Far From Home

On Friday,  I left my home at 5:00 a.m. and headed to LAX for a flight to Dallas, Texas.

I have never been to Texas unless you count the 2 hour layover I spent in the Dallas Forth Worth airport nearly 37 years ago.

I don't count airport stops.

Texas makes state number 32 in my quest to visit all 50 states.

I did not actually see much of Dallas until last night when we left the Hilton Anatole and took a taxi to McKenny Avenue for dinner.

Dallas is a happening spot!

In the afternoon, I just got to see the hotel.

After meetings all day, I needed some exercise and I walked around the hotel and grounds.

It was so hot, I first walked throughout the hotel.

It is a beautiful hotel and I snapped pics of things that caught my eye.

I loved the colors in the carpeting and this great black and white bowl.

I did an online course - Doodle Camp - last summer and the bowl reminded me of some of my doodles.

I will show this simple pattern to my students in Doodle Club next week at school.

Next, my eye was drawn to this red Chinese box - totally my color palette.

It just needs something blue to fit in my house.

I love these old boxes- I have two similar boxes in my bedroom holding bracelets and rings. 

I really liked this unique jar sitting on a buffet.

I wish this guy had been outside in the garden.

All of the lights and the glare of the floors take away from him.

He would have looked much better in the garden across the pond from the fisherman you will see in a minute.

To get outside, I had to go down a curved staircase

with amazing ironwork.

Outside, the spectacular gardens were a soothing haven after long sessions of sitting and listening.

I scared away this guy trying to get close enough to tell if he was real.

The fish looked like they were coming to talk to me and beg for a handout.

The sculpture of children playing was darling.

Each of the little guys had such a cute stance.

My absolute favorite was the sculpture "Sharing".

The old man reminded me of my grandpa and though we never fished together, it made me think of the stories and advice he shared with me.

The attention to detail in the tackle box

and the fisherman's sweater amazed me.

As I ended up my walk and headed to the pool to join my colleagues,  I came across this happy fellow.

His look pretty much summed up how I was feeling -

a great big smile on my face and a giant belly from the Texas size cookies being served at snack time.

Far from home and feelin' good!

Moving Pictures

Marriage to an artist means that pictures are always moving.

When I decorated my mantel on Saturday, one of my favorite paintings hung over the mantel.

Several years ago Steve painted my little red wagon.

The wagon rusted out a year ago, but lives on in this lovely painting.

When I got home tonight, my little red wagon was gone.

In its place, I found this new painting.

Steve just finished it on Monday.

The scene is Ventura from the hillside with the Channel Islands in the background.

Steve has painted variations of this scene countless times.

Ventura scenes are what I call his "bread and butter" paintings because they are his best selling pieces.

Locals want them, but he also sells to people who have moved away and want a reminder of their hometown.

One of the downsides of marriage to an artist means pictures also move because they are sold.

This painting hung in our living room for several years.

Not only were the colors perfect, the painting evoked wonderful memories.

We snapped the photo on a vacation to Mendocino.

When the red truck sold, I was incredibly sad.

Fortunately, it was sold to dear friends.

The first time we went to their home after the sale, I could see the painting hanging in their living room as I walked up the sidewalk.

I knew that the red truck had found its perfect home.

The plus side of selling the painting was that we purchased our kayaks with the money from the sale of the red truck.

I lost the red truck, 

but I gained these.

Steve followed the red truck with the painting of a yellow truck.

Some readers might think they recognize the painting that hangs in our living room, but this is a different painting.

The first painting is much smaller and sold right after Steve completed it.

There is an interesting side story to the yellow truck painting.

Steve was in a show titled "Cash For Clunkers" with a watercolorist.

When they brought their pieces in to be hung, she had a watercolor of the exact truck.

The truck was sitting in a field in Sonoma.

Steve knows how much I loved the colors, so he painted it a second time for me, but twice the size.

We never know what painting will sell next.

He might paint something and sell it immediately.

Other paintings hang in the house for years and out of the blue someone will e-mail and ask about a them.

Last month he sold a painting that had hung over the sofa in my workroom for three years.

There are a few pieces I have made him promise never to sell.

This painting holds too many memories.

It is the center of the village of Walderston, Jamaica where we spent the first half of our time in the Peace Corps.

Steve sat in the bar one Friday night late waiting for me to return from Kingston.

Remember life before cellphones when we weren't connected 24 hours a day?

He was so worried and I was so scared I wouldn't make it home and I had such important news to tell him.

When I finally reached Walderston, the entire village ran out to the car with Steve to find out why I had been so late (long story).

My news - I was pregnant!

Every time I walk past the painting, I smile to think of our little village.

I am leaving tomorrow morning for a conference in Dallas.

