This is what my part of Texas looks like – somewhere along highway 71 between Houston and Austin.

It doesn’t take much looking to find it, either. I’ll bet there’s somewhere within two miles of my house that looks just like this. Take away all the buildings, houses, and roads in Houston and this is what you’d have left. Yep. That about sums it up. Seeing this makes me fall in love with Texas all over again.

Texas Landscape is 24″ x 36″ oil on linen.

Watching daughter Hilary ride her bike out of sight last Saturday turned me into an emotional puddle. My heart was full and empty at the same time – filled with love and loss. That’s when Hilary’s first day of an epic adventure 4000+ mile bicycle journey started. Yes, you read that right — 4000+ miles. She and a group of fellow University of Texas students are riding their bicycles from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska in the name of fighting cancer while sharing hope, knowledge, and charity along the way and giving support to those who battle cancer and support for their loved ones. The Texas 4000 is billed as the longest charity ride in the world. I don’t know if that’s actually true, but I tell you what — Texans sure do know how to do it big.

The Amazing Reese, Tilly the wonder dog, and I went to Austin to cheer Hilary on at the beginning of her big adventure. Soon-to-be-son-in-law James joined Hilary for the first 50 miles.

At the start of the ride, 69 teammates paused to remember loved ones affected by cancer and  listen to the national anthem. Hundreds of bikers joined the ride for the first day.

Each rider raised at least a dollar for every mile they ride. Hilary’s
group is riding the Sierra Route and amazingly will be out of Texas in
three more days, in and out of New Mexico in two days, in Arizona for a
day total, and in Utah by Sunday!!! Y’all can follow the route here, and if anyone still wishes to contribute, Hilary’s fund raising page is here.

Friends and family were invited to join the riders for a day one celebration lunch at Lagato Winery in Lampasas, Texas. We poured Texas wine in little plastic cups, toasted, and shared one last Texas BBQ meal under a big tent in a big Texas field. Well, our last meal for a while anyway….until she reaches Anchorage, Alaska in 70 days.

After our meal, it was time to say our good byes. It sure was hard. May God bless you and the people you (and your teammates) touch on your journey. May God bring you safely home at journey’s end.

Here’s a little something in her own words.

8″ x 8″ oil on canvas

This is a vitex that was planted in my gardening phase years ago. Now it’s at least twenty feet tall and blooming profusely in the back yard. I’m going to plant another one soon. Reese promised me I could. He promised because his heart was full. His heart was full because I was his passenger on the back of his “new” 1994 Honda v-twin 1100 motorcycle for a trip to the country. He couldn’t have been any happier. We were driving past a mimosa tree in bloom on the road somewhere between 290 at the Mueschke exit and White Hall, Texas. White Hall is really just a run down corner store with a very pleasant, nice lady who works the register and a dirty filthy restroom. As we were riding, I saw the mimosa tree blooming in the forest. I leaned forward to yell in Reese’s ear that that’s what I wanted to plant in the front yard, a mimosa tree, and wasn’t it pretty? “You could ask me for anything right now and I’d give it to you,” he hollered back.

On the road

Here we were on the open road, driving past donkeys, horses, llamas, goats, emus, great danes, chickens, farm houses, ranch land and forest, and all I could think to ask for spur of the moment was a tree. He extended the offer a few hours and still all I could think of was trees. So I’m getting a mimosa tree, another vitex, and a gardenia, and a hydrangea, and maybe a pine tree. I love pine trees.

If there’s ever a next time, maybe I’ll remember to ask for something a little more romantic, like a trip to Paris.

Back in March, I moved the art studio into the big bedroom upstairs. Now, I’ve moved it again from the big bedroom to the small one.

The light in
the small bedroom upstairs is the best light in the house, besides our
bedroom, and now that there’s not a bed in it, it should be ready to go.
The bed that was in it is now in the cozy bedroom downstairs, which
used to be the art studio, and before that the study, and before that
the screened in side porch. The trick with all of this rearranging is that if all of your stuff more or less matches, it doesn’t matter which room it ends up in because everything goes together….more or less.

Things should settle down for a while, and
about time, because I’ve got work to do. Hurray for commissions!

Lately I’ve been catching up on some chores around the house. Still am. I’ve made a mess of several things.

1. Over the years, the sun faded the soft butter yellow curtains of our bedroom to almost white. So, I decided to dye them yellow again. The Rit Dye directions said one bottle for every two pounds of fabric. I’m sure the curtains were more than two pounds, right? So use two bottles? Well, maybe that was a bit ambitious because now the curtains are nuclear yellow and our bedroom literally glows. Not even kidding. The Amazing Reese thinks we should get a disco ball installed in the bedroom – it’s that bad.

