Beautiful and Dangerous Nature

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've been blogging, because it finally thawed out around here and I have to be outside! Can you believe we had snow in late April and today we had over 80° weather? Because I haven't been checking in here much, I've ended up with a number of things to share. So this is going to be one of those Justine's favorites kind of blog posts.

Something I wanted to be sure and share with you guys was a display from last month's Art in Bloom at the Milwaukee Art Museum. You might remember Art in Bloom from past years. If not, it's a wonderful show of flower arrangements that are interpretations of the art.

This arrangement was in the Haitian gallery space. Check out that skull!

This display had a lot of exotic looking plants in it. I actually took a photo of the plant list, because some of these were new to me. I was especially interested in the spidery or octopus looking one in front. This one:

After googling pics of every plant on this list, I didn't find it. So if any of you know what that plant is, please let me know! Here's the flower list:

This is the painting that goes with the floral display, Baron Le Croix (Bawon Lakwa) by André Pierre. If you read the "Designer Statement" at the bottom of the flower list, you'll understand a little bit about the painting and the symbolism. Although, I'm pretty sure you guys had a general idea of what's going on here.

It's worth reading this brief paragraph about Baron La Croix:

Baron La Croix Wiki Page

"The ultimate suave and sophisticated spirit of death" How about that?

Speaking of new and spooky flowers, I saw these little cuties in the woods a few days ago. I was told that these are Bloodroot, and from a google search it would appear that's correct. They don't look like they'd be called Bloodroot, do they? But from what I just read, the juice from this plant is both red and poisonous. And the flowers look so innocent!

If you'd like to read more: Bloodroot Wiki Page

If you read down to the "Toxicity" section on that page, you'll learn why you shouldn't mess with this plant! What I read here is actually pretty scary. To put it simply, do not apply this to your skin because it will destroy your tissue. Don't ingest this or you might vomit or pass out. And you might want to check your mouthwash for "sanguinaria" (another name for Bloodroot) because it could lead to oral cancer down the road. Wow! Nature can be pretty powerful and not always in the best of ways.

Another find in the park was this "Tree Bracket Fungus". I would have called it Seashell Fungus. Don't these look like shells?

From what I've been reading, some of these are not super healthy for trees, but people have turned this bracket or shelf fungi into art. Evidently, it's super hard and makes a good painting surface. If you google "Tree Bracket Fungus Art" you'll see some pretty cool examples.

In other nature news, some of you may have seen this little zebra spider when I shared it on Twitter.

I blogged about these once before. Some fun trivia about zebra spiders is that they don't make webs. Instead, they sneak up and pounce on their little insect victims like a cat! By the way, these spiders are much smaller than this one appears! They're like half the size of a normal ant. Ah, the magic of cropping.

This next picture was scary for me only because I didn't see more than one deer with my eyes before taking it. Then I looked at my camera screen in surprise! There were six deer that I could see, standing out in the open. But those behind this obvious deer totally blended in to the trees. Deer aren't exactly scary, but not realizing there are extra eyes upon you is!

Now that I'm studying this photo, I don't even know if I'm seeing more eyes in the woods! I think I may have just spotted a fifth head back there. I ended up seeing a good 10 in this herd, but who knows how many were actually there.

Onto a view of the outdoors at night. These are pics of the last two full moons we've had. They appeared very differently!

March 31 ~ The Sap Moon:

April 29 ~ The Pink Moon:

It's worth reading this page: Full Moon Names if you'd like to learn why each full moon has the name it does. I hope you guys enjoyed seeing my past month or so in little pieces. I'm finding it fun to write this way, with a little of this and a little of that. Let me know if you guys are seeing any new and interesting plants or insects. Everything is popping out now!

Happy Spring!

Happy first day of spring! I'm going to call this the first robin of spring, even if I took this pic a couple days ago. Isn't this a cute robin, with those little eyebrows? I swear, sometimes it seems like birds are posing as I photograph them. I'm enjoying seeing and hearing the birds. It makes me feel like there's some life out there! Aside from the birds, it doesn't exactly feel like spring around here, but at least there's no snow on the ground.

I haven't been around the blogosphere much lately or on the internet in general. I had a nasty accident with a craft knife a few weeks ago and that made typing difficult. But now I'm back and typing nearly close to normal!

Some of you who follow me on Twitter might know that I was planning to cut some Papel Picado. I picked up a few books from the library for inspiration:

I picked up those books shortly before having that accident, so I haven't been physically or mentally in the place where I wanted to do intricate paper cutting with little knives the past two weeks! I might end up using scissors. We'll see. In any event, I picked up some colorful tissue paper from Dollar Tree today, so I'm ready to go! If this project turns out well, I'll blog about the results. The plan for now is to frame them.

So back to spring, in celebration of the new season, here are some photos from Sunday's trip to the park! These pics will give you an idea of what March is like in Wisconsin. There's not a lot going on, plant-wise. But if you look closely, you'll see that those plants that went to seed or dried out over winter can form some interesting shapes. Like these thistles:

Interesting how those parts curve around where the flower was. And this, whatever it is...

