Tuesday, December 5, 2023

HAPPY HOLIDAYS IN 2023

 
Merry Christmas from the Little House.





We hope this newsletter finds everyone doing well and getting ready for a peaceful holiday season. 
Your bellmakers have survived the awful heat and drought of the summer.  Finally, we have cooler weather and some rain - not enough though.  We will be working to put in a water catchment system this winter.  Water is becoming scarce up here in the hill country. 

We did some traveling this year - went north and east in our RV in the early summer. Went as far north and NY and Maine. Actually, we crossed the border into Canada when we went to Niagara Falls.  This is the harbor in Friendship, Maine where one of our friends are lucky enough to live. 

In October, we volunteered again at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  Lots of fun but also lots of hard work!  

                My favorite balloon!! It actually has a horn just like a real VW bus!


We have added pottery making to our things to spend money on .... HA! We now have a wheel, a kiln and lots of clay.  We hope to include a little keepsake for customers in their bell boxes this year. 


Now we are back in the shop and ready for Christmas orders. The first box with the outer red tape just went out yesterday. 

We wish you all only the best. Have fun, be responsible, vote and take care you yourselves. 

Monday, June 26, 2023

ROCKPORT AGAIN !!!

 I just heard a rumor that it is at least five degrees cooler at the coast right now than it is in San Antonio.  So Rockport, here we come!


Here is the link so you can look for the dates, times and ticket prices.  Wear cool clothes, sunblock and a hat and come see us. 

https://www.rockportartcenter.com/artfest










Thursday, May 18, 2023

SPRING 2023

Windsongs has had a good spring.  The weather has been pretty good.  We've had enough rain that Judy's veggie garden looks great.  We put in a new "hugelkultur" bed. So far, we harvested tomatoes, zucchini and squash!! The new bed has potato and bean plants PLUS two pineapple plants started from pineapple tops saved from store bought pineapples over a year ago. 


These are zucchini and squash plants in the old hugelkultur bed.

                                                                                                 Tomato plants all in pots.







                                                                         

The King William Art Festival turned out to be a good show despite a HUGE rainstorm on Friday night and an increase in the admission fee.  People still came to the show, stopped by the booth to visit or buy a bell.



We roped in our Boerne grandson, Julien, to help us set up on Friday night. We rewarded him with a trip to the Alamo Cafe on the way home!


The parade was a hit, as usual. This is just one picture of the tons that I took.

So Judy took a pottery class this year which then prompted us to buy a wheel and a kiln.  While throwing pots on the wheel hasn't been as easy as Judy thought it might be, both Philip and Judy created some ceramic Texas stars. These were given out to anyone who bought a bell at the King William show. Just a way of saying thank you to our customers. 






Thursday, December 1, 2022

FALL UPDATE!!

Well, we had a busy summer and fall.  

We (and the rest of our neighbors) ran out of water this summer. No rain, too many people and too many wells and tanks being constructed.  We had to drill deeper and put in some new pipe.  We have added some more collection barrels to the property but probably need to add some serious collection equipment for the future. 
It looks nice and tidy now.  It was a royal mess while the big trucks were here for three days! But that wonderful cool hill country water is flowing freely now. 


We took a trip to Cozumel in August. Didn't scuba dive but we did snorkel with the whale sharks.  These creatures are unbelievably huge when you are next to them in the water!!


Finally, our really big trip was the 9 days we spent at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in October.  We have always wanted to go. This year we volunteered in exchange for free camping.  It was great even though it rained frequently and some events were cancelled.  On the two days prior to the start of the Fiesta, we worked on constructing the arches that covered the entrance gates. That was very hard work. OSHA would have been dismayed at us being on scaffolds and ladders with no safety equipment, training, etc! 

In return for our volunteer work, we were able to camp for free.  It was camping in a parking lot with no facilities.  We we parked extremely close to where the fireworks were located.  They were stupendous!


I can't say enough about the balloons and the many nice people we met.  The balloon pilots and their crews were friendly and loved to talk about their balloons.  These are just a few of the millions of pictures we both took!


                    This one actually had a cute little VW horn that honked just like the real VW buses.  

                                 Until you stand under these, you have no idea how really big they are.  

Now, back to real life.....

  We participated in the Huffines Art show in Arlington in October.  Then we took a quick trip up to VA to see the youngest daughter and her family.  Thanksgiving was held here at home with our oldest and her family.  Now... we are busy getting ready for Christmas orders!!






Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

 ROCKPORT ART FESTIVAL 


This is the 2022 Art Show Poster 

The show is July 2 &3 (right around the corner). We are busy making bells and loading up the truck. It looks like the weather may be wet and not as hot as hell.  But then, this is Texas, so who knows what Mother Nature will bring. 

We will be in our usual spot, so be sure to stop by. If you need a large bell (5 or 6 dot), call or email Philip and let him know.  Although we will bring several of each anyway, if we know you want one, we will set it aside for you. 

Here's the link for you to find information about hours, parking, ticket prices.






Saturday, June 25, 2022

 WELL........   

                 things could have been worse.  But for a week, things seemed pretty dire.  No rain in ages, too many people moving in the area building houses, barns, swimming pools and ponds finally caused the eventuality we knew was coming.  Wells began to run dry up here on our little hill two weeks ago and we were no exception. This is happening all over our county.  We had to BUY a truck load of water to put into our tank to see us through the week while we waiting for the wonderful, overworked well companies to rescue us.  

Our county entered stage 3 drought conditions. We began all our personal conservation strategies.  Short showers, saving shower/dishwashing water, saving water from the dehumidifier and the air conditioner and buying HEB drinking water. Only our trees get watered by hand in early morning or evening.  There are six people who live on this property and everyone did their best to conserve.   

We now have a new and deeper well. The well companies here are so very backed up with constant calls from desperate land owners.  These are wonderful men and women who worked in the 95 + degree heat for several days.  We now have several new storage containers on the property too.  We only have one roof with a gutter, but will be adding more.  We are continuing those conservation strategies mentioned above because I guess we are afraid our new, deeper well might still not be enough to counter this situation long term.  

Being without water is scary. 







Two different well companies worked with us, plus we had advice from the Cow Creek Conservation organization.


..... and there it is, new and pumping