Fall color

Took a short walk around the property a couple days ago and took these pics of some of the last remaining fall color.  I've been reading a new (to me) photography site and in these I tried a couple of the suggestions I found there. I've gotten lazy and don't often use settings other than auto so I shot all of these on aperture priority and that makes a big difference!  They also had some suggestions on capturing fall color and back lighting was one of them and a couple of these have both ideas incorporated in them.  Another suggestions was shooting flowers from below the blossom and that shot, using all three suggestions, is my favorite of the session!

The FALL-2012 concert is coming together quickly!

This one will be a more modest affair.  The Spring concert will be the bigger one And it's looking like this might be the direction we will go.  One evening, 5 or 6 acts in the Spring, individuals or smaller groups. In May we had about 40 musicians here.  This time it will be less than 10.  But the quality won't be any less! We're really happy that Lynn & Lindy will be here this time. They were on the road when we had the previous events so we tried to schedule around them this time.  They'll be off on an east coast tour right afterwards.  Vanessa Peters appearance here is one of those small world things.  She's the stepdaughter of a guy I worked with for many, many years and she's here as a result of a call made by another friend that we also worked with for many, many years who's been keeping up with the MusicFest.  Vanessa has been in Europe for much of the last 10 years or so and has toured there. Now she's back home in Texas and is going to play at Wildernest.  Randy Brown and Shannon Monk are also local.  They are both folks that we wanted to have at one of the earlier concerts but the scheduling just didn't work.  Kurt Bittner will be playing guitar with Shannon.  He's a cum laude graduate of Berklee school of music in Boston and has toured internationally.  Gus is the MusicFest Producer and is also a performer and owner and operator of Crossroads Music Company and Listening Room in Winnsboro.  He's listed as "Gus and Friends" and the friends will include Alex and Amy and maybe a few others.  You'll hear them at the Jacob Hayes Memorial.

So - some great musicians and a night of music at the Wildernest Stage.  We'll be keeping the website updated - www.wildernestmusicfest.com

Wildernest Treehouse MusicFest

See the Musicfest website here!

The dates for the MusicFest are May 4-6th.  Buy tickets on the website or call 903-342-1854.

Only 250 tickets will be sold.  

See the website for important information about attending.

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MusicFest on the internet

A Google search just turned up these hits on the MusicFest:

Winnsboro Online Guide weekly email

Winnsboro Online Guide

Wood County Electric Coop website

Winnsboro Center for the Arts website

Winnsboro Chamber of Commerce Facebook page

Heather McCready's press release in several locations

Mineola Monitor

Heather McCready;s Facebook page

Tyler Lenius website

American Classifieds website

Crossroads Music Company website

and all kinds of things on my blog where you are seeing this!

The treehouse tree after its' cut back yesterday

. . . lot's of wood on the ground to burn -

I think this is the worst flooding we've seen in Jacobs' Creek!

The pond from the BOD.  You can see the "V" support at the end of the zip line if you look very carefully on the left side of the picture.

"New Creek" - new because it wasn't there before!

"Lake Oscars' Pasture"

We had about 5 inches of rain in a little less than 12 hours.  This is as close as I could get to the west bridge without wading more than shoe top height.  The bottom posts of the stairs show almost two feet of water depth. Along the path to the Treehouse, the water is over 200 feet wide!.

MusicFest

There's been a lot happening with the MusicFest and we're now beginning to put some check marks on the to-do list.  The website is up, tickets are designed and ordered, the Chapel Worship Service program is in final draft.  The community is being very supportive and we are signing up some sponsors!!  Next on the list is working on the CD cover - looks like either a six-panel or the standard jewel case with an insert. Lots to say!  Gus is still working on the musician line-up but we've already got enough confirmed to put on a great show!  And still a lot happening that I can't put out here yet.  My blog used to be a personal/family thing but having referred to the MusicFest in previous posts Google is now sending quite a few people here.  If you're one of those I hope you enjoy your visit but note that you can get all the info on the new website.  The page up above is a link.  And remember to check the Crossroads Music FB page for future updates.

And if any of you are coming up on retirement and wondering what you're going to be doing with yourself, my recommendation is to find yourself a Gus (Gustafson) and put on a music event.  You will stay busy!

Wildernest - Featured in the (February 29th, 2012) Mineola Monitor Spring Lawn & Garden Section!

