What in the Sam Hill....?

Vineyards at Maryill... on the Colombia river.

On our travels back to Spokane, we stopped at the Maryhill Museum in Goldendale, WA for a picnic and some art. Samuel Hill was a wealthy business man who built the Colombia river Highway... and collected art. He had a mansion built, perched above the Colombia river, thinking it would grow into a nice farming community someday. It never really happened and he never even lived in the house. His famous dancer friend, Loie Fuller, convinced him to turn it into a museum.

There's a nice collection of Rodin sculptures, a collection of gems, paintings, furniture etc. from Marie, Queen of Romania... a fashion display from the 40's-50's, as well as a stellar chess set collection. Currently, William Morris - a glass artist - has a beautiful show inspired by the northwest and walks in the wilderness. (I believe he's a teacher at the Pilchuck Glass School).

Thinking in Circles...

I've been doing lots of calligraphy lately... outside in nature. (well, mostly on the deck at the picnic table.) The more I do the more experiments happen. My fabulous calligraphy teacher in Portland (Carol Dubosch) had a motto she shared with us at the time - 'Stay together, learn the flowers, go light'. I love the idea of combining few words with a motto, season, idea etc. So, combined with my love for writing in the circle format, I think I've hit a new idea... but what to call it? Circle poems? Still mulling it over - but I've got more of these to share in the coming week :)

Have a lazy Sunday!

Rambling at Cannon Beach

Love the sign... looks just like a woodcut.

I was dying to eat at this place... but we never made it. It didn't look very kid friendly either - but what a cute spot.. and the bill of fare - very tempting. That's the sign - Bistro - is the only name it had. Will try to find out if they have a web site!

We've just returned from a much needed, lovely trip to the beach and Portland, OR. It was great except for the fact that our car broke down as soon as we arrived in Portland (after about 6-7 hours of driving!) . We waited about an hour or more for a tow truck to come and take our sad car to the dealership and ended up renting a car so we could still get to our 'beach leg' of the trip. Who can tell what's going to happen in a day!?

I took about a million photographs that are all potential paintings :) Now, I'm thinking about school starting on Aug 31 (yipes! we're nowhere near ready). I've been purging in the house, de-cluttering and clearing space for a calm, serene dwelling in the fall and winter. Our little girl will be going off to her first year of pre-school (she's got a Sept birthday and will be one of the older ones). Naturally, this is traumatic for moi... she's my baby! But, I'm thinking I may sooth myself by partaking in a bit of nesting and paint the living room, dining room, bathroom and hallway. :) Been wanting to do this for about 5 years now!