Art By The Glass

I am now a card-carrying (literally) member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). I will tell you all about that in another post. This post is about my first fun outing with some of the ladies of the local chapter to which I belong.

We went to Art By The Glass. It is a little business run by an artist who teaches groups how to paint a picture and you can buy beer or wine to consume as you paint.

This was the picture that each of us were to paint. It was designed by the artist just for our DAR group.

The "liquid courage" did make one feel less inhibited and more artistic as the lesson commenced.

I had a table partner. My painting is the one on the left. As the afternoon progressed we added more colors of paint and the pictures were beginning to take shape.

While waiting for the different layers of paint to dry, I took the time to see how the other ladies were doing.

I found it very interesting how the paintings looked very similar yet completely different at the same time. I seemed to like everyone's above my own. We are our own harshest (art) critics. I probably should have had another glass of wine. I was particularly not impressed by my waves...definitely, another glass (or bottle) of wine was desperately in order. I was my own designated driver, so I nixed having another drink much to the detriment of a wall-worthy painting.

This is my painting in its near-done state before I added the stars and stripes to the umbrella. I think my favorite part is the little tuft of sea oats in the bottom, right corner.

Here are all of our finished works of art.

 

I enjoyed my afternoon of painting and spending time with some of the ladies of my DAR chapter. I look forward to doing more with these lovely ladies.

Lovely Lockers

When my father passed away (it will be four years come this August) he left behind many things. One of the items was a set of lockers. The lockers originally came from the machine shop that my paternal grandfather started back in the 1930's. The lockers themselves are not that old, just the machine shop.

My dad took the set of lockers from the shop and later used them in his pole barn. He kept some of his tools in them.

I decided that I would like the set of lockers. Thanks to my dear sister and her wonderful husband's manhandling of the unwieldy lockers from my dad's pole barn to their garage and then again from their garage into a moving pod headed to their Florida home, I now have them.

The Colonel and I wrestled the lockers from my sister's garage into the waiting bed of my Favorite-Father-In-Law's truck. The Colonel's truck's bed was not long enough to transport the lockers to our house (as it was, even with the longer truck, the lockers hung over the tailgate by an inch or so).

Well, finally the much desired lockers were standing in our own garage. They stood there for some time before I called around to see who I could hire to paint them for me. I had no desire to paint them myself. I called a local guy to told us to bring them in to see if he was able to do the job. The Colonel and I manhandled the lockers again, put them into the truck bed and drove over to see the man.

"No can do."

What? After nearly developing a hernia getting the lockers to him he says he cannot do it. Well, we get them back home, back into the garage, I make more phone calls to other local paint shops but no one seems to be interested enough to call back.

Our friend (and "Boss", when we dress up to give county history programs) said she would take a look at them and maybe put a bid on the job. She is an artist and had been wanting a paint spraying system, so we told her to pick one out and we would buy it for her as part of her pay for painting the lockers.

She accepted the job and we accepted her bid.

Now to pick out the color. Our friend had several shades of yellow made up for us to choose from. We also had a metal set of bookcase that our friend said she would paint for us too. We chose a blue color for the bookcase.

Now the real challenge would commence. Each time I saw our friend working on the lockers I knew any price we paid would be worth every penny.

The Colonel and I had cleaned the lockers before work was to begin. After the cleaning there were some spots that needed to be sanded down before paint could be applied.

The Colonel created a painting booth for our friend to do her work in. He had hung large pieces of plastic from the garage ceiling. It looked like a huge shower curtain.

The painting process took some time. Our friend would come and paint after her work when she could and even on some weekends. She would paint, wait for it to dry before applying another coat and finally apply a clear coat sealant. Once the lockers were done she moved onto the bookcase.

The finished lockers looked lovely! Best of all I did not have to paint them!

After letting the lockers completely dry and "off-gas" any fumes (there were very little), The Colonel and I gingerly manhandled them into the house, through the front door. I wanted to put the lockers near the front door where once I had a hall tree. The lockers would be my "closet".

When I first decided I wanted the lockers I had envisioned them in the front hall. I measured the space and measured the lockers. They would have a near perfect fit.

I like to re-purpose some items. The fact that these lockers came down to me via my granddad and dad (and my sister and her husband) makes the effort worthwhile.Still, the best part is that I did not have to paint them myself!

Thank you "Boss"!

Swamp Cabbage Festival 2016

These are Sabal Palms or sometimes known as a Cabbage Palms. They are the Florida State Tree and are also edible.

There is an annual festival in LaBelle, Florida called The Swamp Cabbage Festival. Swamp Cabbage is the edible part of the Sabal Palm. If you have seen Hearts of Palm in cans or jars in your local grocery store then you have seen Swamp Cabbage.

The Colonel and I (as well as Yam and Spud) had been to the festival once, about eight years ago. This year was the 50th Anniversary of the Swamp Cabbage Festival and The Colonel, Darling-Sister-In-Law and I went to join the festivities.

First, there was a parade. The Colonel and I stood on a little grassy hill while Darling-Sister-In-Law stood on the sidewalk in front of us. The hill made for a great viewing spot. The parade lasted about an hour. We did not bring chairs to sit on because as soon as the last parade-entry passed us, we would join the parade and make our way to the riverside park where the festival was being held (and our car was not parked anywhere near the park and we did not want to carry the chairs around). I was asked to babysit a dog for a few minutes while her owner went to check on his truck. The dog's name was Ivy. She was a cute Schipperke (a breed originating in Belgium. A good watchdog on boats or houses). Ivy was well behaved and loved to be petted.

This was another dog nearby that Ivy was happy to meet.

The tail-end of the parade happened to be a group of Hispanic Cowboys on prancing/dancing horses and two county law enforcement officers on horseback. We had to watch our footsteps closely as we walked to the park.

Here are a few parade highlights. Notice how the palm fronds figure in some of the float designs.

 

We followed the end of the parade to the park that was already stuffed with people. Parade watching makes one hungry, so we looked to see what we wanted to eat. There were several booths offering many delectable bites. The Colonel and I decided to have Swamp Cabbage Fritters with the fried turkey nuggets. Darling-Sister-In-Law chose something else. 

There was live music being played on a bandstand as we walked around the park. Some favorite events of the Swamp Cabbage Festival are the Armadillo races. Bets were only $2, so Darling-Sister-In-Law split the bet and placed it on #3, Emily.

Emily was the first one out of the gate. The crowd was cheering and I think Darling-Sister-In-Law and I were cheering the loudest. Emily was clearly in the lead and had made her way halfway to the finish line when she took it into her little, Armadillo mind to turn 180 degrees and work her way back to the starting gate. Such is my luck when it comes to betting. Anyway, it was fun, nay exciting, cheering Emily on.

After the Armadillo race we continued walking around the park. Not only were there food booths, there were also craft booths. In one section of the park there were games and rides for the kids like a bouncy castle shaped like a UFO.

There was one activity for the kids that looked like so much fun.

The Colonel and I walked on the bridge over the Caloosahatchee River to see the river and part of the festival in the park.

It was time to make our way back to our car. We retraced to path of the parade as we walked. We visited a shop for honey. I bought some Seagrape Honey, one of the most delicious honeys I know of. We also saw a man selling Swamp Cabbage soup on the roadside. He had a cup or so left. We bought what he had. Darling-Sister-In-Law had never tasted it before. It was delicious!

The Colonel and I love going to the festivals that are special and unique to the surrounding area. Must look at the calendar to see what is coming up next.