Never give up your pencil

We are slaves to technology. But nature and mans errors will always bring us to heel and remind us that we may have to go backward to stay even.

The astronauts learned this when first in space. Pens wouldn't write in space, so the answer became the old fashioned pencil which worked just fine. When sent to repair faulty equipment on the moon, despite lots of practice and specially made tools, they ended up using their Swiss Army knives to get the job done.

When the volcano in Iceland and the tragedy of 9/11 stopped air travel we had to revert to trains and buses to get where we needed or wanted to go. We have discovered that human hair can help soak up the oil spills.

Now our television is going to be disrupted by satellites crashing into each other. What will we do without our television? Do you even own a radio? I only have one in my car. I wonder how we will deal without instant news, no 24/7/365 updates on our games, celebrities, finances and tragedies.

I am keeping my pencil handy, even though I will have my iphone on my belt.

Florida and a great Art Show

We recently visited Naples Fl. A lovely place full of "mature" tourists, many mid westerners, some great art and good galleries and some delicious seafood.

We rented a house for a couple of weeks so we could just relax and enjoy the area. We took lots of day trips and spent lots of time just exploring. Our two big nature adventures were to the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and the Everglades National Park.



At Corkscrew we walked a wooden raised trail and saw some great birds and got acquainted with the new and unique vegetation of the area. Banyan trees, air plants growing in the trees, ferns and other cool stuff. You could easily spot the wildlife by watching for the jam of people with big cameras and huge long lenses. While we were watching a lovely blue heron two of them got in to a loud argument about which lens to use and scared the bird away. Very funny.

I did some research about the best way to see Everglades by calling the National Park and asking questions about air boats and tours. Their answer is don't take an air boat, they scare the wild life and trample the vegetation. They are loud and except for the "thrill" of going fast through a swamp don't really let you see the Everglades. We opted instead for a boat tour that went out into the barrier islands. We got to see new islands in the making with Mangrove trees digging their roots into piles of shells and trapped sand. They grow slowly until the link with other islands getting bigger and bigger over time.



Then we drove to a pull out and walked a bit to get our gator photo. As we were driving along we actually saw several groups of gators and some cood birds but there was no way to pull off the narrow road and couldn't stop because of traffic.



The ranger station at Everglades is pretty sad. It was obviously damaged int he hurricanes of the last few years and is a simple 2 story building on stilts and wrapped in Tyvek.
The displays look mostly hand made with photos and posters in a room about 20 feet square. Some interesting information but obviously they are challenged for dollars to do better.

Most of the civilization and population in the very southern part of Florida has happened since the 1960's. Prior to that there were few roads, few people and tons of wildlife. We visited this cool old general store that was also the postoffice. In the old days (1950's) the owner would go get the mail by canoe and use a shell horn to announce the arrival of the days mail. They have turned the place into a museum, very cool, but they don't allow photos inside.



There are lots of good galleries in Naples. There is a wonderful Naples Art Museum that is combined with a philharmonic palace that will knock your socks off. They present all kinds of entertainment, all top notch. We also went to the Naples National Art Fair.

The Naples Art Fair is one of the best we have ever seen but WOW, 285 artists and thousand and thousands of people. You could hardly move and I can't imagine how the artists got much sold with so many people around.

Now to the food. You just can beat that part of the country for fresh seafood. Our favorite restaurant turned out to be right down the street from our rental house. Randy's Fishmarket Resturant. They have a long wait and don't take reservations but it is well worth the wait. We bought some, "OH MY GOD Shrimp" to grill and home too. YUM.

We plan to visit Naples again because there is always more to see and do.

Winter Adventures

It's winter in Georgia and all the leaves are gone. The trees are bare, storing up their energy for what should be a magnificent spring. It continues to rain and even snow. Unusual weather for the deep South.

To get some sun and visit family and friends we recently visited Scottsdale AZ and the Celebration of Fine Art. It's the 20th anniversary of this unique show. I am still awed by the talented artists who continue to grow and develop new and exciting work each year. Visitors say it is the best show yet and I have to agree. They have had some serious weather this year that took our our neighbors and friends tents at Russo and Steele. We have Jake Potje to thank for keeping our tents secure, grounded and dry! Here he is securing one of our many rain gutters.


We had a great time with my daughter and granddaughters. I just love teenagers. They are so full of introspection and energy and whirling around trying to find out what to do with it all. A time of great promise and opportunity. They are both great kids who are enjoying life. My daughter is keeping up amazingly well. I know I did that too but it seems like centuries ago. Aah, youth!

I am looking for opportunities to get involved here in Ga and have checked out many different places some in the arts some not. I think I may have hit on the opportunity for me. It is called The Hudgens Center for the Arts. I am meeting with their director this week to see if we are a match. The Hudgens just announced a competition for Georgia artists with a top prize of $50,000.00! They seem to have solid financial support and are doing some great things in education and exhibition both. Looks like a great organization.

My customer service rant and praise for the moment:
Praise for Amazon Kindle who responded to me within hours when I had a problem with a book.
Disgust for gallery minders who play computer games and surf the net while live warm bodies are in their galleries.
AAA disgust for home warrenty companies. I have yet to find one that will actually pay for stuff that breaks!

More adventures to come, a trip to Florida and the Everglades coming up.

Highlands North Carolina

A trip to the mountains of North Carolina. The small town of Highlands is up winding mountain roads, no way around that, you get to slow down and enjoy the views. This town is the Souths equivalent of Carmel, CA or Aspen Co. It is charming and the city planners have held firm with the edict of no chain stores. Everything is small boutiques or galleries. It is filled with flowers and happy shop owners who greeted everyone with smiles and conversation. There were lots of license plates from Georgia, Florida and Tennessee as well as the Carolinas. The visitors mostly have summer homes or rent cabins for months at a time. The temperature is balmy and afternoon rain showers are the norm.

Highlands has wonderful restaurants. We are Italian and Continental and fish and beef yum!
We are breakfast at the pharmacy which has a great soda fountain and reminded us of our old days in Scottsdale, AZ when Lutz pharmacy had a small cafe and home made pie to die for.

In addition to several very nice galleries, they also have a wonderful brand new art center called The Bascom. They have exhibition space, classromms, a seperate huge ceramics studio and an additional building that holds the kilns. The building is wood from an old barn in Pennsylvania. They even have a covered bridge.
Here are some additional photos of the town, the ponds and the beautiful area. Plan a visit we sure enjoyed it.

On the left is Bucks Cafe our favorite coffee and breakfast stop.
On the right is charming Main Street shops, early in the morning before the crowds of shoppers arrive.
There is a lovely botanical trail and information center around this group of natural lakes filled with lily pads in bloom. We saw orchids so tiny you could hardly find them, lizards basking in the sun and lots of beautiful birds. Highlands is definitely a place we will be going back to.