Gratitude HD - Moving Art™ - HT Van der Leun

It’s blacker out than a Halloween cat as I sit shotgun on the road that leads to Pecos, Texas. That’s the destination for the first stop on our way to Boulder via Sante Fe. The Pecos stop is all about clicking off Texas Monthly’s Top 50 BBQ joints. We started that for fun back in 2014 but “it” got real this year when TM magazine, partnering with Yeti, created a passport booklet to be stamped at each stop. The list has been updated since we began our little BBQ adventure too. I have noticed that two of our memorably least favorite places didn’t make the 2017 list while a place way down in Brownsville that serves cow eyeballs 😳 with their Barbacoa has been added. Sunday and Monday of this week found us in South Texas tending to some important stuff and we intended to eat at at least one of the three places sprinkled with Top 50 marketing magic but by 3:00pm on Sunday both places within striking distance were cerado. Instead, we made it to Delia’s for her amazing tamales (I declined the menudo). It must be a Rio Grande Valley thing, even they were mopping the floors in anticipation of closing before we had finished dinner. “Why do y’all think they close at six?” My husbanded wondered. And other than because they can I thought maybe everyone wants to make it to Sunday Mass before starting it all over again on Monday morning. Delia began by peddling tamales door to door and now has several locations and a flourishing shipping business to boot. deliastamales Every good thing you may want to know about tamales can be discovered at that link.

We have put over 2000 miles on this little rental car in the 9 days we have been driving it. While in the Valley we loaded up with three palms, a lovely dark stemmed elephant ear, a banana tree that’s about three foot tall right now, and probably ten cockroaches or more. We are gathering plants for our landscaping project at our home. Next week we’ll be busy getting things into the ground and tweaking the drainage (which presented an unexpected challenge).

I’m excited about spending tomorrow walking around Sante Fe before traveling on to visit our son in Colorado. He said it is absolutely beautiful up there right now.  Pictures to follow.

handiwork

When I was still in High School I participated in a class at the local University which was an intro to oil painting.  A friend's mom wanted me to join her errant daughter and her for that time of "bonding" presumably because I was considered a "good influence". The family I grew up in couldn't have spared oil paint supply money from the grocery budget so I never made it past intro to oil/ bring your own canvas everything else provided.  

Canvases were fifty off at Hobby Lobby last week and after painting almost the entire house flat pure white I was yearning to dip a brush in to some color.  I picked out a large canvas and a box full of tubes of paint so neatly lined up in assorted colors.  It was exciting and I opened the packaging as soon as I got in the car.  Oils.  My husband must have seen my joy cloud over a bit because he asked,"Do we need to go back in for something else?"  And I, remembering my earlier regret, said no.  "No, I think this may be exactly the right thing."

What a treat to come to a day in one's life when a box full of every color to make every other color finds it's way to your lap.

So, I painted the Milky Way.  The way I see it.

It was really amazing to lay on a cot in a net topped tent at the beach of my childhood memories and see the stars spilling out across the vast unknown.  I love it.  Their light travels to me devouring time and distance and I think I see them as they are ... but what I see is the manifestation of a thousand ... countless yesterdays.  Exactly as we are.  I am that high school kid who accepted  we can't as a matter of fact never once wishing that someday a serendipitous we can would land in my very fortunate lap.