Bright spots

There were a few bright spots in this gloomy, gray, rainy day.

Betsy called - just to check in to tell us how much she had enjoyed our visit. It's always such a treat to spend time with her. We all just wish the distances weren't so great.

Richard called. How great to talk with him. He's such a sweetie, and we hadn't heard from him in quite a while. He had gotten the invitation to my show, and that's what prompted him to call. He's planning to retire something this year (when he turns 70). It sounds like he's doing great, and still in contact with Carol's kids.

As a capper to the day, I made a pot of chicken noodle soup. It was absolutely the right thing for this nasty, yucky weather.

And here's a sunflower to remind us of summertime.

 

A more normal Friday

It surely did feel good to get back to swimming this morning. And to get to the Gallery for a short time. The work on the new front of the shop has been started - on the side room (which will be the exhibit space for featured artists). The glass is scheduled to be installed this afternoon or Monday. Then the room can get painted, and hopefully be ready for me to hang by Wednesday. Then they'll be starting on the other side of the shop - the main space. Always chaos! Allen has been reframing some of my stuff, and it surely is looking good.

I had to hurry home because the Merry Maids were coming for their second visit (first monthly visit). I had them spend more time in the kitchen, and clean all the glass fronts on my cabinets. There are lots of little individual panes, and cleaning/dusting them is really a "pain" (sorry for the pun - well, not really). I was glad to have somebody else to do it. They did the back of the house first, so John could go on and take a nap in the bedroom while they were here. I guess it worked - he said he got a good nap.

I'd bet we're going to sleep really late in the morning (at least I hope so).

Today's photo is one that John took of me and my internet friend when we met in person for the first time this week in Texas.

 

Home again (again)

We got home about suppertime with wonderfully uneventful travel. Something new and different! We had such a good time. We arrived on Betsy's 89th birthday, Ken's birthday was the day before. And we wished them many happy returns, of course.

We did what we always do at family get-togethers...we EAT! And then we talk and talk and talk some more. And then we talk about eating. And then we eat again. We did exchange photographs, too - looked at some old and some new ones.

One treat was getting to meet up with an internet friend and her husband. What nice folks they are! I feel like I've known her for years - and I have - just not in person. But now we have actually been in the same space at the same time.

It's taken a while to get caught up. John's watching the FL/OK game now, but first listened to the Lady Vols on the radio. They beat Kentucky 69-64. Glad to be home.

This photo was taken by the waiter at Bistro M in McAllen. (Sorry, Betsy got almost hidden in this one.)

 

A beautiful day!

Seems like we've done nothing but eat - but it certainly has been enjoyable! It has been great to visit with family - not just because we're related, but because we enjoy each others company. We just wish the distances weren't so great.

We've just printed out our boarding passes for the trip home tomorrow. No telling how long the actual trip will take. I'm sure there'll be delays because of the terrible weather all over the country. We've even had flooding in the Chattanooga area. It's a good thing John moved his boat out of the rowing center before we left - it's a good possibility that the boathouse will be flooded before we get home.

Betsy took us to a little restaurant in Weslaco that had been recommended to her as a place where the local Mexicans went to eat. I can understand why - we had a superb (and HUGE) breakfast. That'll certainly be our main meal today.

I'm hoping for a special treat today. We're going to go to a big local flea market here, where I'm looking to meet one of my internet "Bosom Buddies". This'll be our first face-to-face meeting. She and her husband spend two months on South Padre Island, and this is the first time we've been able to make connections while I'm here. Should be fun, and I'll try to remember to get some photos.

Stay warm and dry!

From Texas

We left Flo's house at 5:15 this morning, and finally got to Harlingen, 2 hours late, at 3:30. It does make for a long day. But we got a bigger car than reserved (a van rather than an economy car) - and that's great for four of us.

It is great to see everybody. And Ken had gotten us the great locally made tamales for supper. Always a treat!!! The big event for the night is the Texas/Ohio State game.

It's cool and overcast today, but hopefully more sunshine tomorrow.

