AN UNORTHODOX EASTER GIFT

Since our little Calvin is still too young to eat any of the junk that normally goes into an Easter basket, or play with any of the small toys and gizmos one usually puts in them, I invited him and my daughter to browse around Target with me to find something a bit more lasting and memorable for him. For less than $20, we found this:

I had been considering one of those collapsible crawl tunnels that can be flattened and stored under a bed when not in use, since Lexi is doing her best to avoid clutter accumulation. When we went looking for those, we found this instead, which also collapses. Best of all, you can later add tunnels that actually connect to it. What fun!

Me, well, I'm just tickled to death over the color-mad coordination of the floor tiles, cube, and Calvin's onesie. Don't you just love it when that happens? No? Perhaps that's my own special quirk.

Anywho, it's obvious that someone is already having a blast with it. We're just grateful that he is willing to share it with little Calvin.
 

MUSE MAGIC

Yesterday the Muses gathered at Outdoor Woman's house for lunch and a fun art project -- something we have been talking about for nigh on a year now, but just couldn't seem to pull off. It all started when two of the Muses took a wonderful workshop with local mixed-media artist Nina Mihm, and had so much fun they couldn't wait to do something similar again with the rest of us.

Lunch included these beauties, made with fresh eggs plucked straight from Outdoor Woman's own chicken coop!

We were told the only thing we needed to bring was a stash of papers or some magazines we could tear up to use in collage. It was so interesting to me to realize that each "stash" was a reflection of our individual personalities. Mine, of course, was a color-mad collection of my favorite hand-painted papers.

Next we were given a piece of poster board and told to get gluing! O.W. kept telling us not to spend too much time stressing over placement or composition, since that wouldn't matter when we moved on to the next step. Of course, we didn't really believe her.

Can you guess which one is mine?

But of course!

We discovered why that was a total waste of time when she made us flip them over and cut them up. Well, not a total waste, when you consider how soothing it is to just cut and paste -- kinda like being in kindergarten again -- and all the great conversation we shared in the process!

Then we flipped all the newly-by-accident-formed pieces of art back over, and each tried to decide which was our most "artful" composition.

From Spirit Woman, who is all about connecting to nature.

From Outdoor Woman, who is all about travel, history and exploration.

From Fiber Woman, whose art projects come to her in dreams.

Not sure what exactly I will end up doing with these eight little color-mad jewels, but I'm certain they will find their way into one of my art journal projects eventually!

It was the best of days!

TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE DOWN

Thursday did not start out well. We were driving over to San Antonio for a meet-up with our C.P.A., knowing we owed the IRS more than we've ever owed in our lives. Believe me, it was YUGE! That's what happens when you don't plan ahead and tell them to start taking out more each month, when you know you are going to start receiving Social Security payments and withdraw large sums from your investments for weddings, travel and a car -- money which becomes taxable as soon as you withdraw it, and bumps you up into a different bracket. So yeah, we were not happy campers, to say the least. On the plus side, we finally got our refund from two years ago, when our tax return got hacked. So, that helped our moods a little bit. Plus, it turned out to be a really gorgeous day, ideal for patio dining, so we headed over to one of our favorite lunch spots, La Fonda On Main.

Then, because it was such a gorgeous day, and Fiesta on Main was just a couple of blocks away, we decided to walk down there to look around. Which is how we ended up with a few more of these beauties to replace some of the faded-to-bland bottles on our bottle trees.

 
Fortunately, the color in these is mixed into the glass, instead of painted on, so it doesn't fade. And, as you surely know by now, all it takes is some good Mexican food and a bit of color-madness to turn my frown upside down!

THINGS GRANDPAS ARE GOOD FOR

Sprawling.

Apparently, Grandpas are just perfect for sprawling upon.

 

A TINY HOUSE, THE ULTIMATE COLOR-MADNESS, AND A MOANER

The theater where we saw Beautiful was Bass Hall, on the UT campus. On our way there from the parking lot, we came across this...

and what looked like a "tiny house", right next to it. We were doing our best to peek through the windows when the owner/designer happened to show up and kindly offered to give us a tour which, of course, was rather short, but impressive.

I'm guessing he's an architecture student who won some kind of design competition. He said he would be living in it there on campus for the duration of the exhibition, then moving it to a permanent location. Pretty cool, I must say.

Later, when we came out into the lobby during our show's intermission, we noticed a crowd was gathering around a big picture window at the end of the hall, and the glass seemed to be vibrating from the deep bass of nearby speakers. When we finally squeezed through the crowd to check what was going on, we saw a field full of people who all seemed to be dressed in shades of pink and orange. In fact, there seemed to be clouds of pinkish-orange smoke floating in the air above them. What the...??!! When the musical was over, the windows where still thumping and the crowds were still there, so we decided to wander over and check it out. We arrived to find a horde of UT students, doing it "Gangnam-Style"!

 

Turns out, we had happened upon a Holi celebration that was being hosted by one of the student organizations. Holi, celebrated by Indians and Hindus worldwide, is held to welcome the arrival of spring with singing, dancing and lots of color. They toss "rang" (little packets of color) at one another to symbolically eliminate the differences that drive us apart. I just love that, don't you?

Passersby found the celebration to be irresistible.

Well, except for the few who take great pride in their ensembles (Tim) and just can't bear to have them ruined (Tim), even temporarily. But I won't name any names (Tim).

We had lots of fun and lots of great food packed into our little 24 hour getaway, but the unanimous "Moaner of the Week" was found behind these doors.

 

Take a gander at this Carrot Cake French Toast with Cream Cheese Pecan Syrup. Oh My!

We each had 1/2 orders of Migas or Huevos Rancheros for brunch, then shared one order of the french toast among us for dessert. Just the right amount!

So, let's hear it for another great Lanford adventure, doin' our best to Keep Austin Weird!

A NATURAL WOMAN

Hubby and I just got back from another epic "Lanford" weekend, with our long-time adventure buddies, the Sanfords. Once again we met up in Austin and checked into the Austin Motel on S. Congress. It has changed ownership since last we were there, and now belongs to the same group as Hotel San José and Hotel Havana. As I feared, they have replaced much of the old time funk and character with bare bones minimalism. Still, you simply cannot beat the location. And, though the rooms were uninspiring, we did love the awesome patio area above, which they created out of a former driveway -- the perfect place to hang out after dinner! And this pool. I love this pool.

Unfortunately, all those awesome floats do not reside there permanently, but are available for sale at a nearby shop called The Gypsy Wagon. Guess we just caught them in the middle of a photo shoot.

Know what else I love? Being right next door to Jo's Coffee -- the best place in the world to hang out with a chai latte or a cup of coffee each morning, watching the street come to life, while you wait for your travel mates to finally come to life.

The main event of the weekend was seeing Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. 

I was in hog heaven, since her album Tapestry was the soundtrack for my senior year of high school, and I still keep that C.D. in my car, to sing along with on solo road trips. Plus, Carole herself probably had more than a little to do with my finally becoming a "Natural Woman", and letting my wild curly hair do what it was always meant to do... (to be continued)

BACK TO BARCELONA

Well, I finally forced myself to make time for art, and this was the result -- a long delayed spread about Barcelona in my travel journal, utilizing my stash of hand-painted-by-me papers.

Normally, when I use these papers in collage, I go to great extremes to avoid having any of those little white edges left on the pieces I tear off. This time, however, I made a conscious effort to keep them.

Turns out they're pretty good at imitating the grout between mosaic shards. I'm really looking forward to doing more of these spreads in the near future.

 
After all, if there's one thing Barcelona has in abundance, it's fabulously funky mosaics!