April 24, 2003

Hi everyone,

We have had rain on and off for the past few days and it is wonderful. Keep pourin’ it on and fill up those reservoirs. We had an irrigation system installed and Ken is going to bring drip irrigation to my gardens. Last summer I dragged hoses and dragged hoses and it was a real “drag”.

Back on January the 30^th, we traveled to Scottsdale Arizona. Ken had a meeting there put on by the VCA. This was held at the lavish Phoenician Resort. They had marvelous green lawns. (Our lawn was dead from the drought.) Their cactus gardens are spectacular.

Friday morning was a spouse breakfast. I was early and was able to strike up a conversation with the Mexican fellow who was working the breakfast and set up for it, etc. He was very proud of working at the Phoenician. Said he typically would report to work at 4:15 a.m. and work till 10:00 p.m. I saw him again that evening at the Brazilian Carnival party and commented to him that is was going to be a really late night for him.

After breakfast the spouses who had signed up for an artist studio tour were picked up by a van and visited three very different artist studios. The first studio featured work done in acrylic and was very abstract. However, it was probably the most pleasing abstract work I have every seen.

The second studio was a western theme. This artist had a full complement of computerized equipment enabling her to scan photo/slides, enhance them and then run off Giclee prints on an HP piece of machinery. She painted cowboys at rodeos, never showing their faces (that would mean she would have to have them sign papers allowing her to sell the painting). She told a story about one such cowboy who was age 16 when she took the photo. Two years later he came up to her at an event and said “hey you painted me”. She said I painted you because of the colorful clothing you had on. He then commented that he had been thinking a long time about the clothing he would wear at a rodeo and said, if I don’t do well at the event, at least people will notice me for my clothing. She chuckled, he was 18 and had been thinking about this for many years.

A person who originally was a draftsman operated the third artist studio. He did extremely detailed work and large work. His assistant gave a demo of preparing a print from an engraving. He showed us an engraving of the Chrysler building from which he has made and sold many prints.

On Friday evening we had a Brazilian Carnival party held at the Jokake Inn. This was the original inn on the grounds of the Phoenician. It is a two-story adobe with a beautiful façade and bougainvillea dripping over the entrance. The party took place on the grounds behind the Jokake. As you entered the festival area you met a multitude of waiters and waitresses with trays of wine, beer and a brazilian rum drink. I tried the rum drink and it was mighty powerful.

The temperature in Arizona at this time exceeded the January records. Friday it was over 80 degrees. I had brought a couple of sleeveless tops, but only long pants. That was a mistake!

Scottsdale area has 180 golf courses. What a lot of water to keep those golf courses green. Sorry golfers, but this is excessive use of water. And here we are back home with dead grass and on water restrictions. Makes you wonder why you can’t hit that little ball on dirt just as well. It might be even more challenging.

Saturday morning we headed for the Grand Canyon to see our son, Scott, a park ranger. We traveled through Sedona and stopped for lunch at Tlaquepaque, a Spanish mission like area – actually a tourist trap. This little village was charming. Worth visiting even though it is a tourist area.

Grand Canyon temperatures were cold and I needed the warm clothing I had packed. We had snow, hail and high winds while visiting some of the interesting view points. We traveled Hermit’s Rest Road, opened to private vehicles only in the winter (December, January and February), otherwise you can only visit this area by park run buses.

Hermits Rest is interesting and the old adobe building contained a huge fireplace that warmed us nicely. We walked to a commemorative statue to John Wesley Powell. Visitors coming from the heat of Sedona and Phoenix were definitely underdressed in shorts and tee shirts. They ran from their vehicles to look at the views and then hurriedly ran back to the heater in the car.

We did a little hiking the next day starting from Hermits Rest. As you would expect, all trails lead down through the steep terrain and into the canyon.

Desert View, at the opposite end of the National Park, has a very interesting structure designed by the architect, Mary Coulter. The Fred Harvey Company hired her. The beautifully crafted tower she created is done in a Southwest motif. The inside walls of the 4-story cylindrical structure are decorated with pictograms of Indian life, beliefs, etc. One visitor seemed out of place in this rustic stone building with her high heeled spaghetti strapped shoes.