If you use your imagination, you could see this as a super furry caterpillar. Those pieces at the bottom could be seen as legs. But my guess is that the "fur" has some seeds attached to it. And then there's this mysterious object:

I had been thinking it was either the one hunk of ice that was somehow left in the forest, or maybe a weird type of fungi that was new to me. I poked at it with stick and flipped it over. It was styrofoam!

This looks like a barn owl, doesn't it?

Speaking of birds, there were some seagulls and geese swimming in the pond. Just as I was taking a photo of this seagull, it dipped under to catch something, and made this cool display. This is the kind of picture I probably wouldn't get again if I tried! See what I mean about the birds posing? 😉

There's a wooded area up the hill from this pond and if you really pay attention, you can witness some interesting things there. Like that tree candling last year. This time, there were all kinds of little popping noises coming from the trees. It sounded like popcorn popping. I assumed it was bugs at first, but I couldn't see any. I stood very close to the trees and it sounded like the popping was coming from inside the branches or pinecones. Anyone know what I was hearing? It was like the trees were waking up after winter. Pinecones expanding? Sap dripping? I just don't know. These were the trees that were popping:

Another tree definitely had some sap going:

Isn't that color beautiful?

These are like tiny little tree roses:

Curling birch bark:

Looks like a nice place for a picnic, doesn't it?

Back on the road:

I'll end with some pics of what was one of the more relaxing parts of this walk.

The sun was sending these sparkles off the water, making it look like glass.

Now that I'm looking over these photos, I'm thinking it was looking a little more like spring than I thought. I'm just ready for some warmer weather and plants popping up! How's the beginning of spring where you all are? I've heard weather reports of everything from 70° to blizzards from you guys this past week!

Wicked Renaissance 2017

It's time again for the Wicked Renaissance post! I've been so looking forward to putting this post together. This year, mom and I went on Steampunk Weekend, so that was the theme of many a costume. You'll no doubt remember this guy if you've followed my Ren Faire posts in the past. He's a highlight. Every year, he wears a creative, well-made costume. Sometimes he's been downright scary.

See what looks like a stretched skull on his chest? And those eyes! He had some kind of elaborate gas mask thing going on.

The back of his helmet reminds me of a cicada shell. That girl with him has some wild contacts in too. She's always in the pics I take of him each year.

There were a few other spooky characters hanging with the Steampunk couple:

Like Anubis:

And this deathly figure. This is one of those photos that I noticed all kinds of details in once I saw it larger. Details like his cool, braided beard, the metallic skull on his chest, and that Steampunk gun contraption that's reaching into the frame.

I'm going to show all of the Steampunk people first.

Check out her purse/fanny pack! It's one of those Grichels.

Nice earrings!

Check out this cool clock purse! And what looks like a Steampunk Belle costume from Beauty and the Beast.

A dapper demon.

He's very coordinated with all the blue. And look at that little mirror on his lapel.

This is one of my favorite photos from the day. Look at that hat! And he's just so happy looking. This is one of those times where I'm sure that the subject of the photo didn't know I was taking it, but they happen to pose in this photogenic way at just the right time.

Full length:

Steampunk explorers on safari:

Notice they're carrying cups and saucers. Back view:

I just noticed he had a little octopus on the back of his helmet.

Mom called this guy "Andy Warhol" 😁

While waiting for the joust, it was like a whole fashion show walked by. That's when I spotted this couple. I think I see a flask in his hat.

This guy is sort of Steampunk with the goggles and hat, but he has kind of a plague doctor thing going on too. That's a little coffin in his lap. Maybe this is a character I'm unfamiliar with?

Even the little furry gremlin/dragon critter has his mini Steampunk hat on! This photo is like a Jim Hensen production.

This lady had a jet pack type contraption on her back. She also had this octopus/Kracken type critter coming out of her corset. Unfortunately, my camera decided to poop out and needed a new battery while she was facing me. So I was only able to get a pic of her back.

She was walking kind of that Steampunk/Pirate line. Speaking of pirates...

This pirate lady was watching a musical act called "Musical Blades" We heard a bit of it while waiting in the tempura line. I couldn't hear much, but what I did hear was some wild, racy pirate talk. Assuming I heard it correctly. Anyway, I was able to capture some expressive pirates in that show.

I don't remember this man with the lighter beard in the show. Looking at this pic, I'm not sure what role he had. He's just staring off like "Meh" which cracks me up.

"Meh. Let's wrap this up."

"I caught a fish this big!"

An inflatable parrot!

The piratey top of the tempura place:

Looks like someone is flopping out of the crow's nest!

And then there's a ride with ships that "sail" up and down in the air.

And what pirate wouldn't want to see her? It's Ariel the Little Mermaid! 🐠

We saw some beautiful fairies this year. You might remember that we went on the fairy-themed day last year. There were actually some new ones this time! Like her:

What kind of fairy do you think she is? Air? Water? I always call the one behind her "The Fire Fairy".

This is the one I call "The Spider Fairy". She's a favorite of mine. 🕷

Later on, we found her hanging out in a tree.

