mamaroots

a taste of Kansas

The yellow brick road was a bit chilly and soggy this year, but to be in good company with good tunes will always be fun!  This year's journey to the Walnut Valley gave me a continued awe at the musicians around me, on the stage and at my own camp.  Still hankering for a camper of some sort, got my eye on a little Scamp or Burro perhaps!

Walnut Valley usually signals the time when the seasons starts to change, looking forward to the first weekend of fall making soup and apple pie!  A handmade tasting spoon from the festival was just what I needed.

All in all the mud washed off the bikes and boots, and the music warmed us quite well, thank you Kansas.  A few more pictures are here of our adventures.  Have a wonderful Autumn Equinox tomorrow.

monthly signs

I had an idea this weekend on an outing with a friend to harvest elderberries (more on that soon) to look at the signs around me.  I got to thinking about how often we stop and read the "signs" in our lives, or do they just become part of the clutter of our lives.  So here are a few that I stopped and paid attention to out of the tons out there this weekend.

A fun time of slowing down and enjoying the end the of month!  Speaking of the end of the month, it is herbal roots give-away time!

I am super excited to learn more about goldenrod in Sept!  I love giving you a chance to win a copy at the end of each month and share this treasure with you that Kristine from Herbal Roots and Luna Farms works so hard and lovingly on it.  She just made a calendar too that you should check out!

You know the drill my friends, leave a comment here between now and midnight on Wednesday and you will be entered into the drawing.  Follow both myself and Kristine from Herbal Roots on facebook and get a bonus entry.  Refer a friend and get one more entry.  

herbal roots zine

mamaroots

Good luck and be sure to stop by and try for a chance to win a mamaroots wood hummingbird.  He is a black chin hummingbird and was fun to make!  There is one more in the shop in case you are super smitten by him!

Enjoy the end of August- could it really be?  Of course September is one of my most favorite months! Sweet dreams all!

boys, boats, bike, and books

Well, I had hoped to have a big name announcement for the boat but I defer final decision to hubby since getting of said boat was really all his doing.  We definitely had a blast reading everyones name suggestions and the name suggestion formulas!  I guess we really haven't named anything too big since Silas was born!

Unnamed though she may be, she proved herself a good vessel on our maiden "swift moving" river this weekend on a little float that we did.  The boys and even our old puppy enjoyed the float.  I particularlly enjoyed the friends we were with, and the little slice of small town life as we drove through these little towns on the way down. 

I could not resist stopping by this little spot on our way back.  Can you really expect me not to stop by an antique place with a big red barn with a sign that says "old books"  I have never seen so many piles of books interspersed among antiques.  I kid you not there were 7 buildings chopped full.  The four of us had a field day.  We walked away with no coveted prizes, but lots of eye candy in our heads!  Jasper loved the military hats, Silas the canes, myself some cool old hinges, and Jody a neat old Tote Cycle from the 60's!  I dare say we are creating pickers in the making!

Speaking of books I wanted to do ahead and draw a winner for the book Bears Water Picnic.  The winner is Robin- congrats Robin!  If you could e-mail me your snail mail addy I will mail this to you.

Thanks again everyone for your wonderful suggestions.  I plan on still pressing hubby for a final call on the name!  Happy Monday and happy August!

water picnic

You might think it would be pretty funny for a Midwestern girl to be talking about loving a new edition to our family being a boat.  Well you see that boat is a canoe and my state just so happens to be named after our heritage of rivers and canoes.  It is referred to “People of the Big Canoe” or “River of the Big Canoe” we even have a song about it!

We have 2 major rivers running through our state which you probably won’t find me on in our new canoe, but also a whole network of spring feed rivers and streams in the Ozark region of my state that you will find me on that is just a couple hours drive. 

My hubby has been thinking of getting a canoe for a couple years but I think our vacation this summer kinda sealed the deal on how much he enjoys being out on a beautiful body of water with his family. The top two pictures are from upper New York in the Andirondack Mountains.

We also found that in a just a couple minutes we can just load her up on the old Subaru and head to a little lake in our own town when we want to do something as simple as a little water picnic like we did last Sunday.

It reminded me of a cherished book Bear’s Water Picnic from my own childhood reading- do you remember those classic “Weekly Reader” books of the 70’s?  My boys enjoy it too and I thought one of you might like it as well. 

So just another fun little contest here at the end of July, we need some name suggestions for our boat.  Leave a comment between now and Saturday at midnight and I will draw a random person and send you your own copy of Bear’s Water Picnic.  I will give you a bonus entry if you share with friends on-line who want to stop by and leave a comment  and name suggestion too!

She is a lovely green Dagger boat with beautiful cherry wood trim.  We are all quite smitten by her and so far she has proven herself well!  What do you think a good name for her would be?  Let me know and maybe you will win this sweet kids read that shows just how generous bear is with his friends and he even learns a thing of two on a little boat ride for a water picnic!

retreating

In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives we often forget what is right in our back yards.  This weekend I took a couple friends to a sweet little river town that was a bit sleepy from a swollen river but, we had a therapeutic night of enjoying local wine, local food, and staying at a friend's bed and breakfast. Thankfully the river has not flooded the town and we had a great weekend.  

Don't hesitate if you get a moment to take in your local landscape with friends, you won't regret it, even if that mean bopping around on bikes in excessive heat warnings!

Hope you are staying cooler than us at the moment- yep our air conditioner broke yesterday- thank goodness we had just loaded up on freezer pops!  If the AC gets fixed tomorrow I am making strawberry shortcakes to celebrate!

a monday moment

just a moment this Monday- you never know what you will find when you are adventuring!  Hope you have a wonderful start to your week, be sure to watch for another fun guest post this week!

tin for ten

Yep the official gift for 10 year wedding anniversaries- tin.  I decided to take an old tin can and add it to the back of my bike last Saturday as we rode around the corner to this beautiful old house Bed and Breakfast that we stayed at on our wedding night 10 years ago.  We then rode to have dinner at this awesome restaurant that our friends own.  It use to be a bar and yep that was were we decided to get married.  

My goodness- old house, bikes, clawfoot tubes, and yummy food- pretty wonderful way to celebrate our 10 year anniversary that is official today.  Now I am ready for some margaritas tonight!

Thanks to my amazing friend Amy for taking our pictures, she is truly fantastic both as a friend and as a photographer- any of you local folks should check her out!  And if you are local this is the best Bed and Breakfast in town- treat yourselves!

Of course big shout of thanks to my amazing partner, my best friend, my love- my hubby!

claysville

I love April!  A month that starts with a little foolery, lots of spring and rebirth, and lots of celebrating birth in our family.  Yesterday was my mama's birthday, love so much that she was born, love that she gave birth to me in April and love that I gave birth to my youngest son in April too.  

And you know what, I love that she raised me and I am raising my family in the midwest.  I think sometimes that the midwest has a funny reputation and stereotype, that we are back woods, not as trendy etc . . . but I am kinda sweet on the midwest.  

I love it when we finds a place like The Claysville Store a short drive from my town to go to and celebrate my mama's birthday.  A cool old general store turned country family restaurant along the Katy Trail which is an old rail line turned bike trail along the Missouri River.  It was a fun, friendly little old place that just served country style food, just on the weekends.  Best fried chicken I have had in ages served up with biscuits, green beans, country ham, apple sauce, cole slaw, and mash potatoes!  Not to forget the sweet tea in mason jars and peach cobbler for dessert!

Look at this adorable house right next door that I caught my eye- seriously cute- wouldn't that make the best little old vintage shop/toy shop ha!  Well last but not least is a sweet little present that the boys and I put together for my mama.  They each picked out plant for her, a strawberry plant and a poppy and we topped it off with a little garden gnome- took us a couple stops to find just the right one for her garden.

Yep- I in a little bit of a gnomie place getting ready for Silas' upcoming birthday, gnome soccer- it happens!  More to come on that in the upcoming week or so!  Hope your weekend is shaping up well- here in the midwest it is lovely!

doors

A picture from the archives for you this week-end.  October brings up so many great things and of course there are usually the haunted houses too.  It is not the haunted part that draws me to old houses but the sheer beauty of these beautiful old structures that are witness to so so much.  So for fun this October, and to try and hone in my photography skills a little I want to photograph and share some lovely old homes with you. 

I am sure it all started with me being 3 years old and watching my parents remodel this old abandoned farm house that would go to become my family home till I was 20 years old when they sold it.  Oh and yes I will be showing you pictures of that one too. 

So from the archives is this photo of a door.  Doorways to our past I feel are definitely doorways to our future.  I know I can learn so much from my ancestors.  Some doors to the past shut while others are always open.  This door is in a house that my parents first took me into when I was maybe 6 or 7.  I was most recently in it about a year ago with my mama and sister again.  It is just unreal- it is called Ravenswood and is right out in the middle of farm country.  Here are some pictures from that day and a little snapshop of its history here. 

I hope you will not tire of my house adventures this month and also chuckle at the irony of my wee little 60 year old funky ranch house that I currently live in, my old house that I am destined to grow old in has not yet found me!  Happy Friday everyone!

keeping it slow

Settling back into some more slow days before Autumn Equinox!  Remember that slow down theme that I am rolling with here at the end of September.  I decided for now I will be holding off on taking any more custom orders at the shop till after the holidays.  I will be completing the current orders that I have in and then trying to work through several new ideas that are in my journal!

Today after school while Jasper was doing some homework Silas and I settled into some number play with some lovely German flash cards and then enjoyed a hilarious book all dealing with school starting, trolls, and tolls!  Yep- we are still working on some troll work here on the homefront!  This book caught their funny bones and they tried to get daddy with some riddles from the story when he got home!

Speaking of Tolls- here are some pictures from our little ol jaunt cross a Toll Way to a bluegrass festival we have been going to for about 3 years now- and I found what I was looking for- some bones- just exactly what I have been wanting to learn to play.  I didn't drive hubby too crazy on the six hour drive home!

Oh yes and let me tell you the van changed everything- talk about smooth travel!  Here are some more pictures of our slow jam- friends, music, and oh yes much needed sleep!  Slow greeting to all of you!