I don't know what the plans are for tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

Fog and rain

Today has been a really yucky day - foggy and rainy all day long. The weather channel said the temps in south Texas were supposed to be in the low 70s beginning Monday. It's supposed to be around freezing when we get home, with possible snow flurries here at home. Winter is such fun.

Betsy called this morning, and we'll be at my cousin's house Monday night, so all those Univ of TX alumni can watch the football game.

We listened to the Lady Mocs on the radio - they lost to Georgia Southern by 2 points. This was their first conference loss in a couple of years. The Lady Vols were behind Rutgers at much as 22 points, but managed to pull out a 2-point win. It's never dull.

I got the invitations to the show sent out today. Plus I got the wash done, and the suitcase packed. We'll get our boarding passes before we leave home in the morning. This is the invitation to the show, and the painting is the one shown on the front of the card.

Eccentric & Eclectic

Works
by

Mary Zelle

15 January - 1 March 2009

Studio2 / Gallery2
27 West Main St.
Chattanooga, TN 37408

Please come to an opening reception
23 January 2009, 4 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

(Behind Blue Orleans Restaurant, parking
lot at west end of Gallery2 building)

Computers & Barges

I've been playing with my computer today - changing over from IE to Firefox as my browser, and setting it up to get my comcast e-mail in my gmail mailbox. Comcast changed their web e-mail format a few months ago, and I really hate it. I finally decided to try the gmail switch and change to Firefox all at once. I did have to spend some time on the phone with Kate to get it set up, but I'm most happy with it now.

Our RiverBarge trip from Chattanooga to St. Louis in July has been cancelled. In fact, we got a letter today, and the RiverBarge company has cancelled the whole year - because of the slow economy and lack of bookings. We're devastated - not only because of our trip, but because of the whole situation. However, this just reinforces our belief that this is really a "class act" company - to realize this, and just cancel the whole season - and recoup in 2010. Some other company might have just hung on to the deposits and gotten in deeper and deeper before going belly-up. I hope they can make a comeback.

Today's photo is of the River Explorer docked in Decatur, AL.

 

Happy New Year!

I hope everybody has gotten as much football as desired. John didn't really watch much. Bowl games used to be better when there were only four of them (Orange, Sugar, Cotton, and Rose) and only the best teams got to play. Oh, well... But he read the entire J.A.Jance book (Cruel Intent) read - I just got it from the library yesterday.

We did almost nothing today. We slept late and took naps. I'll bet the YMCA parking lot will be full tomorrow with folks starting on their New Year resolutions to lose weight and get fit. That happens every year, but it usually lasts only about a month.

We made one unusual discovery this morning - we have no 2009 calendars. That's amazing - we usually get 2-3 free ones. Guess everybody's cutting back. We'll check tomorrow and see what we can find on sale.

Today's photo is an orchid in the Ocean Journey building of the Tennessee Aquarium.

 

Don't put it off!

 

Lady Mocs 70, UNC Greensboro 53 (that's how we spent our afternoon - at least after getting haircuts)

Jean's friend, Kay, had a terrible scare today. She had had a routine mammogram a couple of days ago - and got a call to come back in immediately for additional films. What a great relief when the ultrasound showed only a small calcification. She's to go back in six weeks for new films, but at least she's breathing easier tonight.

Ladies, GET THOSE MAMMOGRAMS!!!! And guys, urge your mothers, wives, girlfriends, daughters, loved ones to do the same. Don't put it off!!!!

We watched an old program on PBS tonight - The Glenn Miller Spectacular. Or rather, we listened to it. We do love that music.

Remember, early diagnosis is the key!

 

A Photo Shoot??

Today was the day that I was to meet the photographer who was to take my picture for the article scheduled to be on the art page of the Sunday paper. This will be next month around the time my show starts. The editor of the art page has been terrific about the publicity.

The photo shoot (doesn't that sound professional???) was fun. The young photographer is just finishing a 6-month internship at the paper, taken while a student at the University of Montana. He worked for about an hour, taking an amazing number of pictures. I surely am glad they were only pixels, and can be deleted. He was very kind and chatty, putting me completely at ease. I hope he got at least one or two that will work.