"Master Gardener Wields Light Touch on Natural Masterpiece" - What's not to like about that headline!  This lady knows a lot of adjectives!  After reading the article I had to go walk the trail again to see what she saw!  I'm really happy with the write up - it touches on most all of our favorite outdoor things about our home. Five nice color pictures too.  (If you double click the pictures you can read it.)

The bigger view

So far, the pictures of the stage that I've put on here were take to show the details of what we are building. These two are meant to give a hint at why it was a special place to many of the musicians that played here in October. One shows the stage and its' surroundings and the other was taken from the stage.

Wildernest Treehouse MusicFest stage - close enough to done to call it done!

Shadow loves the stage and is intimately acquainted with all parts of it!

The final touches this week were the lanterns on each side of the door, the milk can, and - most importantly - the "tin roof" over the left side of the stage (over the windows and doors).  Click the picture to see it better.

The inspiration for the stage design came from a John Fogerty video that Alex has.  The main elements are the "house" with the tin roof on the left side of the stage, the tree growing through the stage on the right, and the extension from the front of the stage.  The one on the video was huge but we got the main parts. Presentation will also include colored lights.  The last things we will add for performance times are (1) curtains and a lamp in the windows, and (2) the Crossroads banner that will take up most of the space between the totem pole and the door.  The "wings" can also be used for sponsor's banners.  We are about finished too with the backstage part of it that includes a big built in table for guitar cases and a short ladder/steps to a small landing behind the door so performers will be able to enter the stage that way.  There is a small cleared area for seating there too.  We've also done lots of clearing in front too to accommodate the larger crowd expected.  Several trees had to go but that makes the area more "park-like" and it also gives the remaining trees more room to grow.

Progress on multiple fronts

A dam at the West Bridge

After many months of drought the pond is full again

First day's work on the new stage

The upper picture shows the little dam at the West Bridge that I finished yesterday.  From previous measurements this looked to be about the correct height to keep the pond full.  Now after all of the rain, the pond is full but there is about 3-4 inches of water going over the dam.  So I'll add one more row of bags of concrete mix and that will keep the pond at about the level it is in the second picture.  Before the dam, water would back up like this but after the rain it would quickly drain away.  Maybe we can keep more of it now - and this should keep water in the creek too.  The last picture is the stage after one day's work.  We've moved it back and added to it.  It was 96 square feet and will now be 240 square feet.

JamFest Photo Book

So we're sitting at the bar at Brewbaker's Pub this evening having dinner (all the tables were taken) and there on the shelf behind the bar is a copy of the Wildernest Treehouse JamFest photo book.  This one's is special though - Jeff is getting each performer to autograph their page.

World Famous Wildernest Zipline

This is Brian and the water in the background is the English Channel - and on this day it's a cold and blustery part of the North Atlantic between England and Europe. And what does that bumper sticker say? 

Seeker of the Fleece!

So - whose lap does Pancho chose to lie on?  The one with the fleece throw on it.  (Can be empirically proven.)

November 2011

I like to look through my pictures at the end of a month to see what we've been doing with our time.  Of course there are some posts from November below this one but here are a few more pictures with some captions:  It was a pretty busy month!

Worked on our Wood County Master Gardeners Spring Conference arranging a speaker, acquiring a raffle prize, and worked on poster ideas.

Created the "Scrapbook Song" DVD for Alex

Found a picture of grandson Colby on FB.  He lives with his father. (Starnes)

Spent a morning traveling around Wood County taking pictures of fall color - but this one is in the back yard.

Had tree removal done at the house and tree trimming done at the Treehouse

Did some refinish work in the chapel and we replaced the cross with one more appropriate.

Spent an hour or so one morning taking fog pictures.  This one is almost the same place as the 'fall color' picture above.

Attended the Winnsboro Fine Art Market

Found a picture of granddaughter Haley on FB.  She too lives with her father. (Gattis)

Had the JamFest T-shirts made and have sold most of them now.

The sign for the city of Quitman is going in.  I worked on the project.

Attended two afternoons of music at the Winnsboro Fine Arts Market.

We are adding some stone pathways at the Wood County Master Gardener's Wildscape Garden at the Mineola Nature Preserve.

A cold Christmas season night in downtown Winnsboro!

Attended several music evenings at Brewbaker's Restaurant and Pub.

I completely rebuilt the upper pond - removing the stone, cleaning and repairing the liner, dug  it deeper but made it smaller, and replaced the stone, pump, filter, and waterfall.

And, of course,there was Thanksgiving and the week of prep that goes into it.