Visit with Jamie and Mandy: Part 1

Last week I spent about 48 hours with my daughter Jamie and my niece Mandy, and I for one had a great time! Mandy flew into Austin on Tuesday and spent a couple of days with Jamie, and then on Thursday morning they got on a Greyhound and made the trip to Houston. I met them there and we went straight to Baba Yega's for an early lunch. I recommend the Sea Wave salad -- a scoop of tuna salad on a bed of vegetables -- yum yum!

Here are the ladies after lunch -- I felt a little underdressed in my jeans!

From there we went to the Museum of Fine Arts, where I was thrilled to find out that I hadn't missed the John Singer Sargent show. Sargent has always beeen a favorite of mine, whether it's his juicy watercolors of Venice, or society portraits like Madame X, or one of those painterly landscapes. Sargent was born in 1856 and died in 1925, and although he was an American, he lived as an ex-pat traipsing around Europe with his parents, eventually settling in London at age 30. He was one of those lucky artists who was acclaimed in his own time. The show was called "Sargent and the Sea" and featured, uh, paintings of the sea. But gorgeous paintings of the sea, as well as people on the beach or in the water, boats, and coastal landscapes. I was glad to see lots of sketches, either graphite or watercolor and graphite, along with a few sketchbooks. This small oil is called, logically, "Seascape."

The painting below actually gave me a little touch of vertigo! That could just be me, but I did hear a few other museum-goers exclaim at the sight of "Atlantic Storm!"

The other show we saw at the museum was the Alice Neel show called "Painted Truths," which was mostly portraits but also included some paintings of buildings that I enjoyed seeing. I guess Alice Neel is not for everyone but I think she's great! The portraits seem to reveal a great deal about the sitters' personalities and psyches. This one is of her daughter-in-law Nancy and her granddaughter Olivia. The physical closeness of the woman and baby emphasizes the closeness of the bond between mother and child, but the expression on Nancy's face and the wide-open eyes seem to signal fear, or possibly an ambivalence for the maternal role.

Neel painted family members, but also friends and neighbors, and later on, famous people, especially those in the art world. The subject of the painting below was a Fuller Brush Man who came to her door hoping to make a sale, and ended up sitting for a portrait in 1967. He revealed to Neel that he was a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, and while I don't think that is evident in the portrait, it does have kind of a mysterious, creepy subtext.

After a snack at Cafe Express, we drove over and parked at the Menil, and then walked down to the Rothko Chapel. For me the feeling of the chapel was altered by the absence of the benches and the presence of folding chairs. Seems they were having an event there that night; I prefer to experience the place as pictured below.

Scattered throughout the familiar Menil collections of ancient art, surrealism, and modern art were works by contemporary Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. All were sculptures involving the figure, and although methods, material, and mood varied widely, all were surprising in their own way. I recommend checking out this artist's work!

After the Menil we made a quick swing by Half-Price Books, and then sped home via the HOV lane. Martin made a delicious dinner of pesto -- Martin style. I gave Mandy the grand tour, as she had not been here before, and she oohed and aahed at all the appropriate times and places.

In the morning we got up and went to yoga -- and thanks to Jan for including my guests! After yoga we met Ann Marie for lunch at Wild Ginger, a new Japanese place that features sushi, bento boxes, and hibachi. Lunch was good -- and there should have been more than I could eat! Let me rephrase that -- there wasn't not enough. ;-D

Stay tuned for Part 2 of "Visit with Jamie and Mandy!"

Snake-eating Snake

While I was out gallivanting somewhere, Martin had a "Wild Kingdom" moment. More than a moment actually -- the drama lasted several minutes! He was sitting at the computer when a movement outside the window caught his eye, and when he looked out he saw a very large snake had just grabbed a smaller snake by the head!

He rushed outside to take this picture with his cellphone. He could tell he was alarming the big snake so he went back inside and watched through the window while the predator ate its prey. The big snake was a Buttermilk Racer (Coluber constrictor anthicus), apparently common in parts of East Texas, but it's only the second one we've seen since we moved here six years ago. According to "A Field Guide to Texas Snakes" by Alan Tennant (which we could not be without!) they range in size from 30 to 60 inches, with 70 inches being the record. This one was definitely in the 60 inch range! The background color is a dark gray, and it looks as though it has been splattered with off-white paint -- buttermilk-colored paint, presumably. These snakes vary widely in how many of the scales are off-white and how many are dark; the one we saw six years ago had a much higher percentage of light scales.

