Frosty "The Snowman's" Powder Horn

I am known for my fascination of all things Christmas, with my absolute favorite being snowmen. Rick knows this and made me a special gift.- my very own engraved powder horn. I originally saw the horn at Rick's and had commented on how beautiful it was, this was before he engraved it (also known as scrimshaw). Little did I know what he was planning. He took this horn that he made, and engraved it in folk-art style with "Frosty his horne," his flintlock musket and other beautiful 18th century designs. 

*Scrimshaw is the art of engraving lines and designs in the horn and then adding color by rubbing ink, lamp black or soot in the lines. These horns were made to hold black powder for flintlock guns. 

Carolina Balloon Festival | Statesville, NC

We had the opportunity to join our photography meetup group at the Carolina BalloonFest in Statesville, NC in October. This was my first hot air balloon festival and it is something that I must attend again. We arrived early, found a great parking spot and enjoyed lunch. Then we decided that since we were really early and it would be some time before the launching of the balloons, we would leave and return later. Well this was a mistake, a big one. Unknown to us, the traffic to get into the festival would be miles upon miles long. With time running out and nowhere near the entrance, and the launch time getting close, we pull into a parking lot along with other festival goers. These people either had done this before or had given up like us and just parked where there was room. But it turned out to be great; the balloons flew right over us. Below are some of the photos I was able to capture.

P.S. When they said "Plan to arrive early and stay with us" they meant it.