leaf. Then I used the end of the brush again to form the veins and spine of the leaf. Once the hole was covered and the leaves and vines were formed I let the clay dry for a few days.

I mixed several brown shades of paint for the house, and a few shades of green for the leaves and vines shading the dark green with some lighter shades of green. After the house was painted and dried I sprayed it with a clear coat.

All the houses were finished and ready to go back into the Fairy Garden. We moved the FEMA (Fairy Emergency Management Agency) tents to a special spot that will now be the Fairy's camping vacation spot.

 Next time we have a predicted hail storm the Fairy Garden will be evacuated to the patio.

Funny Signs, 4th edition

It is time for the 4th edition of Funny signs  These are signs from places I have visited, social media, friends, and family. My brother Dale has joined into the fun. Thanks Bro!

Welcome to Texas!

Yep, Still in Texas!

First, It is impossible to breathe under water since breathing requires the intake and excelling of air.  Second, if you don't know in advance that you can't breath under water you should just stay on land.

Do we really need a sign to tell us that it is the same road both ways?

This is my favorite sign hanging in a restaurant. They have a great sense of humor in Somerset, Ohio.

Thank you Captain Obvious! 

Are the elderly now considered free gifts? At least she doesn't ever need to have her batteries charged.

Chipotle really takes parking seriously. 

Ok, this one really puzzles me. Were the Advertisers sitting around the table sharing ideas and someone says, "Let's offer free food for dogs while people get their oil changed."  Has this been an issue? Are people getting their oil changed and bringing their hungry dogs with them?  Do they look for a place to change their oil that will also feed their dog? Am I the only person that thinks this is a strange hook to get customers? 

Good to kknow!

Hope you enjoyed my fourth edition of Funny Signs and keep your eyes out for those signs that make you scratch your head and put a smile on face.

A shoe rant!

Ok, I am a shoe girl. Your clothes size may change, but you could always count on wearing the same size shoes. Shoes can make or break an outfit in my eyes. So, with this in mind I was excited to go shoe shopping to buy shoes for two dresses I am wearing to a wedding and rehearsal dinner.

Imagine my disappointment when looking at shoes in two different states and online that I could only fine one pair. Why do shoe designers think that every fashionable woman can, or wants, to wear 4 inch heels. Every patterned, or colored shoe other than nude, black or blue are 4 inch heels or higher. I am a middle aged woman that gave up high heels years ago. I prefer a kitten heel of about 1 to 2 inches.  They just do not exist in a cool looking shoe. Why can't I find these shoes in a lower heel?

So, the moral of this rant is that I not only have to contend with trying to find clothes to fit a body with curves from stores that are full of clothes that are made for women that are straight up and down like a 14 year old boy. But, I now have to wear boring shoes because the same women that are shaped like 14 year old boys like to wear beautiful shoes with 4 or 5 inch heels.  

It seems to me that there are far more women like me that have money to spend on fashionable shoes and cannot do so, because all the designers are making shoes for 14 year old boy bodied woman in stilettos. #SoSad

Hood Ornaments

Last year I did a post on the Concours D'Elegance of Texas. My husband and I went to the show again this year and though there were some cars that returned, there were many new cars in the show too. As I was looking at all the cars on display I was drawn to the cars that had cool hood ornaments.

Few cars have hood ornaments any more! Some have medallions and they can be colorful and very decorative, but they just don't have the same impact as an ornament. Many years ago we bought a used 1995 Jaguar Vander Plas and it had a great hood ornament. With that car we figured out why car companies stopped putting hood ornaments on cars, because creepy people loved to steel them.

A Jaguar hood ornament and plaque like the one that was on our old Jag.

One of the first Rolls Royce Hood ornaments.

The new hood ornament on the Rolls Royce is retractable. Very smart!

The early Corvettes did not have hood ornaments, but they had a very cool medallion. This was my favorite year of the Corvette. I am not a fan of any corvettes after the 60s. To me they ruined the style and the back end of the new cars are hideous.

The older sports cars at the Concours all had medallions, Porsche, Ferrari, Alpha Romoe, and Lotus. I guess if you have one of these cars you are more interested in what is under the hood than what is on on the hood.

The older cars and at the Concours like, Rolls Royce, Buick, Nash, Franklin and even the Good Humor Ice Cream truck all had great hood ornaments.

 For most of these cars it was all about the way they looked on the outside. These cars were like pieces of art and they most definitely were head turners!

If This House Could Talk

At what point do you realize that this is not functional and needs to come down?

My husband and I went on a trip to Austin in March and I saw an old abandoned house by the road and decided to take a picture of it. Then I saw another abandoned house, and another, and another. As I am seeing these dilapidated houses, barns and businesses I am wondering what is their story? We always see the half standing, or the completely demolished barns that in some cases are still being used, and my guess is that it is either cost, laziness or stupidity that the owners are not repairing them.

It looks like they are actually storing something in this barn.

It is amazing to me that there are so many barns in complete shambles.  Is this even safe? Are the owners not worried about the rest of the barn falling on their kids or themselves? There were so many barns that were still being used and I wonder what shelter they are possibly providing the products they are storing "inside".

I am not really sure this is a barn. Could be a house.

But the bigger question to me is what happened to dilapidated and abandoned homes?

This looks like it was a grand home at one time.

Personally, they make me sad. I wonder if they were family homes passed down to the next generation and they just couldn't keep it going. Did they lose the house because of a failing farm or ranch? What makes someone walk away, or what drives them away, from their home? Sometimes you will see an abandoned dilapidated house sitting on the property in close proximity to a newer house. In this case why are you keeping the older house? Memories? Or, is it just that much more expensive to tear it down?  So many questions!

This little house looks so sad.

Two abandoned houses on Main Street in a small Texas town.

This old abandoned business had a tree growing up through it.

Some abandoned or bordered up homes or business, were on the main streets in very small towns. Was the town once booming? Did they have a bustling cattle and farming community?  I picture a granary in the downtown area where the farmers drive their grain to ship out to places all across the country. Were there stock yards in town for the cattle ranches in the community? Maybe they were a oil town that went bust. Many, I am sure, were just people falling on hard times and had to move to bigger cities to find work.

I wonder what this house looked like in its hay day.

The story teller in me wants to know their history. I want to know the people that lived in that house, or ran that business. What drove them away? What are they doing now?