Mosaic Mom

When Plant Daddy and I went to Georgia in March, we strolled around a small (and I do mean teeny-weeny, microscopic) town.

Pine Mountain, Georgia is very similar to Mt. Dora, FL and we were thinking we could just as well have stayed home and browsed for temple jars.

However…we found this place!!!

Art Works, Pine Mountain, Georgia.

This is one of the coolest places I have seen in a long time. And it is a concept that is going to catch fire! This shop is on the cusp of a major trend!

What is this trend?

Space.

No, no, not outer space….

Space… to have a group of people over to sit around a big table and do crafts together.

When you walk in the door, on the right there is vast space with 6 or 8 large tables pushed together, covered in canvas. Every weekend, they offer art classes.

Sometimes beading, sometimes stained glass, painting, watercolors, and mosaics.

The morning we arrived, a mosaics class was to have been going.

Had it been on, Mom would have happily plunked down up to $125 to sit and make a mosaic souvenir and chat with fellow mosaic artists.

If a watercolor or painting class were available, we could have corralled Plant Daddy too!

Think about it…what if you had a bunch of bridesmaids and you offered an instructor to make little flower arrangements?
Or had the Girl Scouts over to make pine cone wreaths.
The Boy Scouts could come in for wood carving or leather craft.
Quilter Guilds, upholstery classes (I took a class in that once!), pottery.

There’s space to host art leagues or weavers guilds…or writers groups for that matter…

And I am thinking of that booklet that Lowe’s used to send around with craft projects called “Unwind Wednesdays”. Lowe’s concept was to invite your friends over to drink martinis and apply glue to things. Love it! Art Works would have room for that type of thing!

Art Works is level…I mean that you walk straight in from the street. The big issue with Mt Dora Center for the Arts is you have to climb HUGE flights of stairs, lugging your art supplies to get to their work rooms. No good for seniors. But “Seniors Day Out” could go to Art Works.

Corporate “team building” events. Church groups. A lot of people could come through and do make and take crafts.

Art Works a gallery of local artists. And maybe are going to do a wacky car project.

I like to read in the back of Artist magazines. Lots of companies offer art summer camps for adults. Sometimes I think about going. Art Works would be the kind of place that could be really fun to do that in.

When I cleaned the pool this morning, I pulled this up...

(borrowed photo)

Anyway, it is a very rare glass skink.

It smelled awful. terrible. gag a maggot bad.
I have a strong stomach, but this took the prize for the worst ever smell.

I also fished out a dead regular skink and it didn't smell at all.

I had to bury it, then spray myself in Febreeze.

Then I wandered into the greenhouse to water the beans and startled Blackie the black snake. It is never pleasant to surprize a 4 ft snake.
Mom's bad morning!

Please add Mud Trucks to the list of idiots that need to buy mufflers.

With the chain blocking the driveway, it was a bit quieter last night. No middle of the night repair service waking me up. Yay!

We harvested the biggest haul of green beans ever! Some for "Mind Escape" and her friend "I Feel Like A Firecracker". Mind Escape's neighbor, boss, and Firecracker's parents! Lots of bean sharing! Yay!

Plant Daddy and I also have our share. We'll be eating beans all week!

Hope the weather man is right and we really do get some rain tomorrow.

My sister lives near Sturgis.
I live near Leesburg.
They both have Bike fests.

Would somebody please tell these goddam bikers to get some goddam mufflers?

Last night...no, this morning at 3:00AM they were Still Roaring Down the Road..with giant farts all the way. It is just awful. Just awful.

One parked at the end of the driveway and was trying to make repairs so we got to hear his numerous attempts at kickstarting. I am buying a chain for the end of the drive way today. Grrrrr.

400,000 bikers. It is awful.

According to a survey of Independent Garden Centers, the most popular item in garden centers across America this spring is pre-planted mixed containers.
Here's one I did with foliage plants from the box store.

It is a happy dcorative little thing, n'est pas?
The plants are various Pileas and the darker purple one's a Hemigraphis.
Must stay in the shade!

Unfortunately, reading the trade magazine last night gave me another idea for a 100 word story...it's about geraniums....coming soon to a blog near you!

I made 3 small mosaic rocks this week. They're a fun easy project. Mindless. I was going to get photos last night, but evening crept up on me.

I was weeding the garden. Tossed 3 zucchini plants that had a serious case of mildew. Harvested all the pole beans and cleared that trellis. I think I will pick up a Roma tomato for that spot over the weekend. I can't believe I didn't start seeds on Romas this season! Now I have to buy a liner.

I wrote two 100 word stories but don't want to post these particular two. I was troubled earlier in the week to find a post I'd written posted over at someone else's web site! And yes, I was given gredit, but it still felt odd.

I have a lot of writing to catch up on today. Hope my brain doesn't start spinning 100 word stories. I need to FOCUS!

Besides Corner Gas, another TV show you should try to catch is Breaking Bad.

