Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg,Texas

Front door of the visitors' center-major coleus growth  

 



5  10 25 cent store

Noble immigrants arrived here in the Hill Country of Texas from Germany in the early 1800s.  This area is west of Austin and includes such towns as San Antonio to the south, Comfort, Stonewall, Banderas, Dripping Springs, Luckenbach (of Willie fame) New Braunfels, Fredericksburg and many more wonderful names. Fredericksburg ,hereafter aka Fred., is a prosperous town of 10,000 + with a main street packed with stores, hofbraus, (brewpubs) and eateries with menus that list schnitzels and wursts of all kinds. Naturally there are shops displaying 'scootin' boots, leather goods, homemade ice creams, pastries and chocolate shops and shops representing the local wineries. There is a 5,10 and 25 cent store, a great visitors center, a half dozen B&Bs plus motels for a bustling tourist trade. About 20,000 are expected this weekend. Replete throughout the hill country are vineyards and, I am told, are second only to Napa Valley in wine production. Larry and I are working for our keep at Texas Wine Country RV Park a few miles outside of Town. We are directly across from Grape Creek Vineyards with it's Tuscan style villa. They have received gold, silver and bronze awards in national competitions for their Viognier, Syrah, cab, merlot, Riesling, Pinot Grigio and more. They want $20 each to tour and $12 for tasting.  A little steep for me.  I'll stick with Ste. Genevieve wines, another Texas vineyard, they're quite good, sold in the grocery and easy on the wallet.

The November issue(out now) of Artist Magazine has an article on page 8 entitled Art & Common Gound.  It is about and artist that started a workshop business called art and vino that has become very popular. I was delighted to read about the thriving art interest be it galleries or hands on artists here where I am living at this time.

I am looking forward to attending an event called First Friday Art Walk, Fredericksburg.

 I am off to work now to paint faces and help with pumpkin painting. I  teach art and do crafts with adults and children.

 Larry is the DJ and tonight he is having 'Stump the DJ" at the pool. He also does karaoke on another night, organizes jam sessions, and mans the pool tables. I know, but somebody 's got to do it. We are given black polo shirts and a name tag for our uniform. First time we've had black. Sensible color. In the past we 've had green, bright blue, yellow and light blue and they all get dirty half way thru the day especially if your cleaning out firepits or painting.



No Madison Ave art dept here

Add Fredericksburg to your list of places to visit. It's October and days are warm and nights are cold. As winter progresses it will get colder during the day but not parka and mittens weather.

 

Midsummer in Minnesota

We'll be celebrating Midsummer Fest amongst Norwegians-Uff-Da to you. Oddly they think Uffda is Norwegian when in fact it is upper MidWest specifically Minnesotan.

Dutchmen's Breeches

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Baltimore Oriole

 I am residing in a lovely area of southern MN in a tiny secluded valley thru which the Zumbro River winds. It is edged by old growth woods and is a haven for golden eagles, turkey vultures, Baltimore Orioles, Rose breasted grosbeaks, cardinals and many other lovely birds. A gravel road runs from Rt 52  circuitously to other farm and county roads-gravel as well. Someone took a T-square and right triangle to southern MN except for our particular road which oddly enough has a name-Sherwood Trail. Roads have numbers. Farms have 6 plus digit numbers. Like 69825  324th Rd SW.
 We have a hill in our valley. Actually two hills. The one across from our park was a clay mine. Until the 40s there was a factory and kiln where pottery and tiles were made, there was a railroad to load the barrels to ship out to the world. There is only a rail bed now. Nothing else remains. Strikes me as odd that the clay bed is on top of a hill. I haven't mentioned the wildflowers. Drooping trillium, Dutchman's breeches,rue, huge red columbine, angelica, tall vivid blue something-that I can't find in my book,wild honeysuckle and more.
One day snow came down. The sun was shining and it was warm with a light wind. Yet everywhere was a whirl of snow. The cottonwood trees decided the weather was advantageous to their propagation and the fluffy down with a tiny seed attached falls like snowflakes and covers the ground and drifts in piles. Everything is about a month late here due to the cold and rain. Farmers in many cases have given up planting as the fields have been too wet. They have an opportunity to plant alfalfa later. If they want to collect crop insurance they can't plant anything for a while. The main crop in this area is corn-for ethanol   Farms are measured in sections. It is amazing for a native of Massachusetts to see fields as far as the eye can see--in fact the curve of the earth, of rich dark soil free of stones and instead of growing something beautiful on it they grow fuel. Ah, but that's where the money is. It is all highly mechanized even to planting with a GPS.
So I am nestled in this lovely situation with painting opportunities everywhere. I plan to paint the river,of course, with the tubers floating down bobbing and turning. Tubers are adults and kids in special inner tubes that bob and turn down the river. Fun.
 I have to work in the store 5 days and take reservations as well. Larry works outside,collecting tubers in a tractor and wagon, does karaoke parties, bundles split wood and delivers to campers, See www.shadesofsherwood.com . On Sunday we work the pancake  breakfast at the Rec Hall and sing for the folks at the church service beforehand.
We are working and enjoying Shades of Sherwood Campground in Zumbrota, MN for our summer occupation.

Last week 3 tiny kittens appeared on our doorstep yeowing at 7 AM. Larry said they came from the barn on the hill above us. Something must have happened to their mother. Two were very spookish, one was calm and sweet. One of the spookers was very much like a lilac Himalayan the other two were yellow tigers. We fed them and hugged them and with kindness they responded and became tame but still full of spunk.

Two kitties and a teddy bear buddy

They all have homes now. We will miss them and so will our adult cat,Tex. He had grown tolerant and even friendly to the last one remaining. I enjoy your input. Comment please.

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.