Winding up the Mississippi

We left Florida mid-April to go to our next assignment in Minnesota but traveling slowly so as not to get there before the snow melts and it warms up sufficiently. Our first stop was Pensacola and the old village which was settled in 1540 by the Spanish from Spain. It then changed hands several times. The French, the British, the Americans, the Confederates and finally the Union. Can you see the various flags running up and down the pole? If you go be sure and see the Naval Air Museum. A freebie and well worth it even for folks who have a limited knowledge of airplanes. Next stop, New Orleans. We have been there several times but there is so much to see. Most importantly, we met with Larry's cousin, Don Boomgaarden and his lovely wife Paula. Don is Dean of Music at Loyola and a concert pianist as well as having a Bluegrass band etc. Check out 'You Tube' of Donald Boomgaarden. We ate at Commander's Palace, an old and  fine eatery-courtesy of Don and Paula.

Dean Donald Boomgaarden

Next morning Larry and I had cafe au lait and beignets at The French Market.
We have been toting around Flat Stanley's girlfriend,Flat Halley. 

Cafe au lait, beignets and Flat Halley

We strolled around the square enjoying the perfect weather and listening to  the jazz musicians and the artists displaying their paintings and 
The Cathedral St Louis

at the head of the square.
 Later we went to the wonderful museum complex towards the outskirts of the city where there is a fine arts museum. A river winds through the park ,a walkway for walkers and bikers and an incredible area for kids with an old time merry-go-round, a little village to play in and a choochoo for rides around in and out the trees and gardens.I went into the museum because Don had told me about the collection of French paintings that had been locally collected when New Orleans belonged to the French. They had a huge painting of Marie Antoinette, and one of Louis XVI and other landscapes and portraits by French artists. While I was meandering thru the collection I listened to four women softly sing wonderful 30's and 40's music, kind of like The Andrews Sisters.-close harmony and terrific blend. 

Natchez Indian home

Natchez,Mississippi. One of the few towns that wasn't burned by the Union. Lots of antebellum homes to see and the beginning of The Natchez Trace. The plantation owners kept their plantations in Louisiana as the soil is fertile from annual flooding but the living conditions--cooler air, fewer annoying insects, and drier conditions were better in the higher elevation across the Miss. Think back to the days of yellow fever,cholera, malaria,dysentary, tuberculosis-you name it. Better chance of survival in Natchez. We also visited the Grande Mounds. Native Americans,(I'll call them Indians as I am not PC), all up the Mississippi River, built mounds. Some for the chief's home, some as burial tombs and some for ceremony. In Natchez, the Indians lived in permanent homes built of mud and thatch on their own individual farms. There are several mound areas in Mississippi along The Trace and all the way up to Illinois where we found the largest mounds that had been about the size of The Great Pyramids of Giza. Is there a connection?

William Faulkner

We had two days in Oxford,MI to check out Ole Miss and the nice little friendly  town. Good hamburgers at  Handy Andy's. Writer William Faulkner hometown-see statue. Also John Grishom lives there.

One of Cape Girardeau's murals

Stopped at the old French towns of Cape Girardeau,Missouri (Rush's hometown) where lovely old cathedral St Vincent's has three reliquaries, St Vincent, a Pope and Ste Louise de Marillac who started the Sisters of Charity. The tiny congregation saved the church from demolishion in spite of Cardinal Law's recommendation. Proud people.
Stunning paintings and statuary inside. Outside along the wall keeping the Mississippi from flooding the town, are a series of incredible murals depicting the history and people who lived along the Miss. I would say they were trompe l'oeil as they appear to be coming out of the wall and straight for you. Also fun is the village of Ste Genevieve where they have saved some of the oldest french architecture-very different construction that our English. We stopped at Chester, IL to visit Popeye, Olive Oyl et al. Cartoonist,Elzie Segar lived there. We did much more -Lincoln's home, Stillman Valley, German Valley, the tulip fest in Pella, IA,but I'll save that for later.

Well blah blah bah, we have arrived at our destination on the Zumbrota River, MN at Shades of Sherwood RV park and our new jobs. Larry-maintenance man and yours truly, taking reservations on the computer and doing odd help- out jobs. Plenty of time to paint in this lovely setting for the summer season. 

Spring at the Gulf

We are counting down our time here on the Gulf Coast. It 's been too cool and  windy to 'do' the beach very much but for day to day living it has been fine. Sweater weather is the norm. Since the 1st of March we have been inundated with college age people wearing very little and surrounded by deafening bass sound until 4:00AM  Perhaps this area gets so much money from them that it is worthwhile to sacrifice sense and sensibility. I don't think this wild frenetic behavior would be tolerated in New England. If I am mistaken I would like to be corrected. We would have left had we not been working here.  That said, it has been lovely, Larry has been singing and recording other karaoke singers and I have been teaching pastel painting. The above painting named Emerald Coast - (Oil- 16 x 20) was done at Seaside which is on 32A, a road following the 'emerald' coastline, part of a series of beautiful new towns.  My daughter said she studied Seaside in one of  her landscape architecture classes as it is a designed town of recent vintage along with Watercolor, Rosemary Beach and others.  The clarity of the atmosphere, the intensity of the sunshine, the blue/green water and sugar- white sands I have not seen anywhere else.
Larry thought he'd try his hand at oil painting and selected a subject that appealed to him. After a few hours he said he hated it. Not his cup of tea. I urged him to finish it so he could have a painting under his belt and a feeling of accomplishment.  He tried again and gave up after an hour and I agreed that if it is torture, forget it.  It is not a lack of stick-to-it-tiveness because he spends hours at his music.  I thought he might be another dabbler, a Winston Churchill or Tony Curtis.

