Rusticated into oblivion . . .

I have been to Mississippi to visit my friend Frieda, a former colleague at Delta State University. On my way to Cleveland, I remembered why visiting Mississippi in August is probably NOT a good idea. Here's a picture of Frieda as a student at Ol' Miss. My husband thinks she looks like a china doll (as in china doll, not Chinese Doll). She looks much the same still--for she's certainly trained this same expression on me many times--except NOW she wears clothes that don't touch her body ANYwhere.

Frieda's father was born in Canton in 1912. Frieda took a distinguished visitor to see him shortly after Russian tanks rolled into Ossetia in 2008. Frieda and the visitor hadn't watched any television or read any newspapers for days. In that awkward pause when people first meet, Frieda's Father said, "What do you think about the Russians invading Georgia". Startled, Frieda thought her father meant the Russians had invaded the U.S. As it was, he was the only one up-to-date.

We joined more of Frieda's old friends from Indianola Academy, and drove up to Memphis (actually Olive Branch, which is still in Mississippi), to stay at a "rustic retreat" hosted by a woman who announced she was a John Bircher and prayed her enemies into oblivion. Fortunately, or not, we shopped most of the time in Memphis proper and were too tired to worry about being killed in our beds when we "rusticated" in the evenings.

I was so tired when I started back to Kentucky I nearly fell asleep in the car. I'm still tired.

Jay Walking for Jesus!

I heard this on a Prairie Home Companion skit several days ago. It was a Dusty and Lefty 'Lives of the Cowboys' skit and they were in Oklahoma (the whole show was recorded in OK). It went something like this: "Don't let your government tell you when you can and can't cross the street! . . . Jay Walk for Jesus!"

Tulsa and Oklahoma were both part of a former life of mine, both when I lived in Texas AND when I lived in Arkansas. In fact Tulsa was closer to Fort Smith (where I lived) than was Little Rock. It was the preferred shopping destination.

1963 Revisited . . .

I have spent two days doing portraits. I haven't tried portraits since I took a class with Sternbergs at UK and he told me I
should ONLY work realistically . . . AND I should only do portraits. He also suggested I go to Europe to study because I would not learn what I needed in the U.S. He spent one whole afternoon talking with me and he was hardly social at all.

I argued with my Daddy all the way home from Summer School (1963) about REALLY studying art because Sternbergs said I was good, and Sternbergs was notorious for not being satisfied with anyone's work.

Dad said I needed to get a teaching degree first, THEN if I was still interested I could go study abroad.

I ran away from home the next March and got married on my brother's birthday. My brother may have forgotten that, but at the time he said he'd never forgive me. Somehow I'm sure Sternbergs, Daddy's decree, and running away were all related. How silly (now) are the things my life turned on.

YESTERDAY's teacher (Katie Burke) didn't say I could PAINT, necessarily, she said I could

really DRAW. She thought I got a likeness every time. I did not think so but was

awfully happy none-the-less.

Bicycling

My sister-in-law told me that one of the first things she and her now-husband did together . . . was go bicycling. She said it was the LAST thing she wanted to do, because she could imagine how she looked from behind on a bicycle seat. I just found this and immediately thought of her.

Blogs, Sara, and Jake

I've been remiss about this blogsite. I'm organizing another blog regarding my 50th(!!!) high school reunion--AND have been setting up a Facebook Group for them. It is taking a LOT of time. It's bringing back a lot of memories as well as a lot of blanks. I'm having to re-establish the links among my classmates that I had long forgotten.

Additionally I went to play with one of my oldest friends (since College Frosh times) grandchildren the other day. Cuuuuute kids. Schmart, too.

Tomorrow I begin a two day workshop in L'ville and am looking forward to it. Maybe it'll get

me started on the things I want to do . . . I have a list prioritized. So far, no can do, tho.

Or haven't.

Bogging Down

Even though I played with paper marbling yesterday with my friend Marty and her grandchildren, Sara and Jake, I haven't REALLY done anything creative in quite a while.  I'm both getting antsy AND less creative because of it.  I suppose I've been doing research, looking for folk art animals on the web and signing up for a web class.  I take a mini-workshop in portrait painting at the Kentucky Watercolor Society on this Friday and Saturday, maybe that will help.