Later this afternoon, UPS delivered our toy present to ourselves. It's called the Dancing Helix, and it is SO cool. I had first seen this in our doctor's office, and John finally found it on the internet and we promptly ordered one.

And, today was another one of those days when I was in the paper - but this time on the comic page. Here's today's "Family Circus". That's generally the way I paint.

 

Sushi

I did head to the doctor's office this morning. I saw the PA, and he agreed that I did have a urinary tract infection, and that I had been treating it appropriately. He thought that my back pain was a muscular pain, rather than kidney pain - and I do hope that's the case.

In any case, I went on to the grand and glorious Walmart. It's just a Monday thing - but since I had skipped last Monday, it was really necessary today. Bridge was fun, as always. I had good and bad rounds, and a couple of really challenging hands.

We got home to find a message from John & Sylvia on the phone. They had been given a $50.00 gift certificate to a downtown sushi bar. It had to be used by 31 December, and they asked if we would like to join them to help use it up. None of us had ever been to a sushi place before - but hey! it's free food. What time should we be be there?!

We looked at the menu, which wasn't much help. When we asked the waitress for help, she called the chef (owner?) over to tell us about the various items. We finally asked him to just prepare a dinner for four for the amount of the gift certificate. Let me tell you - this was truly a magnificant meal! The chef presented us with five different types of sushi. What a feast for the eyes and the palate! I have no way to tell you what was in each of these morsels, but each was a group of different subtle flavors with beautiful colors and textures. The more familiar "hot" dishes that followed (chicken fried rice, egg rolls, and pot stickers) were almost anticlimactic. This is certainly a place we will visit again - and our probable order would be to ask the chef to prepare his choices for us, within a specific dollar amount. Thanks again for including us, J&S.

Today's photo is a Google image of a plate of sushi.

 

A Sleepy Sunday

We were still pretty much in catch-up mode today, but we'll get back to some semblance of normal tomorrow. We even have a basketball game on Wednesday. The laundry got done, and we had a pizza for supper - what could be more normal?

I am going to the doctor first thing in the morning to check in about this urinary tract infection. After having had only 1-2 during my whole life, it's pretty unusual to have two in a year's time. Oh, joy!

Today's photos are from our trip to the Aquarium - sometimes even the grown-ups have to try everything!

 

 

The day after...

For a day that was supposed to be a do-nothing day, it didn't quite work out that way. Well, it mostly did for me, but John wound up doing his least favorite thing - plumbing. He replaced the flush mechanism in the toilet, and, of course, nothing worked quite right. He did get it working, though.

I got started on the catch-up laundry, but that was about all my accomplishments for the day.

Today's photo is the waterfall in the Cove Forest section of the Tennessee Aquarium.

 

The back side of a holiday

The house is so quiet! There's always such a void when everybody leaves after a holiday. We got Allan to the airport, where he sat for a 2-hour late plane. He finally has arrived at home. We've finished up almost all of the leftovers. And now, all we have to do is figure out what day of the week it is. Have you noticed that you completely lose the day of the week when people are coming and going and you get out of your routine?

We won't have much time to get back into a routine. Of course, there's another holiday next week, and then we'll be heading off to Texas for a few days. But then, we'll be getting into our usual basketball routine.

Today's photo was the Astronomy Picture of the Day on 22 December 2008, titled "Labtayt Sulci on Saturn's Enceladus". I don't know anything about astronomy, so don't really understand that. But it's a stunning photograph, and I wanted to share.

 

Holiday times

This has been a great holiday season for us. We've gotten to spend so much time with family and friends, talking and eating and sharing ideas and experiences. It just doesn't get any better than this! We even got to talk to Jesse while we were at Margaret's today.

Here are some photos of our folks and our festivities.

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays! Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Eid - whatever. I hope everyone enjoys being with friends and family, with good food and fellowship. We've had lots of both family and friends this year - and it's been quite special. We just miss having Jesse with us and send lots of hugs to him in Iraq.

Today's photo is from Astronomy Picture of the Day - a photo of earth rise by the Apollo 8 astronauts in December 1968.

 

A more normal Tuesday

We had some sunshine today, but it was still pretty cold - high was only 43. Tomorrow we get rain, and warmer.

