Jack in the Science Lab

Dr. Murray, at Texas A&M Health Science Centers, was given a grant by the Art for Alzheimers Quilt Initiative. When his staff looked for contributors from Bryan/College Station, they found only one - my grandson Jack  They invited him for a tour of the lab. Dr. Murray set up an experiment for him to run. 

 

The local TV station and newspaper people were there but I haven't seen any writeup yet.  I'm sure they have better pictures.


 Jack was pretty composed in his interviews, especially since he's only 12.  He made two little quilts for the Art for Alzheimers project, which were sold and the money earmarked for research.  Dr. Murray's project was given one of the grants.  He is looking into the correlation of Alzheimers and diabetes and obesity.

Ski Trip

My friend Carmen and I went to Santa Fe last week. She doesn't ski, but she loves Santa Fe. So one day, she drove me up to the ski slopes. I stayed on the green ones, but had a great time. I was glad to know that skiing is still a viable option for me. I definitely plan to do it again. Although I wasn't even that sore, we had scheduled a massage at the Santa Fe School of Massage and it was a good experience. Brenda is a last year student and for such a small woman, has amazingly strong hands!

Carmen and I both like thrift shops, family-owned restaurants, and just walking around looking at the sights, so we had a great time.  We went to the O'Keefe museum and the museum of International Folk Art.  A trip to Sidoni was great - we saw a glass blower doing a vase, lots of sculpture, and some interesting fabric silent wind chiimes.

  The orange and yellow object is plexiglass.The spaceship is about eight inches high and bronze.

  This silent wind chime was probably my favorite.  I loved the motion of the fabric rectangles swaying in the breezes. And of course, the menorah of dancing rabbiis just made me smile.

Carmen has a collection of burro statues at home, so we took her picture with some larger statues. We stayed at El Dorado, just a few blocks off the Plaza. This worked out very well in terms of walking to dinner and being able to go back to the room as needed. They had valet parking and very friendly staff. Too bad my camera was set to the wrong date and time. Oh well.

Great Aunt Martha's Mug

This ceramic mug used to set in my Mother's china cabinet.
When we were disbursing her possessions, I noted the signature on the bottom - M. Buenz.




Apparently my great-aunt Martha was an artist, too.  She was probably in her late teens when she painted this.  I located her Grandson who lives near Austin and took it to him so that it could be added to their small collection of her work.  He and his wife seemed to be quite delighted to have it.

Big Blue

The HeartStringsQuiltProject is comprised of quilters who use string-piece methods and create countless charity quilts.  Recently, Cricket told of delivering quilts to the boys at a residential facility in Springfield, MA, and the frustration of not having quite enough quilts for the boys at a second facility.
I admire her generous actions and decided to join in.

Several years ago, I made a top that is made up of rows of traditional blocks with a few wonky ones mixed in.  For some reason, I used only blue fabrics.
Although the top was small, it was a good start.

I made a number of string pieced blocks for a border, using many of the same fabrics as are in the original panel. Originally, I planned to do two rows of them.  However, when the first batch went up on the design wall, I could see that they would overpower the center.  A pale border was added and one row of blocks was added in a zigzag pattern.  My math skills are no longer what they need to be for this kind of work, so a "fudge block" was added in the center of each side.

So here's Big Blue - ready to be packaged up and shipped out.
I'm really liking it and hope that some teenager in Massachusetts will, too.

Thanks to Cricket for inspiration.

Snow Scene

First week is a lot of sky-filling.

Blue gray skies - looks like another snowstorm coming.

A house on the hill is suggested. 










Week two and three

I painted the house.  Then I corrected it, making it larger and evening up the windows (the song "Welcome to the Hotel California" kept running through my mind whenever I saw it.)   Trees and shrubbery were added.  I love shrubbery..
I'm struggling with the teacher's suggestion of a sleigh with horses in the foreground.  I don't want this to be last century.  Thought about a snowmobile, but that might be too demanding at my level of experience.  I'll probably settle for some  children in the foreground, but I don't think I ought to attempt faces yet.

Yaupon Holly

This is a cluster of Yaupon Holly berries from a tree in the park at the entrance to the neighborhood.

Or maybe it's Possumhaw.
I'll know later this winter.  If all the leaves go away, it's Possumhaw.  If they stay, it's Yaupon.

Whatever the case, they're pretty.  And my new camera worked well.







CORRECTION - TWO WEEKS LATER  - all the leaves are gone.  It must be Possumhaw.

Second Correction - these are "drupes", not berries.  Thank you, Steve Schwartzman, for this information in your blog "Portraits of Wildflowers".  Your pictures are truly inspirational.

Wonderful Christmas Present

I love unexpected Christmas presents!