And in another tree:

It's funny how many people walked under this one, without knowing anything was above them.

I guess this guy is more of an elf. It looks like he spotted me, but there's no way. He was across a field and I was using a massively long lens.

This is another new one to me. I was calling her "The Owl Fairy".

"The Fire Fairy" again. 🔥 Looking at the leaves on her costume, she could also be "The Autumn Fairy"

Way up in the top of this building was a little green fairy:

She had dragonfly wings.

A sort of deer creature?

Speaking of magical characters, I was happy to spot a wizard this year. I'm always happy to see people in wizard costumes for whatever reason. It just lightens my mood. That, and people in gnome costumes.

On to the Joust! This is an area where the officials or royalty sit, as I recall. It's been a while since we've sat for The Queen's Joust. We usually come later for Joust to the Death.

This guy sells flag pennants before the show.

I'm going to call this section of the post "Random Characters" because I'm not sure how to categorize them. Remember the Baby Man from last year?

Check out the creative way his stilts are set up:

A cool jester character sitting high above a shop.

Suddenly, it got all Great Gatsby at the Ren Faire!

How cool is this hat?

I saw him at the joust. I'm thinking he was a viking.

This was another bawdy show, from what I could overhear. (Even if that woman is reminding me of the flying nun)

A samurai? Help me out here. This is feeling like one of those costumes that fits with a reference I don't know.

I just noticed this guy's cool frog cane now! It's funny how many little details go unseen when you're there.

Both the guy above and the person below were part of a group that looked like their costumes could do double-duty in decorating a kitchen. Like, put the fruit in a bowl and the ivy around a window, etc.

She was a drummer in the drum circle.

Witchy! I always hope to see the pack of witches each year. She and her friend were a little different this time. I've seen a few variations of witchy outfits from them.

This is the "Cool Hair" category. Here's one of my favorite photos from that day. You'll want to enlarge this one to check out the details. The girl in the middle has this basket weave teacup and saucer hat on. This was just a fun, quirky looking group of people.

I saw a few of them again later on. How pretty is that hair color?

And this is an awesome neon pink too!

I saw my two pinkish hair photo subjects right in a row. His is more a dark magenta/maroon I guess.

A neat hair accessory seen on someone in front of me at the joust.

A pretty, almost bridal look.

As usual, there was a lot of cool scenery everywhere we looked. I grouped pics of the shops and environment in general here.

A performance artist doing acrobatics high in the trees. I heard a little girl say "Are those sheets?" They'd be loooooong sheets because she was pretty high up.

Aside from that one kid, you could have heard a pin drop. She had us all mesmerized.

This is the lair of a character who is covered in similar colored rags. I didn't see her this year.

Spiked moat

What I see as a little witch's house. I'm sitting down there with the herb garden. I think this would be a fit with a previous blog post (Plants fit for a potion) So a pic of this place might end up in there.

There was a whole fairy village set up. It had a natural look because they used real stones and real miniature plants as "trees" and "shrubs".

Decorative gypsy carts:

Mom with some of the lovely floral arrangements that were around.

Tempura time!

Mmmm.....

Isn't this glass pretty? These displays always look so cool out in the sun.

I love the light at this time of day. It was probably around 6:00 when I took this. Everything looked warm. That Sahara store smelled good as we passed by. They must have been selling oils and incense. This photo was my computer's wallpaper for a while.

Parasols for sale. I accidentally ended up with that Harley Quinn girl in my photo after trying to get a picture of her earlier in the day.

This was another neat structure to photograph in late afternoon.

The light was catching all these little pieces of mirror.

We're lucky to have our Ren Faire in an area with so many large trees. The trees give you this feeling like you're in Sherwood Forest with Robin Hood.

The drum circle dance floor

We didn't see too much of the Royal Court this year. There's an area of the grounds where the Queen and her court sit and gossip. It gives an idea of what it was like when the Queen decided to visit the country and brought her entourage with her. It's a lot of sitting and gossiping/plotting. While we didn't visit that area, we did see a few members of the court, or at least people dressed fancily enough to be.

This year's Queen

Speaking of Queens, there was this area of scenes/chairs in a circle. I'm not sure if they were there to be photo ops or what. There were two that really stood out to me. One was of Queen Elizabeth I.

It's pretty spooky, almost like a wax effigy. Maybe you've seen pictures of some glass coffins in churches with figures a lot like this inside.

It's very pretty, though. She's almost real looking. I half expect her eyes to glance up.

And then there's this character! I had to get some photos of this one! She's like the Wicked Witch in Disney's Snow White.

And look at her surroundings! What is this? A stretched piece of skin? It kind of reminds me of that talking sheet of skin in Doctor Who. Although, this one looks a whole lot less lively.

Hope you enjoyed your virtual visit to this year's Bristol Renaissance Faire! This photo is a fitting goodbye. It's the actual goodbye we received on the way out!

P.S. ~ Here's some fitting music to go with the photos:

Link: 1 Hour of Medieval Music - Medieval Times