It is a jaw dropper!

The concept is that a high school chemistry teacher gets lung cancer. To leave money behind for his family, he takes to cooking meth.

Now that is a concept!
Very radical! Mind bending. And PERFECTLY cast.
Read more here.

He offered me a drink.

I seized the glass, slamming the shot down before he changed his mind.

“I thought this was a treatment center?” I asked.

“Sometimes we offer prophylactic support during detox.” replied the in-take nurse, stashing his stethoscope around his burly neck.

“Am I that far gone?” I trembled as withdrawal set in.

He scribbled data onto my chart. “We treat all addictions here.” The pat reply was meant to calm, but didn’t. “Now, questions about your addiction history.”

I braced for the tough part as my therapy began.

“When did you write your first 100-word story?”

Hi!
My name is Emily.
I am an Italian Greyhound and I live at Stewart's Greenhouse!
I am all bundled up against the cold because this shot was snapped in January! Brrrr!

Come visit me...Bring Puperoni!

Bye Bye!

Heard today from one of our Oregon relatives that they had a light dusting of snow on Friday. Yikes.

Today I mowed grass and got sunburned after only 20 minutes. It's hot and very very bright.

Why Mom ain't never gonna be beautiful...

I go to the Sally Beauty Store today to buy a comb.
I pick out $13.00 worth of combs and brushes.
I go to the cash register.
I am 3rd out of 5.
There are two teenaged checker outers but only one is working. The other is frowning at some data on a clip board.
I wait.
I wait.
I wait some more.

The customer getting checked out is having a crisis. Finally tho, she gets through.
The next lady pulls out a checkbook and there's something funky about her I.D.
Nargh!
But I really want my new brushes and combs.
I wait.
The first lady comes back complaining about being over charged.
Both cashiers stop everything to help lady 1.
Lady 2 sighs.
I dump my stuff on the counter and leave.

I get a new comb and a new brush at Publix.
I pay $2.59.
I am happy.
The smile on my face makes me beautiful.
The money in my purse would have paid the wages for one of those Sally's workers for an hour.
Not my problem.

First stop...Go over to the University of Florida site and read this exciting research report on Purple Passion Plant...(go often...we get "points" when you visit!)


Wasn't that refreshing?

Now go visit our friends at Stewart's Greenhouses in Mt. Dora. No "points" for this trip, but you'll love their photos of their plants...

This is post # 1700.

Aren't you tired of reading this stuff yet?

Aren't I tired of writing this stuff?

No!
It's very satisfying actually.

Yeah yeah yeah...

Another reminder that Palm Group is moving to Sorrento for the meeting
Monday May 19th at 6:30 PM
We hope the group will grow...
Caveat!
Baby plants need extra care so that they root in.


I was just looking at this photo. It is old. We have pressure washed the mist house since this was taken, we no longer keep stock on alamandas, and we will be feasting on the blackberry harvest shortly!

Hello group!

Just wanted to let everyone know that the meeting day/location has changed. Scott at the East Lake Library in Sorrento has offered the library's community room for our group meetings. The members present at the meeting on Thursday voted to make that move. However, since the library is not open late on Thursdays, it means we will moving the monthly meeting to the third Monday of the month, from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

There has been interest in that area to start a writer's group, but no one has stepped up to establish one. I will conduct a brief workshop on what we do and how to critique, which will be advertised for the May meeting. We will still critique member submissions at that meeting as time allows. (In other words, if no one new shows up, we'll just have a regular meeting!)

This was not an easy decision to make, since we wanted to stay in Tavares to be centrally located, but it doesn't seem meant to be. I want to thank Ross for his generosity in letting us use his conference room for our meetings.

I am sorry for any hardship this brings for those who have a longer distance to travel for the meetings. Several members are willing to carpool, so if the distance is a concern, just email and we'll help to work something out for you.

The next meeting will be May 19th, from 6:30-8:30 pm at the East Lake Library in Sorrento. Submissions will go out to the group on May 5th, so please email anything you have for critique before then.

Linda

http://hometown.aol.com/palmwritersgroup/index.html

The quiet kid in the back of the art room at the Berries high school was the only one who got his mosaic project done.

I took his spaceship and my purple people eater mosaic to Art in the Garden this year. Then returned the sculpture to the kid with a thank you note for his records/scholarship packet.

Turns out the quiet kid won the 6th District Congressional Art competetion too. His work will be displayed at the Capitol. The kid won 2 free tickets to Washington DC to his opening. And he won a $5000 scholarship to Savannah School or Art and Design.

It's the quiet ones in the back of the room you have to watch out for!

I spent yesterday afternoon making squash bread...the first of the season. That was all I could do since the internet was down.

Squash bread Yay!
Internet server Booo!

Things seem so far so good this morning. Hope the good trend continues.

My email is totally screwed up.

The snail mail today came in a baggie with a "sorry" note from the Postmaster.

