Random Pretty Pictures

I love the look of this afternoon shadow next to my Oriental screen.

Look closely at this lovely green spider and you'll see the face of Spiderman. Really !

This gorgeous beetle was waiting right outside my front door.

The resident swan at the "Grand Tradition",
Fallbrook's special place for weddings and other events.

Nancy's dog, Tootie

Doesn't she look a lot like the painting in the previous post by Ron Krajewski ?

Tootie takes time to smell the roses.

She comes to work with Nancy every day and she's lots of fun to have around. She makes us take a walk every noon after lunch, which is great because it's the only exercise I get.

Nancy inherited her after her mother-in-law, Virginia, died. We took care of her while Virginia was in the hospital and of course we fell in love with her. Nancy didn't think she wanted another dog because she was still sad after Tippie, her Sheltie, had recently died. But who could resist this face?

I think this would be a good subject for a painting. My art class starts again Thursday.
I think I'll try it.

More etsy finds

Here's some more art from etsy that I really like:

I love this artist's pet portraits. His name is Ron Krajewski. He has prints of almost every breed.

He'll also do a commissioned portrait of your pet. This is a Shih Tzu but it looks just like Nancy's Llahsa Apso, Tootie. The two breeds look alot alike. See more at etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5578133

Is this the cutest thing you've ever seen? When I first saw some of this artist's felted wool sculptures on etsy I thought they were real dogs and I thought they can't be selling dogs on etsy!!! Then I looked closer and saw what they really were. Of course they wouldn't sell real dogs on etsy- was I nuts? They sure look real, though, don't they? She will also do a commissioned sculpture of your pet. It takes her about 20 hours to complete so don't expect them to be cheap but certainly worth every penny. See more at etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=21031896

And now for something completely different. A dog of a different color. This is a really unique artist. Her name is Jennifer Davis. You can see more of her really interesting artwork at etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5017268 Her blog is jenniferdavisart.com

Book Club- Netherland

I forgot to take pictures last night at the book club.
So here's what was left on the table this morning.

We mostly enjoyed the book. Some of us were put off by too much cricket. (you'll have to read the book). I really enjoyed his writing but wasn't interested in the sport of cricket, although I realize it was just a device.

Public option

Thank heaven for Socialism- schools, fire departments, police, libraries, parks, Medicare, Medicade, Veterans hospitals, etc. etc.

BOB DYLAN, WILLIE NELSON, JOHN MELLENCAMP- TOGETHER!

Aug. 12- Lake Elsinor, California

The Storm Baseball Stadium

Here's Nancy's review of the concert.

We made our way through the Lake Elsinore heat sweating along with a diverse crowd (all ages and types) - on our way to the Storm Stadium - a baseball field disguised as a rock venue.
It was a triple header - Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan!
Who could resist a line- up like that?
And it was worth every penny of the ticket price.

First came Willie to a rousing welcome. This was Willie Nelson territory after all.
The heart of Elsinore - horse country, biker haven.
The more sedate sat calmly in the stadium seats, but the more rockin' adventuress fans filled the infield - cheering, rocking and dancing to the music.

He sang and played all the favorites - "Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" and "On The Road Again" and others accompanied by his piano pounding sister and guitar playing son. It was a family affair and everyone loved it.

After Willie came John Mellencamp and the crowd went wild. We joined the throngs on the infield (tired of being sedate) and what a difference - you could literally feel the music - pounding, piercing rhythms - you could physically feel it in
your chest - thump, thump - every beat of the drum.

John also played some crowd pleasers - "Small Town" and "Rock in the USA", etc.
A true bonus was the appearance of T. Bone Burnett
who sat in on one of the numbers.
T Bone - the genius producer of the
music from "O Brother Where Art Thou".

John's 14 year old son played the bass guitar as his father
looked on proudly.It was a night of passing the torch to the next generation.
(Too bad Bob hadn't brought Jacob along).

The highlight for me was the fiddle, accordion duet by two very gifted musicians from Mellancamp's band. Didn't catch their names, but they were fantastic. Hard driving, haunting and just plain great music.

Then on comes Bob Dylan. It was great to see the legend. But honestly I wish he would just stay home. His voice is totally shot. I barely recognized "Like a Rolling Stone" and "The Times They Are a Changing" - until I would catch a familiar word here and there. But the audience was not fazed in the least. They rocked along as if he was his old self. Which he most certainly wasn't. His voice sounded like Tom Waits with laryngitis!

But much fun was had by all. We left happy that we had witnessed such an historical concert - and in Lake Elsinore of all places!

This was the only picture I got of Willie Nelson. So far away and behind the protective screen behind home plate. This was before we realized we could go up close into the "mosh pit"

Oh, wait I did get a photo of Willie! The little girl in front of us bought this souvenir ($25!)

Plenty of snacks.

John Mellencamp
I know ! it's not a good photo- but it's my favorite. You can almost hear the music.

John Mellencamp's 14 year old son.

A very drunk lady and her even drunker daughter told us all about her Western clothes, including this belt and about what a great horse trainer she was and that they had gotten Willie Nelson's autograph...and on and on.

Bob Dylan & Band

This is why I couldn't get good photos of Bob.

Outside of the stadium.

Etsy Finds

There are some amazing art works on etsy.com (a place to buy and sell handmade and vintage things). I'm going to start showing you some of them.

This is a photographer that very cleverly uses parts of photographs to spell out your name (or other words). You can see more at etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6704991


This is a collage and acrylic painting with gold metal leaf. It's by a woman who lives in the San Francisco Bay area and has been painting for 50 years. (She must be about my age.) You can see more of her work at http://www.etsy.com./shop.php?user_id=7105362

This is a girl in Mexico who does a lot of beautiful bird paintings often with collage additions.
See more of her birds at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=97033.

Trip to San Juan Capistrano Mission

Nancy and I met our friend Debbie last Saturday at the Capistrano Mission. It's famous for the swallows returning each year in (I think) March. There's a famous song about it. I think they've not been showing up lately, though. They still have their festivities on the day that they used to come back. I think pigeons have been taking their place lately. It's a fascinating place, with or without swallows.

It's a great place for weddings and wedding photographs. There were brides all over the place (and grooms, of course.)

Capistrano is a cute little town and the old part near the mission has a lot of cute little cottages.

Some of them have been made into shops and restaurants.

There's also a petting zoo with these cute llamas and other animals.

(What's with the lip?)

We started off the afternoon with margaritas and ended the day with dinner at the old train station. It was a perfect day.

"42nd Street "at the Moonlight in Vista, Ca

We attended a wonderful performance of 42nd Street, equal to any Broadway production, in Vista at the newly rebuilt outside amphitheatre. It's amazing to me that a small town can put on such a professional performance. The main actresses and actors are mostly seasoned performers but the dancers in the chorus are usually from around here. One of the dancers worked in the office of Nancy Kreile, who we went with. We were a little distracted by always trying to identify her. It didn't hurt our enjoyment, though.

It's always fun to see a musical that is full of familiar songs--" We're in the money", "Lullaby of Broadway", "Shuffle off to Buffalo", "You're getting to be a habit with me",
of course, "42nd Street ", and more.

Here's a video from The Tony Awards: