An evening with Dixon's Violin

 This current New Moon energy was intense for me again. Lots of anxiety, racing mind, relationship upheavals, emotional therapy sessions, etc. So Woodchuck and I took a much needed few hours together to see a concert. I had wanted to this person when he was in another local place, but couldn't find anyone to go with me, and I just didn't want to go alone. I wish now that I had, but everything worked out the way it was supposed to and it was a beautiful outcome.

On our recent anniversary trip to Plymouth, Indiana to walk around downtown, we stopped at The Rees theatre to look around outside and at their bulletin board of upcoming events. I am a sucker for old architecture, and this Art Deco, 1940's theatre made me swoon! We could only look at it from the outside, but were very interested in attending something there. In looking at the board, the same person I had wanted to see before was also going to be playing here! So we talked about it, and Woodchuck said he would go with me.

I bought our tickets, and the show was this past Friday evening. While I admit I wondered how parking would be, traffic, etc. I didn't feel anxiety about it like I normally would have. If I had to walk 5 blocks, I would! There's been A LOT of weird little (and some big) hiccups this week with electronics, bills, and more. Recent storms and heavy, heavy rains, split two or three trees here at home. They fell right along the driveway (the trees are on railroad property, though we take care of issues like this, and getting rid of the Tree of Heaven, etc.) Thankfully, the trees missed our sons car! But when I saw the mushrooms, I knew the night was going to be magickal! 

 We got there a bit early from when they said the doors would be open, and the process of figuring out who to give our tickets to was a tad confusing, but we got it worked out and I had scoped out the merchandise online beforehand and knew what I wanted to get! I have a woven tapestry-like bag that I attach pins to, and this one will be going on it! 

Woodchuck thought on his feet and asked if he could get a picture of me with Dixon! Something that didn't even cross my mind because I never want to invade people's personal space or privacy or peace. But I'm glad that he got it! Dixon just BEAMS joy!

We were so in awe of the space inside! Beautiful, clean, virtually flawless. The lobby that I am standing in the picture with Dixon feels small, and so for someone who can't handle crowds, this would be difficult when full, but we got lucky on this night! The blue light behind us is the concession stand, with a round window! Woodchuck got some popcorn and I got a little box of Junior Mints, then we headed in to find seats!

Not overly ornate, newly renovated, comfortable, and clean! What a beautiful, intimate space! They even showed a slideshow of the renovation process and WOW! We love that a place so run-down and empty for so long, got a new lease on life! You can tell that it really is the hub of the community! They have concerts, comedians, movie nights, and more. You can even rent out the facility! I had visions of some sort of Ghosts in the Theatre handmade market in October, a Positivity Vibe market in the Spring, a Solstice market in the Summer, and a Yulemas market in December. 😍

Dixon's show was ABSOLUTELY moving, healing, and magickal. There were a few times that each of us wanted to cry. Dixon's messages of love for yourself and humanity, living from the heart, letting yourself feel your emotions and then getting them out, were EXACTLY what was needed to be heard. There was no mistaking that we were MEANT to be here on this night, and together hearing it. Not only was Dixon's music and message beautiful, but the show was a color fest visually as well!   

                                                          

I am going to try and load at least one video from my phone to this posting. All of a sudden this Blog stopped supporting what I've loaded into my computer from the phone, so maybe if I try it from the phone directly it will work? Either way, I encourage you to look Dixon up! He's playing a lot of locations in Michigan, and a few others in surrounding states. You can buy merchandise from his website if you can't make it a show. He's hustling for his dream like a lot of others and we all need to support each other in some way. )O( store.dixonsviolin.com

Woodchuck and I wanted to get a picture with the lights outside, but I just couldn't get it to work very well, so I just took pictures of the lights, lol. BTW, that's an apartment up there at the top! I would LOVE to see what that looks like 😍

We headed home as the sun was dropping, rare for us to be outside, or even up and moving, at this time of day. We've fallen into a comfortable pattern of spending the evenings watching t.v., me stitching away and him sleeping in his recliner. The loss of our satellite t.v. signal (what's everyone else got? Because we are FED.UP. with Dish!) for over a week now has us realizing just how much we relied on that. We really, really enjoyed this concert, and the venue, and are hoping to get back to it again!