2. In the process of rearranging rooms again, and in the spirit of turning the side porch into a cozy bedroom, I’m finally painting the bead board ceiling in there. Let me put it this way, gravity does funny things to paint. And my neck hurts from looking at the ceiling so much.

3. Moving some of my plants to sweep out a mess, I accidentally broke the “put a bird on it” plant container that my daughter Anna gave me for mother’s day last year and made a bigger mess of broken pot, dirt, and plant. At least the broom was handy.

Last night, I gave an artist talk to an adorable group of young men on their way to earning an artist badge as Cub Scout Webelos. Usually, when scout type groups want to earn their artist badges, they
come tour the studio here, at the house. It’s easy to talk when so may
visual aids are at my fingertips. We tour the studio, talk about
different paintings, see the mural, the mosaics, and on and on. This was
my first time to actually go to a scout club house, so naturally, I brought props along for visual impact and stimulation.

Of my own work, I brought a still life, a landscape, and a portrait for show and tell. Here I am talking about painting portraits. I figured they would be interested in a portrait of a boy about their same age.

They were eager to participate. Here we are discussing  primary and secondary colors on the color wheel.

Aren’t they cute? Here they are sweetly paying attention.

Afterwards, several parents mentioned how attentive and well behaved the boys were during my talk. Apparently, that doesn’t happen very often. (?) Come to think of it, they did seem mesmerized. They were really sweet.

As well as the evening went, my favorite part of the whole night was at the very end. One of the little boys came up to personally thank me and in his innocent enthusiasm, gave me a heartfelt big hug. That was pretty great.

Yep. The Amazing Reese and I are still on a quest to find the best fried
chicken in town. Here are some things we’ve found on our search.

Wabash Feed Store – this is what chickens look like before they are fried. Don’t they look tasty?  They are available for purchase to cook and eat in all their yummy fried goodness….or raise them as pets.

Max’s Wine Dive – – fried chicken served with champagne, mustard greens, other stuff I don’t remember, and spicy honey dipping sauce – really good spicy honey dipping sauce.

Saint Arnold Brewing Company‘s new lunch service – fried chicken served with Elissa IPA (or beer of your choice on tap), mashed sweet potatoes, succotash, and an iceberg wedge salad with bleu cheese dressing and delicious bacon crumbs. Two thumbs up!

Haven – fried chicken-to-go paired with a zinfandel eaten in the comfort of home. Let’s not talk about the side dishes. Apparently I’m picky about sides. I didn’t know this about myself.

Richey’s Country Cookin’ in Pasadena – chicken fried chicken served with sweet tea, fried okra, black eyed peas, and cornbread muffins. It was confusing ordering chicken fried chicken. I honestly thought the waitress was loopy, but sure enough, it was flat, de-boned chicken breasts that were fried. It was weird…..just like it’s weird that my eyes are closed in this picture. It was a very sunny day.

We’ve got a few more restaurants to try. It’s a hard job, but somebody’s got to do it.

The last few weeks have been all wobbly. I hired a high school neighbor to help move the art studio upstairs which involved moving a lot of other stuff downstairs. And what I thought was right, wasn’t, and so I’ve spent several days reconfiguring furniture placement to get the best light scenario for painting in this new upstairs studio space. Hopefully, everything is in its right place and creating can begin in earnest.

This painting is called Grandmother Oak. It’s a tree in the back yard of one of my favorite childhood friends. She lives in Louisiana now, but for a very few sweet years, we were neighbors in the small town of Centreville, Mississippi together. We were the kind of friends where our mothers took pictures of us naked in the bathtub together…..the kind of friends where we had matching Batman t-shirts….the kind of friends where everything we did together was magical. We told secrets under the magnolia tree in the front yard. We laughed. We made promises to each other that we couldn’t possibly keep. We didn’t know it at the time, we were children, but we were kindred spirits. Still are. Thank you, Margaret. Maybe we’re not the same silly girls we once were, giggling under the dining room table while our mothers had coffee…..but, maybe we are.

Grandmother Oak is 24″ x 30″ oil on linen.

I sit here and my mind goes blank
……………………..yep, still blank
for what does one say
on a day like today
“Oh, look! There goes a dog who’s named Hank!”

I realize that this is ridiculous
for who will read something so frivolous
remember it’s spring
that must be the thing
something something something meticulous

I’m waiting for thoughts with a clue
but so far it’s gobble-de-goo
what happens a lot
when my mind has not thought
is I hope for a thought residue

A thought residue gives one hope
just like Frances will be a good pope
but really it’s clear
that I just want to hear
a rhyme with the word cantaloupe

I promise that this is the end
such nonsense does sometimes offend
that’s not my objective
to be ineffective
I’d rather be everyones friend