Sand sculpture

Jimmy and I stumbled upon the most extraordinary sand sculptures while walking on the beach late this afternoon. Someone had carved an octopus with its tentacles wrapped around the tail of a lifelike twelve foot alligator, made completely out of sand except for their seashell eyes. I intend to lurk around the beach tomorrow, hoping to discover the amazing person who did this.

Chillin' at Fernandina

Cyber-addictions

Warning: this Facebook application called Farm Town sounds innocuous, even hokey, but it's seriously, SERIOUSLY addictive. My friend Mike, a recent Farm Town junkie, admitted that he postponed leaving to go on a vacation, waiting for his crops to come in so he could harvest them. If you do try it and get hooked, which you will, let me know so we can be Farm Town neighbors.

I also have a cyber-dog on PetPupz, another Facebook application, which drives Jimmy crazy. She's a papillion named Sweetie, and she doesn't require much attention: just feed her and play with her and enter her in an occasional dog show.

These are harmless diversions, I think, from the harsh realities of Iran and North Korea and the economy and global warming. They're soothing, like doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku.

Happy Father's Day!

Before and After

Art After Dark= Lots of Fun

If you didn't brave the heat wave to get to Artists on Ashley tonight, you missed a great evening: people poured in the whole time, and lots of red SOLD dots lit up the walls. Such fun.

Our landlord, Buddy Walker, has ripped the flooring out, down to the original 100+ year old boards, then polished it to a high sheen. It's beautiful. Then he tore out the ceiling, leaving all the old beams and rafters, giving us a very chic uptown New York loft look.

Please come

You are invited to the
Grand Re-opening
of the historically restored
ARTISTS ON ASHLEY
203 N. Ashley Street
Downtown Valdosta

Jeanne Cowart
Annette Crosby
Ellen Dewar
Deb House
Pam Scruggs

ART AFTER DARK
Friday, June 19th
6 to 8 PM

Spoiled I and Spoiled II

Put two in the win column

"Well, it bled a lot," Fernando smiled, "but that's a good thing. Most patients who later develop problems have very little bleeding when the tooth is pulled." Fernando Alvarado, an oral surgeon, had just extracted the abscessed molar that has been plaguing us for the last month.

It seems like the cure for one problem always begets another, and in this case, the Zometa Jimmy takes for his bones can potentially cause serious complications in dental procedures. But the tooth's out now, and hopefully the bleeding indicated that the jaw will be able to heal normally.

Oh! And more good news: last weeks' tests at Emory, the One Year Biggie, are back, and Jimmy's still in complete remission!

Afternoon walk

Undeterred by the heat, Jimmy insisted we take our late afternoon stroll on the golf course, and it was a welcomed break for me. I've been trying to do some painting and am frustrated beyond endurance. Did I dare find fault with someone else's efforts last week? Mea culpa.

Deja vu

We didn't have a lawn when Jackie and Maxwell were growing up: we had a baseball diamond. When school was out, there was a perpetual neighborhood game going on in our front yard, and my boys were involved in every league of baseball, from T-Bat on up. It was their sport, and they loved it.

Jackie recently started playing with the Valdosta Men's Baseball League, and his team, the Pirates, had their first game today. It really took me back.

Monster hydrangea

When I went into the backyard to cut some flowers this afternoon, there was a hydrangea blossom as big as a basketball - well, as big as a soccer ball anyway. Mammoth. It looks like a bridal bouquet. Maybe it's all the rain this spring.

This is the same flower, looking a little more lavender in a different light.

Besame Mucho

Jimmy and I both have a thing about the #9 Special (quesadillas Mexicana) at Rodeo restaurant, and being serenaded tonight while we ate added a romantic fillip to the evening.

Their rendition of "Besame Mucho" wasn't quite as good as Andrea Bocelli's, but it was very nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPRESlT4Ccg

Art: subjects and subjectivity

After checking on the progress of the renovations at our gallery, Artists on Ashley, and going by the art center to see what won the prizes at the "Spring Into Art" exhibit, it seemed only natural for Pam Scruggs and me to pay our fellow painter Lucille White a visit.

I had not seen her in a couple of years. She's staying at Heritage House nursing facility these days, a consequence of a broken hip, but I was glad to find her as beautiful and vivacious and entertaining as ever: she still has, at almost 96 years old and will laughingly tell you, "all her marbles."

Pam, who goes to see her regularly, had gathered up 25 or 30 of Lucille's paintings and hung them in Lucille's room, and the staff and other residents have loved it.

Lucille has long been a favorite subject of talented Valdosta artist Faye Bridges Hyatt, and these four portraits of her are currently on exhibit at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts.

Also at the Turner Art Center are the juried works and winners of the enormously successful "Spring Into Art" show. The center has a wonderful hard-working staff and board of directors, and this show has become a BIG event. Several hundred (500?) pieces of art were submitted this year by very fine artists from around the country, and it's neither easy nor inexpensive to enter these juried competitions, especially if your work has to be shipped.

Art is so subjective, and everybody has a different criteria for what's "good" and what isn't. Personally, I LOVE abstract and expressionistic art. Some is great and some is atrocious.

Having said that, I was dumbfounded at what was awarded the coveted prizes in this show. I don't dislike these pieces; I just question their place in the hierarchy of things.

Fourth Place Winner:

***IMAGE REMOVED BY REQUEST*****

Second Place (appropriately titled "Why?"):

******IMAGE REMOVED BY REQUEST**********

And First Place:

*******IMAGE REMOVED BY REQUEST*********
First prize went to a crude pencil drawing on the dirty back of a page torn out of a sketchbook, with a big black smudge across it.

And here's a closeup of the winner of the blue ribbon:

**********IMAGE REMOVED BY REQUEST************

I don't know who judged this show, or what he/she was thinking. Maybe this was his idea of cutting edge, avant garde creativity. Maybe he has a warped sense of humor. Maybe he has advanced macular degeneration. Go figure.