Connected

Wow! My internet has been up and running for at least 3 hours today! I'm so excited!

Jerry and I spent the morning being lazy and enjoying FOX news before taking off on another adventure. We hailed a taxi a couple blocks from the house and headed out to shop for groceries. 

When we arrived at Villa Country (a small outdoor mall), there was a sidewalk sale going on which delighted me and made Jerry wish he'd stayed home but he found a comfy pair of shoes for 10,000 pesos which translates to about $5 and got happy. 

I saw a little oilcloth bag with a Picasso like painting on it that I loved and after saying no to the price they were asking, we did our shopping. Walking back by a couple hours later, the salesgirl saw me and called me over to say she still had the bag and would come down on the price that I'd offered earlier. So, I got my $5 deal too!

We also found a really cool surprise for Sophia but I can't say anything about it because Hillary (her mom) (my daughter) informed us that she didn't want us buying anything else for her. I know it's bad but we couldn't help it. Once the cat's out of the bag, I'll show you a picture of it. It's way cool.


Speaking of pictures, here's one that I took from the Coco Beach Club.

The restaurant/bar is on a roof top on the Northern tip of the city. It's a very relaxing place with good music and beautiful views. By the time we were ready to leave, the place was hoppin.  If you could see past all of those buildings, my house is about smack dab in the middle of the picture. Behind me is the Caribbean and a beautiful sunset.

Here's a picture from another roof top experience:

Jerry and I went to the top of the Hotel Dan Carlton and ate at...would you believe...Tony Roma's?!? It's a rotating restaurant with good food, great music and was a really fun experience. I can't wait to go back again at sunset to get pictures of Barranquilla at night. 


Anywho, the picture above is a view from the restaurant facing East. You can see the Magdalena River in the background which borders Barranquilla all the way down the East Side of the city.

Villa Country, where we went shopping today, is in the middle of those high rise buildings way back over there. It's a beautiful area but unfortunately the streets turn into arroyos when it rains.

Here we are before eating our ribs and baked potatos...

This next picture was taken, on a different day, in the midst of those skyscrapers that you see in the shot above:

We love seeing the donkeys and horses pulling carts throughout the city. We see them on a daily basis in our neighborhood and have bought many items from the street vendors - including plants. (See "Oh Happy Day" below). This fellow was hamming it up for the camera so I had to add his picture to the blog.

OK - just one more picture and then I'm headed to bed. We went to Bogota, 428 miles south of here and the capital of Colombia, for a long weekend in July and there was graffiti everywhere. The city allows and encourages the population to paint on the walls, and I took about 100 pictures of graffiti; mostly from the window of a taxi or bus. I have to get back there on foot and do them justice by taking better pictures. I hope a quilt will come of it. Here is one of my favorites:

Welp, the Whistler just went by so it's definitely bedtime.


Create your life.

If At First You Don't Succeed

I've been trying to get online and add a post to this blog for three days now without success. So, I'll try again! 

I've been working through the techniques in Beryl Taylor's book, Mixed Media Explorations. I took a class from her in Houston the first time I went to International Quilt Festival in 2k7 and really think she's an awesome artist. I've tried many of the techniques previously - but not her 'way' and it's been a fun experience to work through the book...mostly. 

Today, I used up some of the trash - uh, I mean, paper, that I had shipped down here from the States. (You wouldn't believe the stuff I have in that play room). It felt really, really good to put some of it into a project.

I started by gluing strips of white textured wallpaper to a piece of gray felt, then on top of that, I glued down some strips of white tissue paper. Everything I used came from a yard sale (except for the tissue paper which came from a gift) and only cost pennies to make (unless you count the $10K+ we paid for shipping) all these items. Here's what it looked like...

Next, Beryl said to paint the piece with diluted acrylic paint but I wasn't looking too closely at the instructions and skipped to the next step, which was to rubber-stamp script onto the painted tissue/wall paper. I got out my "Let It Be" stamp (don't you love that) and went to town. 

Then I realized I had skipped the paint part and went back and put a wash of silver paint on top. Here's what it looks like now...

I have NO idea what I'll do with it but it was a great to use up some of my glue and paint and of course, trash. :)


I also did one in different colors -

Minus the script -

Beryl's directions said to use strips of paper and I did simply because I was in the mood for a 'no brainer' but as I was playing, I thought about tearing paper into shapes and making a scene.


That reminds me, I did make a bit of a scene early today, which I won't describe, and in order to get over my very grumpy mood, I sent myself to my room, and made this Fabric Paper - also from Beryl's book...

I hardly EVER use black paint and when I realized what was going on I tried to soften it a bit with silver paint and an orange wash on top. It looks like a Halloween Trip Gone Bad with the red slashes running through it. And look at those words. Boy oh boy.


Anyway, I was feeling a little better by the time I'd tried to fix it a little and it doesn't look as bad hanging outside with my clean up rag - which is now surface designed fabric. I don't waste anything.

When I finish painting on a project, I use up what's left on my palette and brush by painting on fabric or paper. 

When I took a workshop with Sue Benner (actually 2 now) (she's that wonderful), she taught me to layer, layer, layer. So...I have a bin of fabric that I've altered by dyeing, painting, burning, foiling, batiking, stamping, stencliling and free motion stitching to name a few. This is the bin I go to first when I want to make something.