Here at home, heavy days and extreme heat have been ongoing for a few days now. We haven't heard anything from the excavation company about the pond, so we are taking a drive out there tonight when Woodchuck gets home from work. He did call the guy about the house design, and he didn't know the status of it and said he would check into it and call us the following day......and we didn't hear from him either. I warned Woodchuck that this is what it is going to be like when we start moving forward more with building. Honestly, it is not a process I am looking forward to. With these two guys not getting back to us, and the issues we had with the guy we hired a few years ago to clear the space for the house and put in the ingress/egress access to the watershed.....yeah, that can make this exciting step in life feel shitty real quick. Woodchuck is really good about staying up on people though, it's one of his annoying specialties that gets results 😂

The mushies are now in their 2nd stage. No longer cute, puffy tops, but wide, flat and more colorful. I THINK these might be Meadow Mushrooms, but I'm not sure.

A quick trip to the library also yielded a view of a Mayfly! These insects are beneficial to the aquatic eco-systems! 

Don't forget to check out Dixon's page! Don't forget to check out my new shoppe! The Etsy shoppe is down to 14 listings and I will be letting them expire and hopefully completely transitioning over to the Big Cartel site by the end of the year, if all goes as planned. If not, I will keep the Etsy shoppe for old listings and only debut the new items on the new site. Those things will be determine by YOU! If you don't want art, the art disappears. Simple as that. The Mushies art drop will be happening soon in August in the Big Cartel shoppe, so follow us on FB to see when it is live! www.facebook.com/offorestandheather  www.offorestandheather.bigcartel.com   www.offorestandheather.etsy.com shop.dixonsviolin.com

All is Fair

 Woodchuck and I went to the land on our scheduled day this week, and instantly knew something was happening by the chewed up driveway. It is not unusual for peeps to use the end of the driveway as a turn around, but if that was the case with this situation, the person was a tad off 😂 and when I say that, I am just playing! I doe why did find out quickly why this happened, so don't come at me 😁 This is something that will happen a lot moving forward! 👇

Woodchuck has anxiously been waiting for the excavator to arrive, but had not received any phone call about the work starting, but we looked at the driveway, glanced up, and we could see it through the trees. Woodchuck nearly ran from my car to the machine, and I have never seen him look so lovingly at a piece of equipment before! 😍

While he jumped out of my car to get pictures of the machinery, I could see that the deer flies were out in full force again. I almost always wear long sleeves at the land. So many things are out to get you here. 👿

This was just going to be a quick trip, since we had plans afterwards, and the temps were hot again. He was going to change the oil in my car while I walked around pulling invasives, marking good things, and taking care of the SD cards. I found a mixture of good stuff and otherwise. So grab your long sleeves and bug spray and let's take a walk! 

                                                                Tall Anenome, native 👇

                                                    Croton Glandulosus, non-native 👇

I could not believe I had an interaction with this little creature! The caterpillar form of the Snowberry Clearwing moth! I was pulling invasives and thankfully it landed on my glove and not in the bag! I watched it for a bit, took pictures, and then helped it onto another plant next to where I came into contact with it. What a gift on this day! 😍👇

It's funny how I can find ONE of a plant. Just one. And in the weirdest spots. Whorled Milkweed, native. 👇

                        I am a sucker for Lichen. The color, the texture, all of it. Swoon. 💚

I know it's the right time of year for the wrong type of bush to be sprouting again, and yep, found Burning Bush sprouting and leafing out. Compared to what I worked on previously, this amount is manageable for me. Some sprouts I was able to gently pull them (root and all) from the ground, but others were from cut main stumps that I will need to cut and treat again. PSA, there are native options of plants that give you the same beautiful, showy colors of the Burning Bush. 👇

I got to enter the world of the two Harvestman arachnids! I used to handle these when I was a child, loving their long, slender legs. It's funny how we were so fearless as children, and as we grow older, so much brings us fear. 👇

                                                        Spiny Sow Thistle, non-native 👇

Tick Tre-foil, non-native. Only found one blooming so far, which is about the only way I can identify them right now. 👇

I found the Spotted St. Johns Wort and caged it. It is not in an area right now where it would not get mowed, but I wanted to be able to find it again and track its progress. It may also be in a spot that might need some clearing when we build the house, so if that's the case, I want to be able to harvest this, the seeds, and replant it later in a safe spot.👇

I filled up one bag with invasives and it's almost time to go, so I need to walk to get the SD cards switched out, and take a look around. 👇

The Spotted Joe-Pye weed, native, is starting to bloom. Unfortunately, most of this will be damaged when the pond work starts, but I remind myself that these good things are capable of coming back again, and if they don't, I have local nurseries that sell native plants and I will be able to put them in places where they won't be harmed moving forward. But let us hope that they come back on their own. 👇

In the same area, along the blueberry bushes, I found the first Jewelweed flower, native. These will always remind me moving forward of my friends Julia and Fred. These will likely be damaged as well, which is heart-breaking for me because I've fought Woodchuck for years to not mow in these areas, but I do understand that fixing the pond is so important in so many ways, and that these too will come back. 👇

Dozens of Blue Vervain, native, have moved farther away from where the mower roams, but again, might be damaged in the excavation process. 👇

I love these spider webs that are built between the stems of plants and look like bowls! 👇

The Heal-all, native, is in its glory right now. Though low to the ground, the colors are vibrant enough to catch my eye. 👇

I believe this is Boneset, native, starting to bloom now (there is another plant that I get this one confused with), with long-horn beetles of some sort. 👇

Farewell for now, land, and trees, and wildlife! Woodchuck and I are going on our yearly date to the fair for lunch! With money being lean right now due to some crazy, stupid scenarios and bills we've been getting, we decided that we would get one meal and split it. Not only would that help save on money, but would also prevent us from overeating. 😂 My cholesterol is coming in too high, and my body is holding on to 20+ extra pounds no matter what I do, so I am trying to make better decisions. As usual, we picked The House of Garlic. Lebanese food, fantastic flavor, large portions, family-ran. WIN! We got the Vegan Falafel Wrap (minus tomato and onions), with some fries, baklava, and each of us got a Lebanese Lemonada. To.die.for. And just the perfect portion (except for the drink, that could have been a tad smaller. We were sloshing as we walked, lol). 👇

We ate as soon as we got there so we could walk the food off, and we started in the ride area. Local flowers were staged throughout, including very, very tall sunflowers! 

I reminisced about going to this fair when I was growing up, and the rides that friends and family and I loved going on. Every year I have to take a picture or video of the swings and send it to my brother because he threw up spaghetti on them in the 80's 😂🤮 My mother always loved the Pirate Ship ride (they change names almost yearly), and I even went on that a few times with her while growing up! 

But my favorite rides were the Scrambler, Tilt-a-whirl, Flying Bobs, and The Gravitron (again, most names have changed since then.)

We were getting a little hot and had seen everything outside that we wanted to see, so it was time to go inside to the Expo building! I always enjoy walking through the handmade stuff, some of those people are CRAZY TALENTED! 😱

Like this gal. She had several different handmade things, but these two were my favorite. I forgot to get her name to give her credit, so I hope she doesn't mind that I'm sharing this here! 

And each year, they have been having a certain spot for very large items. This year it was this fantastic quilt! I can't imagine how long it takes to make the things that these people enter. 

 In between all of the running I/we have been doing, I've been trying to stock up on certain art. This is the last of the mushie ornaments to be made this year, and the last of the vintage ornament frames in red that my mom recently gave me to use. The Mushie art drop will happen in August! 🍄

I am also trying out some Halloween ideas! 

But overall this week? This how I feel and how I see the state of the world and in some aspects, my little world. 

Thank you for being on this journey with us and hopefully the next post will include pictures of pond work! If you would like to make a donation towards land projects, supplies, and such; you can do so at

paypal.me/badassnaturegirl

Transparency, to date we have not received any donations. Our land is home to deer, many types of birds, Woodchuck, raccoons, Fox, Owls, Frogs, Snapping turtles, snakes, as well as many native plants!