My new Kindle: Helping the economy

I did my part for the economy this month by purchasing a Kindle. For those of you who don't know a Kindle is a reading device for books, newspapers, blogs, etc. It is made by Amazon. It has changed my life.



As you may know, I am big on presentation. The Kindle arrives in cardboard shipping containers with a zip open strip that hints at the possibilities inside by saying,"Once upon a time...". Pull the strip and the box opens to a slick black package lining with cascading letters and a beautifully designed nest for the Kindle and its power cord and starting manual. Just the great presentation had me. The leather cover I bought came with the same great packaging. It and the Kindle had easy directions to start things off. First plug it in and charge it (about 3 hours?) I gardened while this happened and made a book list from the main Amazon site of what I wanted to download. Once charged it took me less than 10 minutes to access the store on the Kindle and download 2 books. I love technology that works! The most delightful surprise is when you put it sleep mode. Up comes a beautiful black and white drawing, picture or illustration. The photos are of great authors like Steinbeck etc. the pictures are antique illustrations of etchings or drawings having to do with books or literature or other beautiful objects. Being an art person this is one of my new favorite things. It reminds you of the history of books and how far we have come.



I do, however, have some guilt. I probably will spend less time in bookstores, which I love. But, the Kindle will save overweight charges on my luggage when we travel since I usually haul at least 6 books along. Now I can carry an entire library with me in my purse! The other small advantage is no one knows what you are reading. They will judge you on the technology and not your choice of literature. Try it, you deserve it. if you read, as I do, quantities of books.

Back to Arizona

We just returned from a two week trip to Arizona. It seemed very odd to visit a place we used to call home. We rented a nice condo near the Grayhawk golf course and had the granddaughters and my daughter visit. We had a great time. It was in the 80's, warm form February. We left the 80's to return to our new home in Georgia and snow!

We spent most of our time visiting our artist friends at the Celebration of Fine Art. It was such a treat to be around positive people who are so creative and bright. It really brought home how much of our countries current attitude of doom and gloom is mental. It is brought on my listening to the news and having people tell us day after day how awful things are and how poor we are. The visitors to the Celebration have a great time and yes, they are buying art. The atmosphere is positive and upbeat and everyone feels that. We all need that break from dark news heaped on us by the media.

These wonderful people are also helping others less fortunate. Today they are having an event called the Art of Food which will benefit St. Mary Food Bank Alliance in Arizona. It focuses not only on food donations but the wonderful programs St. Marys provides to help people train for employment in the food industry.

My advise to everyone is turn off the news! Enjoy your family and friends and spend some quality time with a smile on your face. Here is something to help you smile.

Savannah and the Islands

This is probably the most photographed spot in Savannah. It captures only a small part of this beautiful and romantic historic district. This is Forsyth Park and its fountain.

We loved this town. We ate, we rode the trolley, we ate, we walked the streets visiting museums and galleries, we ate and really had a great time.

The eating part: We skipped Paula Dean's place, she is a marketing machine and it was just too much Paula, her stuff and tours are everywhere! Instead we ate at the Pirates House (contains the oldest house built in Savannah as well as lots of great stories about the early pirates) where the food was just OK but the atmosphere was wonderful. We had dinner at the Pink House where Tom had the special scored flounder, yum. We also ate at a wonderful place called 17Hundred90 which is also a historic inn as well as a wonderful restaurant. Another good meal on the River Front was The River House Seafood. We ate seafood of all types until we yearned for a steak when we got home.

This is the Telfair Museum. It is an old house converted to a museum. In her will the lady left a stipulation that the kitchen of the home must be kept intact. So in the basement of this beautiful museum is, yes, a kitchen dating from colonial days! In the same square is the Jepson Center for the Arts. This is a contemporary museum that had two artists we just drooled over. My favorite was William Morris. Probably the most amazing glass artist I have ever seen. He does things with glass you think can't be done. Very inspiring work. Tom's favorite was Anthony Palliser, a French artist. He is a portrait artist of great skill and really captures everyday people in an heroic format that takes your breath away. We were surprised that so many of the galleries were co-op artist galleries. It seems to be the norm here. In each one we were greeted warmly and enjoyed our stay. In a couple of the regular galleries we got the same cold reception I have blogged about before. The quality of the art and architecture of the historic district has been greatly enhanced by an outfit called SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). These folks tackle everything from restoring historic buildings, film production, furniture and clothing design and general art. They do it very well. They have a wonderful historic building that houses their gift shop where they sell the work of their graduates. They aren't shy about prices but the work is all top quality and very interesting and unusual.

The streets and squares of Savannah make the whole place charming in it's beauty and history. Here are a few additional photos.

After leaving beautiful Savannah we headed for St. Simon Island. The coast of Georgia is filled with barrier islands some big some small but all historic with old forts or ruins of early civilization. Many of these islands are either in private hands, natural protected place or too small and remote to be overcome by coastal condos. We likes St. Simon best because of the good food, nice galleries and beautiful setting. Our favorite place to eat was the Georgia Sea Grill where we had fabulous dishes prepared by chef Jeff Brzezinski. He will try to send me a recipe for the Oyster Pan Roast, yum.

