Monday, October 29, 2018

THE PERFECT HALLOWEEN


This year we finally had an excuse to attend Wimberley's Boo!Hole Halloween Celebration at Blue Hole Park -- the perfect place to introduce a little kid to Halloween! 
 

They got a pretty good turnout but, because it is spread out and so kid-friendly, he never felt squished or overwhelmed.


The booths offered everything from a Creepy Critters Petting Zoo...


That's the Witch of Cypress Creek there in the background, a.k.a. Outdoor Woman.


to face-painting...


a maze...


S'mores...


and lots of great games and booths, handing out so many fun treats and prizes!


Books and candy are great, but nothing beats a tiny pumpkin that fits perfectly in your wee little hand!
Best thing of all, according to all the parents? Unlike Halloween, this event never falls on a school or work night!

Perfect Weather For Dinner On The Porch At The Leaning Pear
Does it get any better? 


Friday, October 26, 2018

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: THINGS THE TUSCANS TAUGHT ME



This one includes a simple recipe, perfect for this time of year!



Wednesday, October 24, 2018

THE PLAYHOUSE I NEVER HAD


The other day I was looking around the interior of my home, thinking about how much it had changed since Little Goober came along. Apparently, I no longer give a flip about impressing anyone other than him, for my rather small house seems to have morphed into one rather large playhouse.




That notion got me to thinkin' about the playhouse my two older sisters had when they were young. My dad was a home designer/builder, and when he did spec homes, we sometimes lived in them for a while, until they sold. My mom said her very favorite houses always got whisked out from under her as soon as she started to settle in, but that if she ever moved into one she hated -- one not built by Dad -- that would probably be the one she'd get stuck in for life. Turns out, she was right! Of course, since my parents loved nothing more than working on a remodeling/redecorating project together, that house gave them oodles of opportunities for collaboration, and ended up being one they had to be dragged out of, kicking and screaming, forty years later.





Anyhoo, back to the house Mom loved the most -- the one we left when I was still a toddler, and therefor have no memory of. The one she and my sisters went on and on about for the rest of their lives, just to torture me. You see, being a man ahead of the times, Dad apparently designed one of the first "open concept" houses way back in the early 50's -- one with a beautiful kitchen with an exposed brick wall and brick floors, that opened into a large family room. The piece-de-resistance? A fantastic playhouse in the backyard, custom built for my sisters. I've been pining for one of my own ever since.






Guess I finally made that dream come true, huh?


Monday, October 22, 2018

COLOR MAD MONDAY: UNDER THE SEA

Just now finishing up all the lessons with the first of six instructors, Lucy Brydon, in my monoprinting makeover class, and it only took me a month to do it! I have to say though, I've had more color-mad artsy fun in this one month than I've probably had in the last year.

This week we focused on using masks to make overlapping wavy layers like these...


then we selected our favorite, and turned it into a magical underwater scene, something like this.




Oh yeah! And remember those prints I made using dried foliage from my yard as masks? Well, my favorites from all of those ended up being backgrounds for all of these...




and these...



and this!


So thank you Lucy Brydon, for giving me one of the best months ever! Also, many thanks to Danielle Donaldson, one of my previous instructors, and author of the magnificent book The Art Of Creative Watercolor, which continuously inspires me to embrace the whimsical (such as dragons and mermaids and pirate ships) in my art. I love you both so much!

Thursday, October 18, 2018

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU KID

A couple of days ago I was in a really grumpy mood, which is unusual for me -- so unusual that it makes my hubby quite nervous when it happens. I blame it on spending too much time on-line, reading about the horrible things we humans do to one another in the righteous name of religion and patriotism. Anyhoo, like I said, it made my hubby nervous. He remembered hearing me mention that I thought the new "googley eyes on statues" trend was pretty hilarious, so while I was off running errands, he did this.






I scoured the house pretty well, and thought surely I had spotted them all, but then the next morning, as I was reheating my tea in the microwave, I spotted a pair of eyes slithering down the side of my cup -- the cup I had been drinking from all morning! Clearly I'm not nearly as observant as I thought I was. Finally I went to my hubby and said "I give up! Are there any others that I missed?" He sauntered over to the refrigerator with a smirk and a gleam, and flipped the door open with a flourish.




Yep, pretty much everything in there had eyes, and I had been in and out of there numerous times, never noticing a thing! I guess I understand now why "eye witness accounts" are not considered to be all that reliable.
  

Monday, October 15, 2018

SO HAPPY TO MEET YOU!

Did you know that there is a new kind of device which they can implant in people with chronic pain -- one that is a wee bit of a miracle? It doesn't actually cure what ails them. Instead, it somehow manages to block some of those signals the nerves are sending to the brain -- the ones telling it that it's body should be writhing in agony. It doesn't work for everyone, but when it does? Well, it can be life-changing.  


Take our friend Ricky Charles, for instance -- Fiber Woman's hubby.  We never knew him back in the day, when he was making quite the name for himself as a glass artist, with a studio/shop down on the square and a permanent booth at the Renaissance Festival near Houston. We met him much later, after the damage and progressive pain from an old injury had made it a struggle just to get through each day, forcing him to give up his passion -- the glass art that he'd been obsessed with since he was just a kid, and which defined who he was.


So, you can only imagine how astounded my hubby was when Mr. Rick called him up recently and told him to "drop by after dinner, 'cause I've got something cool to show ya", and he arrived to find Rick out in his studio, leaning over a flame, shaping a piece of glass!


John stayed there for several hours, watching the artist at work, and was so blown away with the magic of it all that he went back again this week to take photos. He was happy to report that, not only does Rick still have a gift with glass, but also his gift of gab -- the one that he was known for way back when, earning him the moniker of Storytelling Glass Guy.


You have no idea how grateful we are, to finally get to meet this guy!