The other snake was a copperhead. Thank you, Mr. or Mrs. Buttermilk Racer, for making this poisonous snake your lunch! Apparently the racer will eat anything it can catch, but more normally subsists on mice and rats, frogs and lizards, and the occasional inattentive bird. Although its name includes the descriptor constrictor, according to Tennant, racers are not true constrictors. The usual method of capture is to pin the victim to the ground with its weight and then administer a disabling bite to the head. Too much information?

The copperhead fought the whole way through the process, but was swallowed in a matter of minutes. At the end the tip of his tail flicking back and forth in the racer's mouth looked like the racer's tongue. How's that for a shuddery detail?

The Arbor Gate

OK, I'm finally on installment three of the belated birthday marathon day. After the art show and lunch, we drove out to Tomball to The Arbor Gate. If you haven't been there, it's time you went! We got there ridiculously late in the day and it was HOT! Next time it will be a morning trip. By the way, click on the link because they have a great website with a list of their classes, a blog, links, and a gallery of photos that might even be better than mine!

The main reason to go to The Arbor Gate is for the plants. That's not the only reason to go, but I'll get to that in a minute. Plants are the big draw and they have thousands of them! Everything is well-cared for and beautifully arranged. They specialize in roses, perennials, herbs, and native plants, but really do have a lot of everything.

Here is the herb area. They have more types of each herb than you have ever heard of. Whoops...ended with a preposition! Of which you have never heard? I'm afraid I don't really talk that way.

On the right are their shade houses, which is where I do most of my shopping. This is not like going to a big box store where they have plants shipped from all over the country, and you get them home and plant them and in a couple of weeks they're dead. And you think it's your fault -- that you have a brown thumb. Nope; they just sold you some plants that don't do well here. That will not happen at The Arbor Gate.

Dru also has a lot of shade at her house and found a big selection of plants that will work beautifully for her. Here's another great thing about The Arbor Gate -- the people who work there know their plants! And, they are happy to assist you in finding just what you need. I bet by now you think I am a stockholder or something. I'm not -- I just really like the place!

Now I mentioned that plants are not the only reason to go The Arbor Gate. They have lots of other cool stuff. Let's start with the fact that there are TWO gift stores on the property. One is more practical and outdoorsy, and the other has more decorative items for inside your house. You'll find something for a gift, maybe for yourself, at either one. Outside with the plants they also have lots of yard art, such as these great flamingos on the left. You can also find what you need for a beautiful serene water feature in your yard; arbors and trellises and anything you might need to coax a plant to do something it might not normally do on its own.; and then let's talk about the pots.

Oh my, you can find them in any color! Here is a grouping in one of my favorite colors.

And oh my goodness, did you see these over here? Wouldn't one of those look great on my porch?
If you plan to buy one of those super big pots, you better have a super big bank balance!

We had a great time at The Arbor Gate and plan to return soon. Now will someone come over and help me plant all these plants???

Belated birthday lunch

My last post was about the student art show, but that was just the beginning of that day. From there we went to have my belated birthday lunch at The Woodlands Conference Center and Resort. I was going to link to their website but it doesn't list where we ate, which was called the something-or-other grill. It was actually very nice! Located on the second floor, overlooking the golf course, the view was panoramic; the service very good; and the food yummy. The fare is soup, sandwiches, and salads, with a full bar. Of course I had to start with a spicy Bloody Mary, no salt. Mmmmmmm!

We get together for these birthday celebrations for fun, to exchange gifts, and to enjoy good food -- not necessarily in that order. So here's a picture of my meal. It was some kind of spinach salad with feta and shrimp and scallops, and it was quite delicious.

But maybe not quite as delicious as the fried avocado, which was ordered by all the other ladies. Isn't it gorgeous? Two avocado halves, stuffed with chicken salad and deep fried in batter, then presented on a bed of greens with a couple of dollops of some wonderful fattening sauce. I just hate ordering the same thing as everyone else, and I also thought I'd make a wiser choice, calorie-wise. Of course by the time everyone gave me a "bite" of theirs I had consumed way more calories than anyone else! Sigh.

