HAPPY HAUNTING!

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET????

The Art of the Vote

PLEASE DON'T FEEL THAT JUST ONE VOTE WON'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE! EVERY VOTE COUNTED SAYS...."WE MUST MAKE A CHANGE IN OUR COUNTRY'S DIRECTION."

12/6/06: - Suddenly the image doesn't appear....if a certain "Party" is responsible....too late! The election is over!! Every vote made a difference.

Artscapes Retreat - Ocean Grove

It was a perfect sunny, cool, Fall weekend at the Jersey Shore....but instead of going out and taking photos, for some reason I spent the time indoors painting! Could it be that I'd done all the walking(hiking) I wanted to do on the Turkey trip? Probably!

No Turkey Yet!

Still haven't posted any of the hundreds of photos from the Turkey trip. Too much going on, and not enough time! Yesterday I took a great class in Monotype at the Newark Museum. Since I had to invest in a $40.00 set of Caran D'Ache water soluble wax pastels for the class, I used them to add to a quick pen & ink sketch I did in Cuba, back in February 2002. It's a fun medium...but this has nothing to do with Saturday's class!

Learned a lot of good stuff...such as: how to bevel the edges of your print plate; why you should wipe off the edges of your plate before printing; why a bath towel is better than a blotter to prep the printing paper, etc. We got lots of good information from our instructor, who taught with patience and humor .
Lobby - Hotel Parc Central Havana, Cuba - February 2002. I did this at home, just to play with the water-soluble wax pastels.


The instructor thought this Still Life was good enough to mat & frame. Or was he just trying to encourage me? It was the 2nd print I did, using the water-base monotype inks.
This was the first piece I did and actually my favorite! I call it "Moonflower." That's because abstract is my thing!

I did 2 other pieces, which I may post later, and then again I may not!

More Flowers Along the Danube

The Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Austria
Passau, Germany
Window box in Regensburg, Germany
Display outside a flower shop in Regensburg, Germany

Flowers Along the Danube

The Gardens of the Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Austria

Roses in Durnstein, Austria

Flowered Square in Passau, Germany

More of Picturesque Durnstein

The Charm of Durnstein, Austria

The blue baroque tower of the Stiftskirche (Monastic Church)

Cherub overlooking the Danube from the Blue Tower

Vignettes on the winding streets of Durnstein:
Grapevines on a balcony,

Red flowers, sunlight and shadows

The Blue....No, Green Danube!

Early morning on the shores of the Danube

Two views of the Danube from a hilltop in Passau, Germany

View from the Stiftskirche (Monastic Church) in the village of Durnstein, Austria

Updating at last!

After days of trying, my most recent post finally appeared on the blog. Why wasn't it working? Why is it working now? Who knows! Now I have the incentive to download the Turkey photos and post a few of them. In the meantime, let's see if some of my favorite Danube River photos will show up.

Trekking Turkey!

Where've I been? Hiking, sailing, ballooning--is that any way for a septuagenarian senior to spend a vacation! Well, I survived...although my "bad boots" didn't make it. I left them with their tattered heels and torn lining at a trash can at the Kismet Hotel in Kusadasi. Got home last evening and went to bed. Got up this morning to tackle the answering machine and the e-mails (300+). After being fed fresh fruits, great turkish yogurt, fresh squeezed orange juice, and other goodies every day at breakfast, I had my first Turkish-American breakfast of instant oatmeal, sweetened with dried Turkish figs. What a let down!

I haven't downloaded the "few" photos I took...that will come later. Can't wait to pick up Ariel & Belle at the vet's later this afternoon. Hope they remember me after being away so long.

It was a wonderful trip in so many ways...the sights, the people, the fellow travelers, the guide, the little surprising "discoveries," and food stops for special baklava, "sticky" icecream, bananas, etc. etc., and of course, the beautiful turquoise sea and sky!

Well...it's back to the "real" world...photos and more about the adventures in Turkey later.