Drumroll... A Winner!!!

And the winner of the October Country Giveaway which features the beautiful bracelet made by Kayla of The Eclectic Element is............

Misha of From My Front Porch in The Mountains!

Congrats, Misha!!

Email me your address and I'll forward it to Kayla so she can get your beautiful bracelet to you.  A big thanks goes out to Kayla for providing her craftsmanship for the October giveaway!!

Thanks to everyone who entered, and stay tuned for the November Country Giveaway, which will be here in the blink of an eye!

A Weed By Any Other Name

Driving along our back country roads, this is what you'll see this time of year.... a glorious profusion of yellow flowers.  Or weeds.  I think the county calls them "weeds".

They proliferate in dry weather, of which we've had an abundance this year.

Personally, I think they make our dirt roads look very picturesque and beautiful.

Weed, or flower?

It's just a name, a designation.

I call them flowers.

They are like mini-sunflowers, so to me,

they are happy,

waving in the breeze to passers-by,

smiling at everyone.  

Maybe even thumbing their noses

(do they have noses??!)

at our county workers.

Backlit by the morning sun.

Beautiful, don't you think?

Last Day To Enter Country Giveaway!!

Yesterday morning's sunrise was nothing short of spectacular.... 

with a beautiful sunrise to the east, and a very

intense and stormy sky to the west with a rainbow!

I have never seen a rainbow to our west...

they always appear to the east.  

So it was a very awe-inspiring and different morning!

We're down to the last day to enter

the October Country Giveaway!!

Read this post here to find out how to enter.

You'll need to subscribe to my blog (upper right sidebar) and then respond to the first post you get in your email - Enter me in your October Country Giveaway!

I'll push out one more blog post later today to give late subscribers a chance to enter the giveaway.  By Saturday evening, we'll know who the lucky winner of Kayla's beautiful bracelet will be!!!

October Giveaway ~ Country Bracelet

Only one more day to enter the giveaway

for this beautiful bracelet by Kayla at The Eclectic Element!

Go here to read the entry rules and see additional photos.

A Rural Drive-By

In my rural world, a drive-by means something entirely different... it's basically a very peaceful, sometimes early-morning, rural excursion wherein I scout for suitable dirt road photographs.

Yesterday morning yielded a few notable subjects.  Here's one sample from over 200....

After: I expanded on the hazy look and added a vignette.

Before (SOOC):  the sun had popped behind a few clouds, and

there was a hazy look to the sky due to many tractors

in the area kicking up the dust.

Don't forget to enter the October country giveaway this month by responding via email when you receive notice of a new blog post:  Simply put in the subject line, Enter me in your October country giveaway!

If you haven't checked it out yet, read yesterday's post for all the juicy details and to view the photos of the beautiful rustic and earthy bracelet that Kayla from The Eclectic Element has made for this giveaway!

October Country Giveaway

It's here!! 

The October Country Giveaway!

I think you're going to love this month's giveaway.... a beautiful, rustic and very organic beaded bracelet by Kayla from The Eclectic Element. 

Kayla has been beading for many years, and she is just the most talented beader I know -- she really has an artistic eye for putting together beautiful and unusual bead combinations.

She has really outdone herself this time....  

what do you think?!

Kayla is a hardy and resilient soul, a young gal who's been battling lyme disease for many, many years now.  She has bad days and good days, and luckily, she's been having more good days than bad lately.  I wish her continued success with her current treatments, and I hope that she's back to creating lovely bracelets for her Etsy store soon!!

Her beaded bracelet store on Etsy doesn't have any products at the moment, but her vintage Etsy store is alive and thriving... check it out when you have a minute!

And if you haven't ever visited Etsy.com, I'm going to highly recommend that you do so.  Etsy has the most incredible, unique and beautiful handmade goods by artists all over the world, and tons of vintage shops too.  I've been browsing the Etsy shops for the last few months, and I've built up a very substantial and nice 'favorites' list already.

I'm still gearing up for my own Etsy stores.  Soon, very soon.   And yes, that WAS plural.  More than one store!

Everything takes time, of course.  But I'm definitely getting closer.  :-)

Rules to Enter Giveaway
In the meantime, if you'd like to enter the great country giveaway this month, just hit "reply" when you get notice in your email of a new blog post, any new blog post from Oz Girl at all. 

Hit "reply" and put in the subject line, "Enter me in your October country giveaway!!" 

That's it.  Simple.

The contest will be open for entries through Friday, October 7th at midnight (PST).  A winner will be drawn via Randomizer.org and announced by Sunday, October 9th.

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog if you haven't already, so you'll get email notices of new posts and you'll be able to enter the giveaways, which will be occurring on the 1st of every month through July 2012!!

It's easy to subscribe up in the top of my right sidebar where it says Follow Oz Girl Via Email... and just as easy to unsubscribe later, if you choose to do so!  

Be sure to follow through with Feedburner's verification process, so that your subscription is complete!

Good luck, and happy weekend to all!  :-)