Here are Charlene and Dru about to plunge into their avocados.

The unique thing about these birthday parties is we all give the birthday girl a gift, but we also give everyone else a gift. I'm not sure how this got out of hand. It started as just a party favor kind of thing for everyone, like some Halloween candy at an October celebration, but now the "extra" gifts run the gamut from gag to glitz to downright wonderful. I guess the gifts presented proudly below by Glenda and Gloria fall into the "gag" category...

... while at the opposite end of the spectrum I am modeling a gift we all received -- a set of handcrafted earrings and necklace by woodturner extraordinaire Butch, with assistance provided by Gloria who I just bet put these together with the findings. What a nice group of creative and generous people!
When selecting a restaurant good food is a must, but we also need a lot of extra space for gifts, and the kind of atmosphere that will allow for a little raucous behavior! This place fit the bill. The only thing wrong with this last picture is Dru's not in it, but I guess that's what she gets for taking the best picture! Thanks to the yayas for all the gifts and for being so much fun!

LSC-Montgomery Student Art Show

Last Thursday was such a busy day it's going to take three posts to write about it! This post is about the first event of the day -- the reception for the LSC-Montgomery annual student juried art show. What a mouthful! And actually the first event of the day was to meet Charlene and Glenda at Starbucks for a little pre-show frappacino fortification! Always yummy!

This was a juried show, which means that a juror was hired to select works for the show from the pool of student entries. The intent is that the "lesser" pieces are eliminated, and the resulting show is high quality and cohesive. Closer to the truth is perhaps that the juror selects his or her personal preferences to get down to a show of manageable size, and a different juror would select different pieces. It's important for students to keep this in mind and not feel terribly dejected and rejected if their artwork is not chosen. If you're an artist, you better get used to rejection!

The juror was from the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and was on hand to discuss his selections and awards, which was interesting and informative. He said that most of the pieces he eliminated had problems with presentation, and indeed all of his selections were framed. In a way I think it's too bad that a student has to go to the expense of having his or her work framed in order to be considered, but of course presentation is of utmost importance, and is a lesson best learned early on. I'm also sure that many of the eliminated pieces were ones that were too similar (i.e. same class assignment) to the ones he selected, and too many of the same doesn't give the show enough variety.

I am proud of all of my students this semester -- all have produced and achieved and some have made true breakthroughs! I appreciate those who took the time and went to the expense of entering the show, and I'm especially proud of those who were selected and awarded! Drumroll please!

This is Amy with her incredible ink drawing of her son, which received an honorable mention. The assignment was a gridded image, and she filled each tiny square with designs, many of them in a winter theme to go with the image of the bundled up baby. I wish you could see the image more closely -- each square deserves to be scrutinized! If you live in the area, get over to the gallery in Building D at the LCS-Montgomery campus by May 13th to see Amy's work and the whole show.

Here is Cindy, who was successful in having both of her entries selected for the show, and the piece at right was awarded Best in 2-D. Woo hoo!!! Again, I wish you could really see it -- and sorry for the glare that I captured on the glass. It's a pencil drawing that she did last semester in my drawing class of a guitar wrapped in a blanket (I think it's a blanket!). The blanket is wrapped around the neck of the guitar with a set of headphones, which was a clever choice. What you can't see is the incredibly painstaking rendering of the objects, and her skill with graphite. The artwork on the left is an acrylic painting in white, black, and three shades of gray, and was painted this semester as a design assignment. This was an early effort at painting, and what a result!! Kudos, Cindy!

Another student who had two works selected for the show is Dru, shown here with everyone's favorite, Robby, ceramics instructor extraordinaire. This piece is a watercolor, masterfully painted by this experienced watercolorist, and beautifully presented in a handcrafted wood frame. It's so convenient to have a brother who can work miracles in wood!

Dru's other piece, barely showing below behind the crowd, was also a watercolor, and like Amy's, was a gridded image of her baby. Whoops, it's not HER baby (she just thinks he is) but her grandbaby, Reid. Beautifully painted in pastel yet boyish tones, the artist has embedded symbols of babyhood, such as a rattle, bottle, or toy, within the larger portrait of the baby.

