The Paintings

These were my favorite paintings at Art For Gifts. Any spots are reflections, as they were behind glass.

Cattails & the moon

A Kingfisher

A Flamingo?

Red Panda

Wild Hare

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."

Edgar Degas

Local Shop Windows

Any lights or unusual things in the photos are reflections.

The Men In The Iron Masks

We went to the annual "Art For Gifts" today. It is in a museum, and local artists make their crafts so we can buy them for Christmas gifts.

 These were hanging in one section. I did not buy anything, I usually just go to take pictures and look around.

The prices - about $175.00 each.

The daytime half moon was so pretty.

The Purchase

I hadn't planned on buying anything at the festival, but this wreath stole my heart. It looks good on the big kitchen wall, and I can hang it all winter, not just for Christmas. It's a real hoot!

The Stars Of The Show

After all these posts abut the Poinsettia Festival, here they finally are! People were buying so many that they were wheeling them out to their cars in wagons!  This was the big Poinsettia Tree.

This ran down the center of the craft room.

Tiny baby poinsettias! I would have bought a couple, but they are poisonous to cats.

This grouping was around a fountain.

This is called Sparkling Punch

This is Orange Spice

This is Ice Punch

And I did not see the name of this kind

I did not expect to buy anything, but I did. I could not resist it! What do you think it is? I will show you on my next post!

The Legend of the Poinsettia

The legend of the poinsettia comes from Mexico. It tells of a girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo. They were very poor. Each year a large manger scene was set up in the village church, and the days before Christmas were filled with parades and parties. The two children loved Christmas, but were always saddened because they had no money to buy presents. They especially wished that they could give something to the church for the Baby Jesus. But they had nothing.

One Christmas Eve, they set out for church to attend the service. On their way they picked some weeds growing along the roadside, and took them as their gift to the Baby Jesus in the manger scene. They were teased by other children when they arrived with their gift, but they said nothing for they knew they had given what they could. Maria and Pablo began placing the green plants around the manger and miraculously, the green top leaves turned into bright red petals, and soon the manger was surrounded by beautiful star-like flowers and so we see them today.

From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the Flores de Noche Buena, or Flowers of the Holy Night, for they bloomed each year during the Christmas season. 

Inside The Festival

Walking inside, there was this gas lit fire by the entrance.

Once in the foyer, this greeted us.

The craft stands were crowded, and there was lots of variety.

There were enormous chimes!

I'm not really sure what these were, but they were cute.

This stand had all sizes of cutting boards.

They had various air plants hanging up in little shells.

Warm homemade donuts in chocolate, vanilla, & maple. FREE! As many as you could eat.

These iron benches were for sitting and resting. They were very heavy and beautiful. And cost hundreds of dollars.

I am saving the actual poinsettias for my next post. There were several varieties that I had never seen before!

After exercising I always eat donuts. Just kidding! I don’t exercise.

The Journey

I am looking forward to catching up with all of you! We spent Thanksgiving at our son's home, it was a nice day. I did get some things done on my computer vacation. I started wrapping Christmas gifts.

And we went to the yearly poinsettia festival at a local garden center. It was really fun! You will be going with me for the next few days, so lets start with the trip there! It was drizzling and foggy.

Though it was only about 10 minutes away, we passed some beautiful scenes.

We passed the pumpkin field I posted awhile back. It is still full of pumpkins!

This is actually the office of a plumber.

And here we are at the Festival!! To be continued...

Life’s not about arriving at a destination

Life’s about the journey and all the beautiful scenery along the way.