Four days away, will he be moving pictures?

Who knows?

Controlling The Clutter

Last week I wrote a post about moving a new table into the living room.

I ended the Domino Effect post by saying I needed to find a home for my little red table.

I put it next to the sofa in my work room.

For now, it is okay, but one of the first things I will do when school is out is paint it a different color.

I'm not sure what color I will go with, but I will be using this book for inspiration.

I won this book in a give away from Kim at Savvy Southern Style.

After I found a spot for the table, it was time to 'control the clutter' in this cabinet.

In an old post, Treasured Family Pieces, I talked about how we came to own this lovely cabinet.

The cabinet looks neat and tidy until I open the doors.

I 've been lazy and just threw items in the cabinet rather than taking them to the attic.

First, I removed everything from the cabinet

and put it in the dining room.

Steve's Surfer's Journals ended up on the bedroom shelves organized by year and volume.

My ADD took control so, instead of finishing the cabinet, I decided to change the mantel.

One of my Pinterest boards is called  I've Got Your Number and I have pinned lots of numbered items.

I gathered up different things with numbers and put them on the mantel.

First came some wooden dice followed by

some favorite books with this numbered bottle as a bookend.

The number 4 napkin ring was in a vignette in the entry.

I was multitasking and doing laundry during this process and came across the glass jar sitting on the counter in the garage.

I threw numbered balls into the jar to add color to the other end of the mantel.

I'm happy with the way it turned out and it is much easier than the spring mantel that it replaced.

Finally, I had no excuse and had to go back and finish the cabinet.

I literally made 10 trips up and down the attic stairs to get all the extra books and odds and ends to the attic.

I put my favorite New York vacation journal on one shelf and

a bunch of my other journals on another shelf.

The letter blocks are part of a complete alphabet set Steve bought me several years ago from the Sundance Catalog.

This is one of those jobs that needed to be done, but no one will really see it.

The doors stay closed, 

but I know that it's done.

The last part of this project will be to decide whether to keep the cabinet as it is or paint it.

Decisions...decisions!

....................................................

I am linked up at

House in the Roses

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

and

From My Front Porch To Yours

Mother's Day Came Early

KC loves living in San Francisco.

But, she wishes that we lived closer.

Most of her friends have family close enough to visit on the weekends, but it is a 6 hour drive for her to visit us.

This year, she bought me a ticket to fly to San Francisco for a "mother-daughter" day.

I had to leave my house a 5:00 a.m. - which came early after a long week at school.

I had a 7:00 a.m. flight and was in her car and headed into the city by 8:15.

In our zeal to share everything that has been happening to both of us lately, we missed the turn off for the Bay Bridge and ended up in Berkeley.

We decided to get breakfast on Fourth Street and look at all the fun shops, but it was too early and only a little coffee spot was open.

I really wanted to check out the stores on Fourth Street, but that will be another trip.

We ended up just picking up muffins and heading into San Francisco.

KC was in Miami last weekend for a bachelorette,  had a "rah rah" inspirational 3 day training this week at work and was exhausted.

She texted me yesterday and said, change of plans - wear yoga pants and running shoes

She was dog sitting this sweetie for the weekend 

and said instead of a day long shopping spree, we were going to get some exercise.

We did a six mile walk from her apartment to Fort Point underneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was wonderful to walk, talk and have KC all to myself.

We ate lunch at a little outdoor restaurant on Chestnut Street and then looked for the "clock" store.

I saw this display in a storefront on Union Street on our last visit to San Francisco, but the store was closed.

Today,  the store was open, but the red clock faces were sold.

The owner said another red oval is on order, should be in soon, and amazingly is in my price range!

KC promises to keep an eye out for it and keep it for me until our next visit.

As we walked, we passed the amazing houses of San Francisco and I snapped photos of doors and gates that caught my eye.

      

 

 I love that in the city, people carve out gardens in the tiniest spaces.

The original plan was a shopping spree for KC's birthday to buy some clothes for a very special week in the Hamptons in June.

A dear friend is getting married and there is a series of events scheduled.

We unwisely chose to shop downtown at Bloomingdales - as did every other person visiting and/or living in the city at this time.

What a zoo!

We found 2 darling dresses at Bloomingdales and still had a little time to spend before I had to leave.

I managed to find

orange pants and beads at J.Crew and polka dot shirt at Madewell.

At my favorite shop - Anthropologie - all I found were these cute paper clips.

I arrived at 8:15 a.m. and by 4:00 p.m.  I was on a train back to the Oakland airport.

I was back home by 8:00 p.m. and Steve whisked me off to The Cave for dinner.

Mother's Day might be tomorrow, but I had a pretty special day today!