We drove back to Phoenix to catch our flight home. On the way we made a stop at Montezuma National Monument. These are Indian cliff dwellings and are very interesting. The Anasazi Indians had quite a culture going and built some intricate structures. Before leaving this area we asked a park worker where we might stop for lunch. She recommended Rock Spring Café at Exit 242. Said it had its own décor and was worthwhile stopping at. We did and found it had serious local character. One of the people having lunch caught our attention. He had a hand gun holstered to his waist hanging below his rather extended belly. He was obviouly no law enforcement officer and both Ken and I commented that this wasn’t Connecticut (or Colorado either).

Back at home, Ken has been working long and hard on his Suzuki rock crawling truck while I continued with my art interests. I took a workshop in Loveland the first week of March. This was three days of intensive workshop from 9:00 to 3:00 p.m. You don’t realize had tired you are until the end of the day.

I was the featured artist of the month in March at the Galleria on Main Street in Longmont. Must have had at lease 24 paintings for display and did a demo during the month.

Ken had an ISO meeting in San Diego at the end of March and into April and I had the opportunity to join him. On our flight to San Diego we traveled with 51 seventh graders who were on their way to Sea Camp in San Diego. It was a lively crew; full of energy.

During the time we were in San Diego, Ken worked and I walked all over the city. Twice I walked to Balboa Park. The first time was spent exploring, taking pictures, checking out museums, desert gardens, and finding out the best way to purchase a ticket to the zoo. It seems you can purchase tickets at the visitors center in Balboa Park and this will enable you to enter the zoo without waiting in line with hundreds of other people at the zoo. Ken had the morning off one day and we both enjoyed the zoo. We especially enjoyed the gorillas. You can get so close that only only a sheet of strengthened glass separates you. You can just about reach out and touch them. Well, they had one large ‘magilla’ gorilla who would swat the other gorillas and send them away cowering and out of his reach. We stayed there for quite a time, as it was really entertaining. Got some good shots of the gorillas. I don’t know if I want to paint them at this time though.

On the return trip the 51 seventh graders again accompanied us. This time they were tired, sunburned, out of money and hungry. What a good lesson in money management. They had spent all their cash and were begging money from their friends who still had some bills left. The return flight was quieter.

Back home it was time to clean the garden beds, fertilize, spread peat moss and weed. The bulbs are blooming, the perennials are making their come back after a winter’s sleep and the Pasque lilies are out. The herons have returned to our almost empty pond.

The farmer’s ditches are being retrenched for improved water flow. One morning, after the ditches had been worked on our private road, Zeus and I set off to pick up the morning paper. As I left the driveway I noticed that water was flowing in the ditch. When I reached the headgate, ankle deep water was pouring over our dirt road. The headgate had gotten clogged with debris causing a serious backup of water. There was so much water a little further that Zeus and I had to walk through the field. I hurriedly got to the road and retrieved the paper. Dusty, a fellow who works with one of our neighbors turned in the drive (before 6:30 a.m.) and I told him I was glad to see him as there was quite a stoppage at the headgate causing a flood. He was on his way to break the logjam. Good thing! We could have lost the road with so much water pouring over it.

Well Ken is in Moab this week rock crawling and biking. On Easter, having no one to cook for, I had left over Chinese for dinner. This was a first. Well, I didn’t have to cook. (Ken’s comment: I invited Diane to accompany me in Moab but it isn’t her thing.)

I had lunch yesterday with Sara Sheldon, curator of the Leanin’ Tree Museum. We are on the board of directors for the Mahler festival in Boulder. Last year was the first year they invited artists to paint while visualizing Mahler. I met her during this event and we became friends. She asked me to be on the Advisory Board essentially giving input to the Board of Directors about artwork, displaying it, etc. I agreed. Should be very interesting. She also asked if we would be willing to have a fundraiser dinner at our home for the Mahlerfest. We would have the Longmont Symphony conductor there to talk about Mahler and then perform some of the Mahler music on our piano. Of course, I agreed. I could do some of the cooking, but would like help with appetizers, dessert and clean up.

Well, that’s all for now. Hope you are all well.

Love to all,

Diane and Ken