Sifting The Trinkets and Treasures

January 16, 2012

I can’t understand why I am drawn to tiny trinkets. Miniature figurines, toys, beads, and buttons always fascinate me. Do they attract you? I can’t seem to throw them away, so I always just put them in a box in a drawer. No more! Now, I’m putting them out on display for my guests to [...]

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Scraps of Love

January 15, 2012

The afghan that is spread on my kitchen island in the morning sunlight is a special one. First of all, it’s for me, and I never rarely make anything for me. Second, it’s made from scraps of yarn. They call using scraps to make something new “upcycling” these days, but my grandmother would have called [...]

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Riding The Fence

November 1, 2011

Have I ever told y’all that it isn’t a good idea to drive behind me if I have the camera in the car? Folks in Salado, Texas (a tiny town north of Austin) discovered that this Sunday as I drove through that delightful hamlet. I saw the bicycles that were hung on a fence and [...]

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A Scots-Irish Lass With A Hispanic Soul

October 26, 2011

It’s true that the only word I can remember from my High School Spanish class is “albondigas.” That means “meatballs” … I think. At least I hope it’s not a dirty word. I just can’t understand why I didn’t learn an important word that was useful. Like “bacon.” Why didn’t I learn that? And, what [...]

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Something’s Afoot

July 25, 2011

I saw this sculpture of a foot at a garage sale, and it just called my name. Did I hear one of y’all ask, “Why?” Don’t you realize who is talking to you? I’m the woman who collects everything: hand sculptures and carvings, hats, carpentry tools, Art Deco anything, African masks, rocks, shells, books, records, [...]

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Hole-y Mole-y! It’s Kinetic Art!

April 25, 2011

A stroll across my yard can be hazardous to the health! It isn’t the poison ivy, the fire ants, or the occasional snake that is the problem (you can usually see those before they get you). No, the problem is in what you can’t see — a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the grass that rivals [...]

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Starving Texas Artist Could Win $50,000 Huntington Art Prize

November 16, 2010

Bleary-eyed, I walked into Jupiter House Coffee. I glanced at the wall and thought, “I’ve gotta check my hair!” For a brief moment I thought I was looking in a mirror … then realized I simply hadn’t sipped enough coffee. I was looking at a painting! My next thought was, “I need to tell the [...]

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If I Could Dance, Then I Could Learn To Quilt

October 19, 2010

She smiled and waltzed a few steps as she told me, “I dance when I quilt.” I wondered aloud, “Do what?” As I stood admiring the quilt she had made, she explained. Her quilting is done on a machine (instead of the “old fashioned way”) and she has to stand up while she feeds the [...]

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Anti Social Network

October 2, 2010

Were you thinking about catching a showing of the newly released movie “The Social Network?” I had eagerly anticipated it, but I should have stayed home and caught up with my friend’s activities on Facebook. I cannot push the “Like” button for this movie; there needs to be a “meh” button. The “anti” in the [...]

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Original Sin

September 27, 2010

Have y’all ever driven past a car accident at the side of the road and didn’t want to look, but your eyes were riveted to it? That’s what I felt when I saw this three dimensional artwork while wandering through my favorite vintage store (Dolly Python, in Dallas). It seemed to beckon from the wall. [...]

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Enraptured By Ecstasy

August 11, 2010

“Do you want to go see the sculpture of the giant naked woman?” my son asked. Bless his heart, he knows I have nekkid mannequins all over my house. Sure, I did! So, we got on a bus (thank goodness) to traverse San Francisco to the neighborhood called Hayes Valley. There she stood in all [...]

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I Played “Hooky”

July 27, 2010

A crochet hook and some “string” have occupied my time for the last four days. Actually, I got my fancy yarns out to make a wedding gift for the kids. You might think I’m ruining the surprise by telling you about it on the blog, but I seriously doubt the young’uns read my writing … [...]

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We Call Him Fenster

July 11, 2010

Actually, we call all of the geckos at our house “Fenster,” because we can’t tell them apart. My husband tells me that it is the German word for “window,” and he is always right (Sshh! Stop giggling! I’m trying to get him to help me steam vacuum the floors today.). They acquired their nickname because [...]

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Percussion Things

June 4, 2010

Are you familiar with the Todd Rundgren song “Bang On The Drum All Day?” Oh, go give it a listen and you will be dancing in your seat. The lyrics include the line: “I don’t want to work, I want to bang on the drum all day.” For my friend Len Barnett that is his [...]

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Zap!

May 12, 2010

I’m buried in paperwork! Send reinforcements! In desperation I am attacking a pile of paper work that has been hanging like the Sword of Damocles over my head. OK, maybe that’s not the right image. Technically it is spread all over my desk, the bed, the floor and three card tables; and it won’t stab [...]

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Uncommon Angles

May 11, 2010

If y’all are driving in Fort Worth on West 7th Street, you might see the old Montgomery Wards building. From 1928 until 2001 it was a warehouse and retail store. When “Monkey Wards,” as my Daddy called it, went out of business it became upscale shopping and condominiums. Tucked into the Montgomery Plaza, as it [...]

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D.M.V. Means: Darned Masterful Virtuoso

April 22, 2010

Y’all probably think that it’s no fun at all to stand in the line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, don’t you? If you think that, you aren’t doing something right. You probably stand there with a scowl on your face, tapping your foot, and checking your watch. Every now and then you heave a [...]

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Bottle Tree At Last? Maybe.

March 31, 2010

I have to clean up my yard first, though. Then I can finally have my bottle tree. Ages ago I wrote about bottle trees on this blog. I admit that when I first saw one, I thought it was “tacky,” but bottle trees “grew” on me, in fact I had intended to have a bottle [...]

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For Arts Sake

March 4, 2010

I don’t feel guilty for my opinions, but I’ll atone for them anyway on this Only The Good Friday. A few days ago, I wrote a somewhat snarky post questioning a man’s artistic ability. He called himself a “folk artist,” and I was skeptical. I didn’t think he was creating “art for art’s sake;” I [...]

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Shadows From Moonlight

February 28, 2010

The “Moonlight,” of course is just from the words on the window. I enjoyed the window dressing in this tiny theater advertising their performance of “Moonlight and Magnolias. The shadows on the curtains from the writing on that window intrigued me, and I tried to capture it in a photo. If you want, you can [...]

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