Come Let Me Show You My Slides...

Got to tell you more about our trip to the US of A. 

These are fond memories  - actually great memories - and at my rate of speed, I'll have forgotten lots of it if I don't get it down in writing.

I have a bad case of CRS. (If you don't know what that is, email me). (I might not remember to tell you, but you can still try).


But I digress.


On Monday morning, we hit the road bright and early headed to Tampa Bay. We stayed with our dear friends, Trish and Gary and almost as soon as we arrived, Davida was coming in the door with ribs (by request) from the MOST wonderful rib place in Largo - actually in all of Tampa Bay. It's called Smokin Rib Shack BBQ and it is DEE-licious! I totally pigged out. 


On Tuesday we Three Spirits (Trish, Davida and I) hit the road to see what we could see. 

We started at the Beach Art Center at Indian Rocks Beach where my very talented art group, Tampa Bay Surface Design Guild, has an exhibition. It's totally worth going to see and free to get in the door!
  
My favorite stop though was 'the Emporium' (in Largo); a fantastic shop with re-purposed, up-cycled new and used furniture and really cool art. 

I loved it there!!! 

I talked to one of the artists, Caren Katzenburg, who's work is some of the most vibrant, exciting stuff I've ever seen. Here's her website...

http://www.site.artbycaren.com/

She was very generous in allowing me to take pictures of her work which is so inspiring to me. As a matter of fact, the owners had no problem with me taking pictures throughout. Here are a few of them:

This is the side door from the beautiful garden.

Three Spirits

Well obviously I had to buy a mouse. No problemo fitting one of those in my suitcase.

Some or all of Caren's work.

 

This room was slightly more 'country'.

As you can see from this sampling of pictures, it's a wonderland. You gotta go if you can. At least look at their website... http://emporiumlargo.com/.


Later that night we met a few friends at Bamboozle (another one of my favorite places) a Vietnamese restaurant downtown Tampa. I could kick myself for not getting a picture of the whole group but here's a great one of Karrie, Trish and Davida...

Did you notice the closed sign on the door. I think they did that AS SOON as we left. Oh well, the food was delicious as usual and the company couldn't have been better. Thank you Trish, Davida, Karrie, Marlene, Sara, Dana and Jill for being there!


Then on Wednesday, after another awesome breakfast, we Three Spirits played with fabric and a new technique that I'd learned a couple months ago. Marlene gave me some velvet and we did a little surface design that turned out way cool. Here are their pieces...

In a week or two, when I get this trip out of my system (so to speak), I'll show you how the technique is done. You'll love it.


We each tore our pieces in half and passed to the right. We'll work on the other's pieces and then pass them on again until we deem them done. Does that make sense? In other words - we'll collaborate. 


We have NO rules which makes it fun, interesting and very challenging. We have no time-line either, which is a good thing since I live in Colombia and the cost of mailing anything is prohibitive. 


I'll post pictures as I go.



Later that afternoon, Jerry and I headed to Cape Coral and I snapped one last picture of Trish and Gary...

but mostly got the mailbox. That's one of Jerry's alligators sittin up there. :)

We passed Tropicana Field on the way south where the Tampa Bay Rays were losing to the Texas Rangers 5-1. Dang Darn it all.  

Here are a couple pix I shot while crossing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge:

God Bless the USA

And the rest of the trip will have to wait because it's time for me to crash.


Nighty Night.