Wondrous Wednesday - Store of Delights

One place I got to visit whilst away was this magical store of delights

There is a huge variety of sweetness available -

-including a very generous selection of vintage offerings -

(plus this ginormous candy tree... really? wow.)

(and sculpture of Indian-lolly-head...)

And then there's the toy section!

- contemporary toys mixed in amongst vintage toys on display...

Eclectic pairings...

A quirky selection of plushy puppets -

"Trophy" heads upon the wall...

Costumes! (including this plush Quidditch cap. :-) Ha!)

It was a pretty amazing place. Could have spent so much money there....

Music Monday - Time

I'm a sucker for a building, crescendoing, climactic soundtrack theme. There are many composers who do this well. One of my favorites is Hans Zimmer's 'Time' from Inception:

(If you want to hear it in the background of the actual footage, see here).

Sunday Sketching - while traveling..

Slightly more emphasis on the chapels since they are different than ours....

...in the teensy purse Moleskine balanced upon my knee....

Fun Friday - the Utah Shakespeare Festival

A week ago I was in Cedar City, Utah
for the 50th Annual Shakespeare Festival -

It's held on the lovely Southern Utah University campus -

(big year!)

I went with my parents, who also enjoyed Will and company :-) (see my father above - the same one who posed for my biker-ogre in the previous post. Kinda out of character!)

There were all kinds of ancillary wonderful things to see and do. There were many displays showing tidbits from the past five decades...

There are walls of photos of stars from past productions -

There were play orientations and all kinds of lectures and discussions throughout the day -

There was original art in some of the lobbies (here is a wall full of James Christensen Shakespearean sketches and color studies for sale. Fabulous!!)

My favorite thing was probably the costume design retrospective -

Besides the actual costumes on display, there were walls full of framed designs from the past 50 years, many complete with luscious fabric swatches.

And then there was the outdoor theater - Tudor-esque, and reminiscent of the Globe theater (albeit, not round).

(inside view)

The courtyard is lovely, atmospheric and full of costumed vendors and characters -

(one of the Elizabethan treat sellers. It smelled heavenly in the courtyard).

(mobile seller of treats) -

My mother with the Queen...

There were also a number of outdoor performers -

-singing, dancing, juggling, comedy...

It was really a fabulously wonderful weekend - the company and the performances were outstanding.

Thanks for it all, Will!

Troll Tuesday - quickie preview

About a month ago, I posted my IMC piece both here and on facebook. It was so much fun to do, I definitely wanted to do more in the same vein. In a surprising and rather thrilling turn of events, the amazing and world-renowned author Jane Yolen took a fancy to it and was inspired to write a manuscript to accompany it (she has a brief blog entry mentioning it here) - which includes a number of other creatures in addition to trolls.

So, one of my objectives for my visit to family this past week was to utilize as many of them as possible as reference-creatures for this hilarious manuscript.

Here is my cuddly teddy-bear of a father being a terrifically good sport as the punk/goth-biker ogre character. :-)  More to follow anon.....

Music Monday - The Woman in Black

Ok, so not really music, but have you seen the new trailer for this Victorian ghost story, starring a handsome and grown-up looking Daniel Radcliffe?

(If you want to actually see the the *entire* thing rather than the cut-off version here on my blog, go see it here).

Succulent Saturday - the wonder of Shakespeare....

I am away... (as the neglect of my blog may reflect). I've left the husband and daughter at home to tend the chickens and kitten and am visiting my family in Utah. SOOO many pictures taken of wonderful things - but that will have to wait until my return next week.  In the meantime, we've just returned from a fantabulous weekend at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. Really really good productions. So until I get home and can actually show you pictures, I'll just post a couple of Shakespeare-related trailers for you (to stave off the withdrawals...)-

(so love this movie. Practically perfect. And if you like your Shakespeare in Love with a large dollop of Loreena McKennitt, see this lovely and surprisingly moving music video made with clips to 'The Old Ways').

And have you seen the trailer for the Shakespearean thriller Anonymous?

Looks intense and gorgeously visually historical at least.

What is your favorite Shakespeare (about him, not by him) movie?

But speaking of 'by him' - here's my favorite scene from the iconic 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet. The music... the costumes!! so so good...

Happy Birthday Baby -

My first-born has been home visiting this week. Lots of playing has happened, including a slightly belated birthday celebration -

(cupcakes along with sweet Chinese dessert buns of wonder - )

It's also been fun to see these two big kids together again... :-)

(the goofballs..)

Love these babies.... (how'd they get so old??!)

Music Monday - Good Enough...

Sunday Sketching...

Super cute baby a few rows in front of me - which would not accommodate me by posing. Alas...

Teeny purse Moleskine upon my knee....

Succulent Saturday - Garden + Kitten update

Just a snippet of what things look like in August....

Raspberry patch is all but played out for the year...

The grapes are completely covering the fence and beyond -

Jerusalem artichokes along the fence (they'll probably grow another couple of feet before they're done).

And then there's Max... A whole four months old!

- and still climbing up my body (this is a view of my belly..)

And Max in his favorite cat bed (which he fills more and more each month).

Happy August!