In those days I didn't eat seafood so missed out on one of the benefits of the coast.  There was a wonderful seafood restaurant on the island where we lived (Grand Isle) and the rest of the family loved to feast on all good things caught locally while I ate cheeseburgers and nothing but.

The exhibit at the Barnard's Mill Museum and Art Gallery was very enjoyable and I had a great room in which to hang.  I was blessed to reconnect with a number of friends and collectors.  We operated my studio/gallery in Glen Rose, Texas for about 10 years.  We were located in a wonderful, hundred year old building built of local fossilized stone.  A volunteer Bluebonnet plant filled the planter outside the front entrance the year before we left, and now the seeds have traveled and are blooming in the cracks in the sidewalk in front of the door.  It was a great place, with many visitors; squirrels that would climb down the stone walls occasionally, lizards of all sizes, a wren that built a nest in a planter inside the gallery, and the occasion small to medium sized snake.  A young opossum came calling one night while I was working late.  So many stories from those wonderful years......

I drove to the Dinosaur Valley State Park on Sunday morning to visit my river, the Paluxy, before the Sunday families arrived at the park.  What a beauty in the glow of the morning light.  What wonderful sounds as I stood in the midst of three small waterfalls listening to the flow with my eyes closed.

The painting in progress is more remembrance than real as so many times in the past I sat on a rock in the middle of the river as nightfall moved in, or at midnight, listening and taking in the peace.  This painting will be perhaps more dreamlike in it's completion - a collage of memories and experiences on my river.  SJo

"Getting Started" is a depiction of what often happens in my studio.  I am surrounded by windows, (too many, really) which make a wonderful environment for rooting plants.  As always I am intrigued with sunlight pouring through the antique ink bottle, and the beginnings of new roots.  Enjoy SJo

My daughter flies in from New York tomorrow morning and fun and much other celebration stuff is ahead.  We are looking forward to seeing her - it's been a while.

My good friend was cleaning out a quart jar of odds and ends one evening as we sat at her dining table. She tossed these over and said "you can have them if you want them." Want them? Of course I wanted them. We had just gotten our Texas driver's license and our Texas plates, so we truly felt like we had returned home. I named this 6x6 painting "Yeehaw" in honor of the occasion.

It is my plan to post what will be, hopefully, worthwhile verbiage, but for now I consider it to be amazing that I have actually begun.  The trick now, which I am not sure about, is to actually have viewers see and read this blog.   SJo