Blocking the portrait of Reid, from left to right, is me, the instructor; Charlene, a student, nurse, and accomplished artist; Dru, student, retired art teacher, and adoring grandmother; Gloria, Dru's sister-in-law, married to master craftsperson Lonnie, and a very creative person in her own right; and Glenda, also a student and accomplished artist. Oh, and they are also my good friends!

One day last week Charlene picked me up and off we went to the Antique Rose Emporium. I'm sure most Texas gardeners have been there countless times (Charlene has) but this was just my second trip and I was psyched! Plus driving out to the Brenham area in the height of wildflower season is always a pleasure, not to mention the fact that we were planning to eat at Must Be Heaven in Brenham. That is truly a reason to get excited -- I won't drive an hour and a half to eat just anywhere!

The Antique Rose Emporium is located in Independence, Texas, a little town just outside of Brenham, another somewhat larger town (famous for Blue Bell Ice Cream). They have a thriving mail order business, and this retail outlet is kind of a demonstration garden. In looking online I read many lukewarm to negative posts about the ARE; most complaints were about the condition of the roses and the beds -- leggy and blackspotted plants in weedy beds. I didn't find this to be the case on our trip, and I'm also not sure why people would expect to find ideal conditions in the middle of the Texas summer, or after weeks of rain.
Things were lookin' good to us! My advice is go in the early spring. It looked very well-stocked to me, although wouldn't cha know, they were sold out of a rose I wanted -- an orange Livin' Easy. The one I bought last year at the MG plant sale gave up the ghost -- I think I planted it too late and the summer was brutal. Instead I bought a Caldwell Pink. This is a "found" Polyantha that some experts believe to be the China rose known as "Pink Pet". (See the link for more info.) It's supposed to bloom profusely all summer and that was my main requirement. Also important is that it is cold hardy, and heat and drought hardy, and resistant to disease and pests. Sounds like a winner to me! My rose is literally covered with buds, but it's a late bloomer, so I didn't take a picture of it. I will once they open.

I did take pictures of some of the roses at the ARE like this gorgeous yellow rose. No, I don't remember what it is! I gotta learn to take notes while I'm taking pictures but I've never been that organized.
Part of the attraction at the ARE is not just the individual plants, but the way they are grown and displayed. I'm not sure if this is called a trellis -- seems like it should have its own name -- but it was absolutely spectacular with the pink roses cascading down on all sides! There are lots and lots of roses and other plants for sale, but also, as I mentioned, demonstration gardens to give the customer some clever ideas about how to use roses in the landscape. Wonder how much this would cost? I didn't ask...you know the expression about if you need to ask...
This gorgeous white rose really got me thinking about what I can set up for some climbing roses. Our property is mostly shady, but we finally made some raised beds in the vegetable garden for roses, and they are doing great! So now I want to make some more beds and get some "mannerly" climbers like this one.

We've all seen this use of a "flower bed" before, but it got me fired up again about dragging out the antique bed frame that has been languishing in the barn, and making it a home for some deserving plants. By the way, the ARE is all about roses, but not totally. If you're not in the market for a rose, it's worth the trip to see the gardens, and then have a look at the annuals and perennials they have for sale. Charlene and I both bought several herbs that were healthy and inexpensive, and there were lots of other plants I wanted to buy but I restrained myself. Just thinking about the 40 or so plants in my potting shed waiting to go in the ground is a sobering and restraining thought!

Everything is so beautifully arranged and displayed and crying out "take me home!" that it is really easy to buy more than you can deal with, which is what usually happens to me when plant shopping!
I had my hair cut this morning and Brian, my hair sylist, said he had been to a wedding last weekend at The Antique Rose Emporium. If anyone is interested, you must supply your own food and drink, etc. -- all they supply is the venue, but what a venue it is! How about walking down this aisle! You wouldn't have to buy any flowers! Probably not too great for a summer wedding, but April brides, take note!

