Totally Random Thursday

I have a new favorite guilty pleasure show - Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet. I've always loved the unexplained and mysterious and had a bit of a soft spot for sasquatch. This program blends actual interesting research with odd characters quite well and despite their overuse of the term "squatch" and that ANYTHING to them is "totally evidence of nearby squatches" I'm totally hooked.

Personally I've experienced plenty of unusual things in the woods - the clacking rocks that had an actual rhythm I heard. Was it a raven trying to open a nutshell or....?
There was also an incident at my home but I think that story might traumatize you gentle readers.

The typical "squatch" proof involves large footprints...

Okay this could totally be a person track...EXCEPT there's no shoe tread. Also note the weird marks at the top like claws or toenails. So it could be a bear, but isn't a bear's foot shaped differently?

And as evidenced below, the track isn't much larger than my brother's foot...

But it still seems odd to me.

If you want to read an interesting "realistic" Bigfoot book try Wild Life by Molly Gloss, but do keep in mind my warning about her stories here.

What about you? Do you believe in strange creatures and the unexplained?

I'm thinking about making Totally Random Thursday a weekly feature - sound like fun?

Mosaic Monday - pastels

Funny enough Mary's post this week is about winter pinks and that was my plan too! Soft blues, pinks and yellows covered in water and sometimes ice have made up my landscape this week. Last Monday was snow and I slid all the way to work, passing cars in the ditch while I went by at the breakneck speed of 35 mph. Then the rains came and Thursday night my way home became a serious issue as part of the road collapsed and I had to take a huge detour. But there is still a beauty and softness in this time of year that I will always love.

Be sure to visit Little Red House to see all the beautiful mosaics!

A bit of a pane

My mom was given this old farmhouse window and it was in pretty rough shape but perfect if you like the junque patina.

However, there was a bit more dirt on here than was really desired. I did do a bit of cleaning and I definitely cleaned the glass but I didn't want to do too much to this because I was pretty sure this was lead paint.

After giving it a mild cleaning I added two coats of oil-based varnish to keep the paint from continuing to flake off absolutely everywhere. It was an enormous pain of a pane to varnish because of all those strips between the pieces of glass. I felt like I was never going to be done.

It goes great above her fireplace....tv stand....mantel....whatever. She actually rested it on a couple of small pieces of that grippy stuff you buy in a roll and put in shelves. It doesn't slide and it solves the problem of, how do you hang something this big and heavy without ruining the window or ruining the wall?

I think it has great character and goes perfectly with her style.
Oh my gosh I just remembered she has a fireplace DVD - I totally should have put that on while I shot these photos! :)

Equine design

I recently read somewhere that equine inspired items are coming into style.

(Two of the horse photos are my relatives, one is a photo I bought at a shop.)

I should really jump on that.

(A thrift store print, a garage sale print and my mom's old button with her horse's name.)

Considering that has been "in style" for me since I was like five, I think I'm going to like this trend.

Mosaic Monday - I guess I kinda like the gloom

(click to enlarge)

For as many photos as I take of flowers and sunshine during the summer, I take just as many fog and raindrop photos during the winter. It could be because that's all I've got in winter, or it could be because I think those things are just as beautiful as my sunshine and summer flowers.

Be sure to visit Little Red House to see all the beautiful mosaics!