Today was a bit more "normal". I took the new painting and the percentage check to the Civic Center first thing, and then headed for the Gallery. We had some folks come in, a couple of students and some tourist lookers. It's SO terrific to be in an area where people just drop in to look around. They've been at the Choo Choo, and have the gallery map in hand - even in this cold weather, just looking. This is what we've hoped for.

I got a call this afternoon from the art editor at the newspaper to set up the information questions for the article about my show, and set a time to meet the photographer at the Gallery to take the photo for the paper. The editor has been a terrific help - covering the Gallery and the various artists. Recognition and awareness is what it takes, and this publicity can't be beat.

Allan's been busy helping his clients, meeting with contacts here - hoping to get and keep the connections to help him when he gets ready to move back to Chattanooga. It can't come soon enough to suit us.

Today's photo is a leafy sea dragon who lives in the Sea Horse exhibit at the Tennessee Aquarium.

 

Weekend recap

It's been really busy this weekend. And really great, too. The food was fantastic, and being with friends and family was even better.

Yesterday, we had breakfast casserole, cheese grits, bacon, sausage, fruit, rolls, jellies, all the condiments, sweets, cheeses, chili con queso. Christmas cookies, nuts, coffee, tea, etc., etc. We were truly fortunate with a "groaning board".

Allan got here about 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, but we were up and moving by 7 or 8. Sue and her family came in from the motel, and the group here was up and cooking. Friends started to come in - Dalton and Donnie, John and Sylvia, Judy and Hunter. Joe had to head off to his family Xmas at noon, then Sue, Randy, and Alison left about 1. Kate left shortly after that.

It was a non-stop talk/eating fest - around the table, in the living room, checking on the basketball game (Lady Vols 79, Stanford 69 in overtime). John got back from the basketball game a little after 11. We've put in some very long days with a minimum of sleep.

Margaret and Sarah were heading back from Texas, and got caught in a series of delayed flights. They finally got to their respective destinations by 1 or 2 a.m. this morning.

I did skip swimming this morning (shame on me!), but sleeping until 7:30 surely did feel good. Allan had a couple of appointments, so he was gone all morning. Jean left right after lunch, and John and I headed off to play bridge. There was one extra player, so he went back home to visit with Allan. Bridge was good. I was HIGH last week!!!!! And had some pretty good cards today, too. But even better was that one of the regular bridge players bought one of my paintings in the Tennessee Watercolor Society exhibit at the Civic Center. That was terrific. I think that's the only one in the show that's sold, so far. I have another painting to put up tomorrow.

I don't have a picture of the painting, but this photo is of the original building of the Hunter Museum of American Art. It had been gray and cloudy, but when we came out the sun was shining, and I was able to get this great photo.

 

A trifecta! Family, Friends, Food

It's way too late tonight to write. I'll get caught up tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.

The Winter Solstice

We've had a great time with all the folks here today. John and Randy (Sue's husband) stayed at home with Jean's dog, Spencer. The rest of us went to the Hunter Museum of American Art. Alison and Joe walked on the Walnut Street Bridge, while the rest of us (Sue, Kate, Jean, and I) drove down to the Aquarium. A&J met us there, and we went through both buildings. Of course, this is A's territory. She just loves her underwater stuff. And the Aquarium is a terrific facility, and she wanted to show it off to Joe.

Then I took them out to see the new Gallery, and to visit for a bit with Vicki, and see her new house. We finally got home about 3.

We had a great dinner - filets (John cooked), baked potatoes, green beans, salad. Kate had brought a new word game, Apples to Apples. We played that after supper - a fun game for a bunch of people - easy and full of laughs. Allan's had plane delays (of course) and will be getting here about 2:30 a.m. He finally decided to take the van shuttle from Atlanta.

We've had rain off and on again all Saturday, with a high around midnight about 63 degrees. That's also going to be high for Sunday, as a cold front is coming through, and the temps are expected to fall all day long. It should be feeling much more like wintertime.

Appropriate for the Winter Solstice - the shortest day of the year. This photo is from the Astronomy Picture of the Day, and is of a winter solstice at the megalithic tomb at Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland.