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

25, Day 2

 Happy 25th anniversary, Woodchuck! We actually had TWO days together to celebrate this year, since he decided to take the day-of off. We, once again, were overwhelmed with possibilities for the day, but he was thinking we could travel just over the border into Michigan. I wasn't feeling it this day, though it did sound lovely. I just didn't feel like that is what we were meant to do, and I was starting to feel a little of the "round-down rat race" syndrome I so often feel from burning my candle at both ends. We even headed out on the road with his plan in mind, got about 5 minutes down the highway and I pulled into a gas station and told him that I didn't think that is what we should be doing today. So, we both sat on phones looking for new options. Zoo? That sounds fun, but it's Summer and it might be really busy with families and littles! Outdoor hiking some place natural? Sounds fun, but we weren't dressed for that. So I proposed that we go into Plymouth, Indiana! It's not far from the land, and we will likely be doing our shopping in that area once we move. We were more familiar with the shopping complex area right off of the highway, but less so with the downtown area, so that's where we headed!

I parked on a side street where I wouldn't have to back out into traffic, but it did have 2-hour parking and that meant I was going to have to watch the clock. The downtown was small, but that's how we like it. I am not a big city kind of girl. Small, hometown, quaint is the way to my heart...and doesn't overwhelm my nervous-system 😅 We started at one end of the road and worked our way down that side. We came across a wonderful gift shop/boutique called Simplee Stated. Let me just start by saying that I am an architecture lover, in particular very old buildings and this one did not disappoint! Creaky, old hardwood floors are my jam! The shop was set up so well and is something that I feel like I struggle with in my booth when doing markets and shows. I envy others when it comes to easily to them! 

The shop has so much to choose from, and a lot of it locally made or Indiana made! There truly is a little something for everyone! Clothing (a lot of which was on sale for $10 each this day), foods, home goods, body products and more. What is even more fantastic is this store is a store front on the main road through town, but around the corner (on the road we parked on), there were two other stores fronts...one a frame shoppe and the other an antique shop. Separate on the outside.....but connected on the inside! Fantastic! 😍 From the boutique, Woodchuck got some maple syrup "made by two old guys" in St. Joe county not all that far away, and some old-fashioned hard candies like what we could get at Amish Acres back in the day. The frame shoppe is something I would like to check into for my larger cross-stitch pictures at some point! 

We went out and started walking again and I wish I would have gotten pictures of the outsides of the buildings! We stopped in a wellness/supplement shop, and then grabbed a snack at The French Press Coffee Co. We each got an iced blueberry lavender matcha, and a slice of almond poppyseed bread to share on our walk. We ran across a fantastic little corner lot filled with native flowers! They were so prolific that you couldn't even sit on the benches nestled in them! 😍

The bugs were irritating Woodchuck, so we kept moving along. I had seen an arch entrance to a park a couple of blocks away and knew there was a river running through it, so we started to head that way and came across this lovely theater! I LOVE these old theaters, and on our first official date, Woodchuck and I went to one that was playing Muppets in Space! 😆 I mean, if he didn't figure out then the type of sense of humor I have, and the simple things that make me happy, that's on him! The Rees theater is from the 1940's, art deco style and renovated. The lighted sign over your head makes you believe that dreams can come true! 👇

We looked at the flyers on the announcement boards and I saw the violinist that I had wanted to see somewhere else recently but couldn't find anyone to go with me (there are some things that you just don't want to do alone, you know?). I pointed it out to Woodchuck and he said he would go with me. Um. Are you sure, Woodchuck? I mean, this is a far cry from The Insane Clown Posse and Five Finger Death Punch that you like listening to. Sure! he says. I did not commit on buying tickets though until he watched some videos of the violinist. He says he's down for it, so tickets have been bought! It's been quite awhile since we've gone to a performance/concert, and I'm looking forward to the evening with him.....but I really hope he doesn't fall asleep! 👇

We are starting to get too hot when we are out in the sun, and finally make our way down to the park where there is more shade! We realize that this was the same park we brought our boys to when they were little for some sort of festival. It had an Abraham Lincoln impersonator there and I remember telling my youngest that AL was going to be there and he was so dubious and I had to keep telling him yes, he was going to be there! As you can imagine, that didn't go over well once we got there. 😶 I'm sure some of this stuff is newer, I honestly don't remember. It's a nice little park, but unfortunately, covered in goose poop. So we had to look at the ground while we walked and dodge all of the piles 💩

                                               The main bridge over the yellow river.👇

The amphitheater. 👇

There were various, new lookout points along the river, with benches! But again, lots and lots of Goose poop. It was really interesting to see how close some of the houses were to the edge of the hill bank. I mean, there was one house that was *right* on the brink and I swear it was just a tree keeping it from going over! Sadly too, there was some garbage in the water, and a drainage tube draining into it from somewhere. 👇

We went back to the coffee house for lunch and we each got a panini and something to drink. I liked everything about the place! The staff, the food and beverages, and the size and vibe of it inside! I could see this being a great place to hold an art class, or creative meet-up!  Woodchuck doesn't do well in tiny spaces, so it was nice for him to have space to move around. I got the turkey club on Asiago bread, minus tomato. 😋

Everywhere we've gone, I've asked about a place that sells incense. I love Sea Witch Botanicals, but I can't afford them and am always looking for something local so I don't have to order online. One of  the staff members at the coffee house brought up a place called Karma that I knew about but hadn't thought to check out! So we headed back to the car, and got there very close to the 2 hour mark and there was a parking enforcement officer there! PHEW, that was close. I think they were issuing a ticket to the person parked in front of us, who I think had been there even before we got there. 😬

We stopped at a grocery store, and then went to Karma and how.cool.that.place.is. Lots of albums, incense, clothing, and more! We ended up buying 5 boxes of incense and some other little things 😃 Now I know where to go when I need more and it's not that far from the land! 

I've also been working my dream of selling art. My most recent make is these turtle earrings, which sold in one day from the new webstore.

The new webstore? Well, I follow a Native beader on FB and she kept posting about this site. As you know, I have been trying to get away from Etsy for awhile now, even have a list of various sites, the specs of each, and the pros and cons of each. I knew I just needed to pull the trigger on one of them, and with her nudging and feedback about her shop, I did it! I am only starting with the free version right now, which limits what I can list to 5 items, and limits some other features I can change or use until I upgrade. As items sell and open up spots, I'll list something new there. Vintage craft books and patterns that belonged to my mother or myself will start to be listed in the eBay shop. The new art shop is:

www.offorestandheather.bigcartel.com

Though I still have some items listed in the Etsy shop right now as well! 

www.offorestandheather.etsy.com

And let us not forget the every other Sunday craft fair market that I do in Valpo (weather permitting). I went through my stock recently and made sure everything was updated with price tags and descriptive signage.

 This market hasn't been going well for me in sales and I am down to the bottom of the barrel in business money. That means, I may need to go down to once a month for this market instead of twice, or even do every other month. With the sale of the turtle earrings, that gives me enough money to pay for the next market, which is scheduled for July 27th, 2025 (again, weather permitting for me to participate), but it just doesn't make sense to keep doing a market that makes me lose money when I could be using the money from the sale of things online towards supplies to make new pieces and more soaps. So if you want to stay in the know about it all, follow our page on FB, Of Forest and Heather.

I appreciate you being on this journey of art, nature, and love with us 💚