Rockport Birthday

April 17th was my birthday and I really wanted to take a little trip as Martin and I hadn't been anywhere together in a very long time. After considering various destinations I decided on Rockport. Neither of us had ever been there and I had heard that it offered a nice combination of beach, art, shops, and nature. We headed down there on Thursday, April 15th -- a bad day for some but our taxes were done the week before, nanner nanner. Martin didn't want to go through Houston and we wanted to see an incredible wildflower display. When I tell you that we drove to Rockport via Brenham you will understand that we took a very scenic and indirect route! (look at a map!) The wildflowers were indeed incredible! The very best area was between New Ulm and Columbus -- I think it was Hwy 109. Awesome! We tried to go to the museum in Victoria but it was closed so we had to settle for lunch instead -- some pretty good Mexican food.

We actually were staying in Fulton which is next to Rockport and they just blend together unless you notice a city limits sign. We went directly to a goup of cottages called "Living on Island Time" which were located on Broadway just two blocks from the bay. You can see our cute little yellow cottage ("Fin and Feathers") below. It was quite small but clean and fresh and had everything we needed and more. We got unpacked and drove around and scoped out the town. We had some drinks at Moondog (spicy Bloody Mary for me -- yum!) and later seafood at a restaurant just blocks from our cottage called "Charlotte Plummer's." Coincidence: a close family friend from my childhood was named Charlotte Plummer so it seemed a good place to eat -- and indeed it was!

The weather was not looking good on Friday, but at least the wind had died down a little from 50 mph. We planned an inside day. First we went to the Rockport Art Center where they just happened to be showing the annual juried show of the Texas Watercolor Society. That was great to see -- so many excellent paintings! And of course some not-so-excellent ones, but that just makes it more fun. Martin and I just love to critique! If you click on the link you can see the whole show. My favorite painting was "The Long Wait" by Susan Montague. This watercolor had everything -- a great composition, excellent technique, and content. You will not really be able to see her technique on the computer screen and you may even wonder why it's my favorite. The technique involved many layers of washes carving out the figure and creating beautiful colors on paper. Other favorites included "Green Stair" by Bill Bailey, "Fourteen" by Linda Sherman, "Peaceful in Pennsylvania" by Joyce Hicks, "All Aboard II" by Pam Stanley, and "Waiting for Her" by Duncan Simmons. It was great to see works by two of my favorite watercolorists -- Dan Burt and John Salminen, and also really cool to see one by an old Junction friend, Mary Lambeth. Kudos to the artists!

We also went to several art galleries on South Austin Street. One stood out from the others as having some excellent art not just aimed at the beach tourist -- The St. Charles Art Gallery. We did a little antiquing, had a good lunch, and then headed over to the Rockport Cemetery. It was truly a beautiful place as they don't mow and the whole place was covered with wildflowers. I'm not sure how great it looks at other times of the year, but in April it is truly spectacular! Don't tell but we drank a bottle of champagne while we there and had a lovely time!

On Saturday we were ready for some outdoor adventures, even though the weather was still not cooperating fully. The temperature was great but it was overcast and the forecast was 60% chance of rain. In spite of that we drove out to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, a 3440 acre area just north of Rockport on the bay. Apparently this area was a historic port for European immigrants but was destroyed by several devastating hurricanes in the 1880's. We missed the whooping crane season, but expected to see lots and lots of birds and were somewhat disappointed. Because we were there at midday we didn't really expect to see any of the mammals that inhabit the area -- javelinas, feral hogs, bobcats, armadillos, etc. -- but we expected the place to be teeming with water birds and it wasn't. We did see deer, several alligators, a snake (variety undetermined), ducks, egrets, herons, and some other birds. It just felt good to be outside and walking, and although it wasn't a beautiful day, we didn't get rained on. Here is a view from a pretty cool observation tower.

That night, my birthday, we ate at Hemmingways, which had a lovely ambiance and yummy food. The next day, Sunday, we packed up and drove home by a slightly more direct route. The flowers were not as spectacular, but we went through some towns that we had never been to -- Port Lavaca, Bay City, and Wharton to name a few. We went to an excellent antique store in Wharton on the square, and it looked like there were quite a few others but we were running out of time. Have to go back sometime! Again we ate Mexican food on the way home, and got back in time to spring Sparky from his accommodations at the Biscuit!

I'm calling the picture below "This is what 60 looks like" and I hope I don't regret posting it! It's no glamour shot -- no makeup! -- but you can see the progress of my going gray, and even though it was very windy and I was making kind of a funny face, I was having a great time and that's what I think of when I look at it! So happy birthday to me! ;-D