Spontaneous Outing

Something I like to do from time to time is to get in a car and go exploring. Taking opportunities to see different scenery is very refreshing and invigorating for me. Last Sunday, Jeff and I had a few spare hours, so we got in the car and drove up to McKinney, Texas. It has an old, quaint downtown area with neat little shops. When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to discover that they were having a festival for dogs!!! They had all kinds of events going on, plus a Marde Gras dog parade. Oh what joy! We walked around and admired all the pooches, enjoyed a hot dog together and got some fresh air.

We should have asked someone to take a photo of us together - oh well. Here we are separately.

I wanted to take some pictures of the dogs, and did take a few, but they didn't turn out. All I can say is there were great danes, yorkies, corgis, collies, mutts, all kinds of dogs and everyone was getting along just fine and dandy.

A Scarf for Lily

I made Lily a Scarf. Well, actually I made a scarf and Lily wanted it. Here she is with it. And of couse, Leonidas had to have his photo taken too.

Lunch at Jyoti's House

I recently had lunch at my friend & fellow storyteller, Jyoti Subramanian's house. She lives in Carrollton, Texas, but was born and raised in India. She invited me over to her home for an absolutely, delicious Indian meal. Look at the pot above. It is a pressure cooker and Jyoti showed me the tricky maneuver that is needed to seal it. I wish we had these kinds of pots here in the U.S. They are NEAT!

Inside the pot were delicious lentils - yum-yum. Jyoti sent me home with the leftovers and I ate every bite the next day.

Here a photo of the meal. We had fish in curry sauce, potatoes that were sooooo flavorful, lentils, white rice and bread.

Time to eat! I ate every bite and was full, full, full. Jyoti also made traditional Indian tea. She showed me how to do it and gave me some to take home so I could make my own. I did too. I drank two more cups when I got home and have been making it regularly. The tea is boiled on the stove with lots of milk and sugar. It has a comfy, very soothing quality. You just sip it and go aaaahhhhhhh... If you ever visit me, I will make you a cup.

Thank you Jyoti, for a lovely afternoon. I can't believe I didn't get a photo of her too. Dang.

New changes to this blog - finally!

Changes have been made to this blog to better reflect my purpose for it.

I have retitled it, while still keeping the same link - Wahoo! Also, I added new elements to the sidebar and established "ArtCycle!" as a studio only. This simplifies things greatly.

In the future watch for my favorite blogs list. I visit several daily and will share them will you all.

Gradually, carefully, I am learning how to navigate this blogging business.

New Blog Name

Guess what? I have discovered that I can change the title of this blog.

When I first began this blog it was a struggle for me to name it. I ended up choosing a title that has begun to feel very limiting for it only addresses my interest in storytelling and not the visual arts, which I am equally passionate about. To remedy this I started "ArtCycle!" to showcase my artsy-craftsy stuff made from recycled materials. It's a lot of work to manage two blogs. I'd rather combine the two.

So, now I'm going to rename this site. Go to ArtCycle.blogspot.com to learn the new name of this site. I will be changing it today.

Leonidas De Gatto

Our new kitty. He found us and we are happy he did. What a most fine and handsome cat he is.

Tejas Storytelling Association Fundraiser

A few photos of the Martha Len rundraising event in Denton, TX.

I brought one of my scarves for the silent auction, and by golly, it

sold for $45.00. Not bad!

DMA First Tuesday Programs

Every month on the first Tuesday, the DMA has programs for pre-k children. In January the theme was "Birds" and I told stories on the third floor in the Asian Art section. Here I am doing a drawing tale. We toured the area where the Japanese vases were to see how may of them depicted birds. We counted 28. We may of missed a few, some of the birds were really tiny.

American Artist - Andrew Wyeth

Lately I have been fascinated with the work of American artist, Andrew Wyeth. So much so, that I am currently reading two books about him. The picture above is titled, "Master Bedroom". I loved it when I first saw it over 10 years ago. Even purchased a copy of it and hug it over Jeff's and my bed. Why? Because our dog Hildie took her naps on our bed just like the dog in the painting. I also had an identical bedspread. It captured Hildie's yearning need to not be separated from us.

This painting reminds me of warm summer days at my Grandma Lillian's farmhouse in northern Minnesota. I would sleep in the "yellow" bedroom with the window open to let in the cool night air, and in the morning the cool breeze would flutter gently into the room lifting up the worn lace curtains. Oh, how I loved waking up that way. There was something sad about it though...perhaps it was the tired lace curtains, so long past their prime. They represented the past, not the present and that time moves relentlessly forward no matter how much we want to wish that some things (or people) never change.

There is something spooky, no make that eerie, about this painting. Notice the reflection of the candles in the window panes. The painting has a supernatural, dreamy quality that stirs my memories of nightmares not entirely forgotten. It captures for me the queasy, disquieting way that a bad dream can linger and dog one's memory during times of wakefulness. Something powerful, just out of eyesight has moved through that room...what could it have been? It was nothing good I can safely say.

Latest scarves...

Before leaving for Pete's Dueling Piano's Lily took some pictures of me with my latest scarf creations.

I am posing in front of my bookcases. I have a full wall of them filled with books about storytelling, folktales & visual art, and then there are storytelling props and intruments used for sound effects. I have over 36 puppets too. It is big fun to buy books and toys for work.

Pete's Dueling Piano's

Jeff and I had a riot of a good time last Saturday night. We went to Pete's Dueling Piano's in Addison with a large group of friends. We sang songs, danced by our chairs and laughed at the antics of the talented pianists. We had great seats right by the stage. Music was from the 50's on up to the present. Something for every age group in the room.

Twas good times for us all.