Color Me November 6

Today I went on a treasure hunt but before we get to that I also need to show you yesterday. The two days had some contrast in the weather which impacted how the color is seen.  And in case I forget to mention later, the temperature for yesterday peaked at around 76 F while today outdid the record books and went to 80 F. Yes, this is November!

Thursday morning started with a foggy look to it.  One aspect of Fall that I enjoy is how just one tree can make such a difference in how you perceive a scene. I love how this maple tree lit up my woodsy back yard. By the end of today? There are no leaves left on the tree.

My wonderful crepe myrtle gave me this look.

The heavy mist left droplets everywhere. I focused on the pansy pots on the deck and when I looked at my photos  I got the happy surprise of the thread of spider gossamer connecting the orange and purple pansy blooms.

More confetti courtesy of nature. This is from the burning bush planted in the common area of our neighborhood.

Adjacent to the burning bush is this combination of an ornamental grass (oops, I have no idea what it is) and the yellow of a redbud (h'mmm, I could be wrong with that name too). At first I was not going to include these two photos but then I thought about my theme, "Color Me November", and decided that, yes, they did belong here.

Friday, November 6, is the first day of the three day Holiday Open House at the Old Lucketts Store. I have not previously been able to go to this but today I decided it was a "must do" event. So off I went hunting treasure.

The store, shown above, is open seven days a week. It is chock full of collectibles and old treasures, some of which have made it into my earlier still life photographs. The three floors are sublet out to a variety of small business owners and any time you visit you are guaranteed a plethora of things that call out "take me home".  A few times a year the store augments it's appeal by inviting on site individual purveyors of treasure/junk/antiques - depending on how you look at it. I look at it as a chance to scout for props for my still life photography.

Clearly a lot of people look at it as "treasure". It was a grand day out for the camera...except there were so many people that it was hard to get a photo that did not have a person walking into it much less a (road worthy) car driving by en route to a highly sought after parking space. Oh, can't you just imagine how much fun the owners had creating this wonderful scene (above). It was clearly the most highly desired photo op of the day! Some visitors, oblivious to that, sought out the bench as a great place to sit and eat lunch.

Now it will not be too hard for you to figure out what my background is once you look at the photos I have picked out to share with you. Here is just one of the amazing edifices tagged as "birdhouse" that were for sale. Oh, trust me, if this had come home with me I would not be hanging it out for the birds - and, if you are a regular reader of this blog you will know I have a number of bird houses in my back yard. This gorgeous offering is about 20" - 24" high and there were several others similar that attracted me but I had to walk quickly away from.

This building was where I made my first purchase (I was very disciplined and did not load up). But when I was first there I know there were at least seven of those snow sleds lined up along the wall. And yes, that is the back end of the old car seen in an earlier shot.

Whoa, here's a surprise. I wandered off the beaten path behind a building and came across the wonder of a hen house filled with the most glorious array of hens. I'm sorry, I cannot tell you what they all were.

But check this out - the Coop de Ville! Nothing here is for sale but clearly the owners have both a sense of fun and a love for poultry. This is one glamorous hen house. You can see that there is a fully enclosed outdoor run (chicken wire walls and ceiling to keep those lovely hens safe from predators) that is linked up to this amazing place for the hens to go roost at night. I guess I can excuse the few non picturesque items that are a necessity to keeping the hen house clean which I wanted to whisk away to make for a more lovely finished photo. How cool is this!

So yeah, I visited twice.

The entire location is a great example of how things don't have to be perfect to be amazingly attractive. A few days with Kim (http://kimklassen.com/ ) taught me to watch out for the written word. When I glanced in this direction what grabbed me first was that sign "Kindness Matters". The rest of it might easily be written off as junk, but pause a moment and examine each piece of this setting and you can see the artistry behind it. Well, I can see how the addition of those words make all the difference in how I interpret this vignette.

And I close out with this. It may look like nothing much just yet but it is a portion of the booty I scored from the treasure hunt that I embarked upon in this my day six of  my Color Me November escapade.

It will be a wonderful end cap to my day if you comment!