We also spent a day on Jekyll Island which wasn't much. Since it was off season most of the shops and places were closed. The best thing was the Georgia Sea Turtle Center where they rescue and rehabilitate sea turtles. A very interesting place. These folks do an amazing job against huge odds for these creatures who have been around since the dinosaurs.

The trip was delightful and we will definitely return to Savannah. Hope you have time for a visit, via the links I have given you, if you can't go in person.

TV Adventure

I don't normally sit in front of the TV all day but yesterday was an exception. Watching the inauguration of our 44th President was an occasion to be savored. What an inspiring day. I think this country needs the shot in the arm that this man and his family can give us. Once in each generation an inspiring leader comes to us. My generation had John Kennedy, this one gets Barak Obama. One of the very first changes is the White House web site http://www.whitehouse.gov/ which has interesting, important and fun information. This is obviously a technology that has helped Obama through his campaign and now will help all of us to be informed and inspired as well.

What a day. I think I will go leap tall buildings or something. Perhaps I will visit the http://www.usaservice.org/ site and volunteer!

Life in a Tent

An artist life in a tent and on the road is a grueling proposition. The hardest part is, of course, the set up. Lots of lifting and shifting. Lots of arranging so that people will see something that catches their eye and want a closer look. Lots of anxious looks at the weather. Lots of tired bodies and nerves of anticipation.

After promoting and operating an art event for 19 years, The Celebration of Fine Art, people may think that we only know one side of this business. Surprise, we began on the other side.

We took hundreds of thousands of dollars of fabulous American Indian jewelry and dragged it and our show cases to Scottsdale AZ to become an exhibitor at the Arabian Horse Show. We were provided this lovely tent but we had to do all the lighting, green carpet on dirt, arranging the cases and all else. Fortunately the weather was fabulous, as only winter in Scottsdale can be. We did, however, bring down the wrath of the other exhibitors when we plugged in our coffee pot and blew the breakers for over 50 other exhibitors! We did this show and the national Arabian Show in Albuquerque NM that year. Yes, we sold things but it was more work than profit. We decided that being in one place would be better. The rest, as they say, is history.

The tent is bigger and better looking now and filled with artists going through the set up process. Be sure to see the results of their hard work beginning January 16th in Scottsdale, AZ. You can find out more about the event by visiting http://www.celebrateart.com/.

Georgia Day Trip

From our new home in Cumming, GA to Cartersville, GA via highway 20 was a beautiful drive. We had read about the Booth Western Art Museum in an article in the Atlanta paper. It is a wonderful small museum in a fabulous facility that is even now adding additional space for collections they have stored in the basement. They focus on contemporary western art although they have some nice work of historic painters as well. There is a good collection of monumental and life sized sculpture in the grounds surrounding the museum. Several artists who we showed in our old gallery or who have exhibited at our Celebration of Fine Art event were displayed. It was a pleasure to see the work of Bob Vann and Larry Pirnie. It was like visiting old friends. In fact one of the employees is truly a blast from the past. Jim Dunham who is their director of special projects and provides education and entertainment, I have known since my days in Estes Park, CO. Imagine my surprise when he was narrating the introduction movie. They also have a collection of paintings depicting the civil war and a room of letters from every US president. A fun place to go.



Then we drove to the Etowa Indian Mounds. These Indians inhabited this area between 900 and 1550ad. They are part of the Mississipian culture that predates the Creeks and Cherokee. Hernando DeSoto and his explorers brought European disease and hostility that wiped them out. They built mounds to live on and the higher your mound the higher your authority and respect in the community. The 54 acre site has several remaining mounds with the biggest 63 feet. The designs on the artifacts found are very similar to the Aztec designs. We are always amazed at the design elements that repeat themselves in the art of all cultures around the world. I will have to go back to record the image of the Indian mounds and in the distance through the trees you can see modern farm irrigation equipment and beyond that in the far distance the smoke stacks of the nuclear power plant. An amazing picture.

The Year Ends

Well, time to think about 2009. I get to do some new things next year.

I want to volunteer to help some charity or organization. As odd as it sounds, I am having trouble connecting with organizations. Emails go unanswered. Have all charities decided that they only want money and not volunteers? Well, I will continue to pursue that. It reminds me of our search for charities for Celebration of Fine Art. Several actually turned us down because the amount of money we would raise was not enough to be bothered with. I wonder if now they would change their tune?

Times change. I am not old enough to remember the great depression but it brought my parents together. I was born at the end of WWII and was always puzzled that my parents horded certain things. We always had a spare set of tires and a case of oil for the cars. We always had lots of extra food. I guess when you have had those things rationed you stock up against what might be around the corner so you are prepared. The heroes of our time are those that are prepared. The folks who, after a natural disaster, have the generators, extra water and will share with others are the ones we lean on. In these times it seems to be first and last about money. If you have had money in a secure place and others have overextended themselves with those easy credit cards that came in the mail, guess who gets to share.

So those of us who are in a giving and sharing position look for places to share in the new year. We are sure thankful we are in the giving instead of the receiving end of things.
I will let you know how it turns out. Happy New Year!