I am exercising my formerly broken ankle on my delightful 3 speed tricycle. It is better than a stationery bike inside.

We are going to New Orleans in a couple weeks to see Larry's cousin, Dean of Music at Loyola.  After that we will wend our way north to Minnesota to our next job, stopping to see among other things, Choctaw Indian mounds, Ole Miss, Oxford, MS, named after Oxford University, England.  I will continue to collect info for my next children's book which I plan to collaborate with my long time friend Carol Ann.

Go for the dramatic

Storm on Panama City Beach December 24, 2012.

 It's all there for the painting. The angles create drama, action, verve. Hear the thundering surf. The untrained eye may see black and white but notice the pink in the sand and the yellow, orange and Paynes grey sky and blue/green water. Wonderful reflections in the wet beach. Does it make you want to grab your brush? Would you do it in oil (acrylic) or watercolor? yes, I know the horizon is tipped

Something is gobbling Savannah

Something is gobbling up Savannah buildings and fast. It is taking over abandoned buildings and repurposing (I dislike that popular expression) them to suit it's needs. The first building this monster took over in 1978 was the historic 1892 Savannah Volunteer Guard Armory which is now nominated to be on the National Registration of Historic Places. It is now renamed for one of the founders Poetter Hall and is used for classrooms and administration. The monster is called SCAD Savannah College of Art and Design. Suddenly it is huge and spread all over the city. It has done amazing reconstruction and has made Savannah a fascinating city humming with creativity and sizzling with activity and inspiration. This university attracts students all over the U.S. and abroad offering degree programs and especially career prep. for various art pursuits incl. urban development.
 " The university confers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine 

Arts, Master of Architecture, Master of Arts, Master of Arts in

Teaching, Master of Fine Arts and Master of Urban Design

 degrees, as well as undergraduate and graduate certificates"

Beside the stunning architecture of old Savannah there is a
 new reason to visit this grande dame. And, Savannah can be 
grateful to another woman beside Paula Deane,
Paula Wallace.
 Paula Wallace also outreaches into the
 community with events, exhibitions, very well attended movie award weekends. SCAD  includes Atlanta, Hong Kong, Lacoste and e-learning.
Check it out on line
http://www.scad.edu/about/history.cfm

Take a lesson MassArt.

Winter season

Escaped to the South just before Hurricane Sandy slid up the Coast to the Northeast. This photo shows early morning sunrise as Sandy's tail went by the Carolinas. Driving inland on old Route 1 we didn't encounter any winds or rain but the clouds were swirly like you see on the weather forecasters map.
On a lighter side, here is a photo of our motor home with accent on the home,on the track at Daytona Speedway in Florida where we attended the Good Sam Rally. L.B. got a kick out of being on the track.

We will be spending the winter in Panama City Beach, Florida. LB will be scooping ice cream cones and I will be painting and teaching art.

This hand painted glass ball with the quail on it is an example of my Christmas Time crafting. My hand painted glass balls are a popular seller at craft fairs and I personalize them with a name and date for the customer. I am not doing fairs this year. I mostly do birds but some flowers and winter greens and occasioally I get a request for a pet portrait.  Email me if you are interested in ordering. They are $16 ea. and $2.00 xtra for a name. Pet portrait is $25.00. Includes shipping in the US. Rates may change so verify. If you are near Hardwick, Mass. they are available at Clover Hill Farm store. See Cheryl about them.
 On the Stillmans Farm blog, she suggests buying local for Christmas and help our United States stay in business and not China so much. Read her post for ideas, they are great.

Slow and steady

It has been said that home is--when you go there they have to let you in.  Also said: Home is where you hang your hat. Nope. Home is comfort. It's a place to nestle in to. It smells right.  Living in a rehab facility is bearable if you know you're going home soon. I got well as soon as I could sleep most of the night.  Sleep is so healing.  Being out of commission with a broken leg in a non weight bearing cast slowed me down and put all those projects I had on hold.  Making every day count-a Yankee maxim- doesn't mean you have to keep all your tops spinning at once.  One good top spinning on course is good and productive.
I have found a publisher that has a good rating.  I have read a number of books on self  publishing vs traditional publishing.  A writer can wait a year or more once accepted for their book to appear in print after they have been accepted by a traditional publisher.  Hey, I don't want to wait that long.  I am tired of sending out manuscripts and waiting the usual three months for no reply. Not even a thanks/no thanks  or have an apple.  I think I should try to estimate how many books I can sell before I go ahead.  I need to be pretty sure of covering the price of publishing plus the printing cost of each book.  My estimate is $1600 +- for publishing and $3.50 a book for printing.  I will work this all out and tell you what I find.

WHAT'S AFOOT?

I am writing from a rehab facility with my leg elevated due to fractures in 3 places in the tibia near the ankle.  It is held together with screws and plates. Next week I will get a real cast and hopefully it will be weight bearing so I can get around easier. I am developing upper body strength, however. 
I was working at the RV resort helping with arts and crafts when, carrying a large box of plastic bottles for a sand art project, I miss-stepped and crashed to the ground. 
So I am meditating on the meaning of this sudden change in my lifestyle and the fact my summer plans have been redirected.  My husband's plans were changed and the RV park plans were also messed up.  I shall leave it there until I see the direction I am meant to go.