We got a notice that our internet service and cable TV will be going down onMonday for service.

FINALLY got to Blogger so I could tell everyone ...we'll be out of communication for a spell.

Nargh...thank God, y toaster never gives me this much trouble.

Last night at Palm Writers Group everybody loved Jackie's final sentence. We each had a different take on its meaning, but we each loved it.

I had a sentence everybody jumped on, too. Unfortunately not because it was good. Everybody thought it was badly written. Unanimous!

So this morning I made corrections and shipped the piece off to GreenPrints.

I got home from the post office, opened my copy of the magazine and found I'd made a mistake. I'd recommended my 100 word stories for the "Buds" section when I should have said "Cuttings". I hope the editor understands newbies. Nargh!

Well, practice makes progress.

"I can't believe I ate the whole thing!"

Good Kitty!

Closing in on Blog # 1700...should get there this weekend...

Sent 2 manuscripts to Florida Gardening this week. Will get a review back from Palm Group tomorrow and have mss #3 ready to go to Green Prints by Friday. What a record!

Don't even ask about what I'm supposed to be accomplishing on the OPS job...I'm a little behind. I'll get there.

Tomorrow I have to deliver student art back to Suzy...and I wrote up a newspaper piece on the student for his kudos.

Also I have to go to Target and get Electrosol or me and Plant Daddy's gonna be eatin offa paper plates. Ha! As if I had time to cook this week.

In mytravels today, I stopped over at the local botanical gardens. They will be having a plant sale on Saturday.
Here are the ladies setting up plants for potential customers.

I ran into Apopka this morning to get a photo of this church garden.
About 17 years ago, when the church sexton (groundskeeper) was deported for an immigration problem, a group of volunteers took over care and maintenance of the memorial garden. We called ourselves the Green Team and wore tacky kelly green t-shirts.
It's still a nice garden.
They added a St Francis statue and fountain since I left and the Drake elm has been replaced by a ligustrum.

I have a new favorite TV show.
Wednesday nights at 8PM on WGN. or really really worth your while to hunt for if your cable schedule is different from mine.

Corner Gas is awesome because

1. It treats you like an intelligent person. There is dense content. It is well written and you have to pay attention.

2. As in point #1, there is no laugh track. They assume you can find the laughs...and they are legion.

3. It is a situation much like Mom's life. Not much action but a whole lot going on!

I borrowed the photo. Don't you LOVE rural Sasketchewan? Look at that scenery!!!

Watch this show! Corner Gas!

I had a great time at Art in the Garden today. My two favorite things at once...art and gardening!

I met some great newcomers and had good chats with veterans.
I even sold a birdhouse! Yay!

I donated the mosaic Venus Fly Trap and it was duly installed in the bog garden to educate the school kids.

I got a nice letter from Stetson yesterday.
They got their grant! Yay!

Here's what they wrote to me...

Stetson University...has been officially notified that the project will receive a grant to build The Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center.. Please accept our sincere appreciation for writing a letter in support of the Art Center.


The Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center will provide many opportunities for
humanities experiences for people of every demographic. The primary
mission of the Art Center is to preserve and exhibit a unique collection
of artwork by a significant American artist, Oscar Bluemner (1867-1938),
a colleague of 20th century American Modernists such as Georgia
O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, and Alfred Steiglitz.


We truly hope you will be among the early and frequent visitors to the
Art Center after its opening in 2009. The new Center will provide a
study and exhibition facility paralleling the caliber and reputation of
the Bluemner Collection. The Stetson University Permanent Collection
Gallery in the Art Center will provide additional art experiences for
visitors. Again, thank you for supporting this exciting project.

While vacationing in Georgia last month, Plant Daddy and I spied this Rosemary plant in bloom.

I have a rosemary in the garden that is 5 ft. tall this year. I love the leaves in salads and when I bake chicken.

But mine has never bloomed, so I appreciated this Georgia sight.

Art in the Garden is scheduled for
Saturday, April 5th
from 9:00AM till 2:00PM
at Discovery Gardens behind the Agricultural Center on Woodlea Road

The weatherman isn't giving us a promising outlook. 60% chance of rain.

Last year was very windy.
One of my pieces fell and broke.
Rain won't bother the mosaics but all the watercolor painters are in trouble.

Bummer.

Patty did a great job reading her poems...and as I predicted, there were many a moist eye in the crowd!

It was great to see 25 or more...some late-comers trailing in...coming to a poetry event at EAST LAKE LIBRARY on a Monday night. Go East Lake! Yay!

One poet lady was promoting PublishAmerica. I checked it on line. Yikes! Lotta lawsuits! I think I will look elsewhere....I have in mind to self-publish the 100 word stories.

The lady from my novel writing class 2 years ago was there. She sang, acapello, a tribute to Martin Luther King. I guess she is inspired by American Idol!

Today is bill pay and Publix run day. TTYL!