I used to just look at it and wouldn't let myself use it for anything that wasn't super special but I've decided that everything I do is super special and I love making art that much more because those fabrics make me happiest.


Anywho, I digress. 

When I go to clean my palette and brushes, I'll look through my special bin of fabric and pull out pieces to apply the paint that's left in the brush - until there ain't no more. Then, I dip it in water and keep applying - until there ain't no more. Then, I'll take a piece of really ugly fabric and sop up whatever water is left to over dye it - until there ain't no more. Now, I have another layer lain down on several pieces and feel like I've done my good deed for the day. 

When I take my tools to the sink, I feel satisfied that nothing is going to end up in anyone's water supply. Down here, that's already a big enough concern. (But I did that in Florida too).

So, after running downstairs for a sandwich (we always eat our big meal in the middle of the day down here) (I'm down 35 pounds!!!), I came upstairs, put Beryl's book aside and played with more strips. 

I love that I went from Halloween Trip Gone Bad to this -

 -even though this is just the beginning of the piece, I think it's much happier.

It's almost 12:30am here and I'm getting sleepy but I wanted to show you my contact cards real quick before I close down the computer. 

I hope to continue with my business, bohemiannie! art, while here in Colombia and have thought and thought about what to put on my next business or contact cards. I decided to make itty bitty collages (business card size) with my scraps - which I can't bear to throw away - and here is the last batch - which I finished yesterday...

I love making them but the best part is handing them out! 


Later alligator!

It's A Brand New Day-a-A-hay!

And the first of September to boot! 


Today will always be special to me because it's the day my son, Bear, was due to be delivered. I was so sure he'd come before my due date because Hillary was a day early and it was my second pregnancy but, being one of my children, he had different plans and came three weeks later! Jerry's mom said he was a 10 month baby...just like Jerry. 

I can't wait to see him and Winge in Kansas October 8-14! He has a few days leave before he deploys to Iraq or Afghanistan so we'll celebrate birthdays (Winge's was last Saturday) and Thanksgiving while we're there. Did I say I can't wait!?!


OK - Back to art stuff...


While waiting on our container to be delivered I would alternate between watching the world go by as we sat on our balcony, painting the flowers on the wall out back, and sketching. 

(While I was sketching Jerry spent a lot of time getting to know the neighborhood birds)...

 
I've gotten fairly confident about looking at a picture and reproducing it on paper and I want to give a lot of people thank you notes, so I made cards with either Zentangles or sketches on them. The only art supplies I put in my suitcase were pens/pencils and paper. Here's a picture I drew on the inside of the card from the picture that is on the front. 

I wrote my note around the drawing and really was tickled about the way it turned out. 


I've told myself ALL my life that I can't draw and up until a few years ago, believed it. Then, I joined the local Decorative Artists group in Cape Coral (2k2ish) and learned a little about paint. I didn't like using the same old patterns that everyone else was using and decided to try to do my own thang. 

I'm an avid library user and checked out tons of books (although I only read about 10 pounds worth) on drawing and finally got up enough nerve to at least try it. Since then, I sketch on a semi-regular basis and really love some of what I've been able to do. What I love the most is looking at those sketches and realizing that I did them. Me...who couldn't draw. It just flat out amazes me.

I always thought about going out and about Cape Coral (otherwise known as Paradise) and Tampa Bay when I lived there with my sketchbook and pencils and just see what I turned up with - but never took the time to do it. I think I was afraid that someone might look over my shoulder and I'd be thoroughly embarrassed. I'm thinking now that when Sophia gets a little older, she and I can do some - what do they call it? - plein air? (Or is that just for painters)? 

I encourage you to get a sketchbook and start drawing if you've ever thought you'd like to and didn't for whatever reason. You'll be thrilled and delighted if you keep at it. And, if you've never heard of zendalas, or zentangles, google the word and try that too. It's so...Zen.

Speaking of tangles and mandalas...have you ever made a fabric or paper book? I love doing them. <3. Talk about Zen. 

I have an abundance of pens of every description - Sharpies, paint pens, micron, and on and on and on and decided last autumn that I'd start trying to use them up so they wouldn't dry up. When I was sitting at my dear friend Vickie's dining room table before Christmas, she was painting the cutest little snowmen on wood signs (she sells them by the dozen) and I was drawing on fabric with those aforementioned pens.

I was working on a potential gift and drew out the letters of another friend's name on a pinkish taffeta like fabric. I don't worry too much about ink being permanent because my stuff isn't washed but as I was drawing these letters, the moisture from my hands caused some running and smearing so I figured I'd put them away until I knew what to do with them. 


After I finished the alligator quilties, I started thinking about ideas for a birthday present for my friend (whose name I'd made the letters for). I've been wanting to free motion stitch zendalas ever since I first saw them and got busy filling in the letters - with thread! I made a page for a book out of each letter and then embellished them with all kinds of stuff  - stamping, stenciling, beads, ephemera, etc. Here's what the cover and back page looked like when I was looking for buttons...

If you click on the picture you can probably see what I mean my filling in the letters with stitch.


I'm working on techniques from Beryl Taylor's book - Mixed Media Explorations - that I'll show you eventually and plan to use my 'samplers' as book pages. I have dozens of books in my head.


This is making me want to get into the play room! But just one more picture before I go...

Sophia, with the help of her mommy, made me a collage!!! I'll treasure it always. When she brought it to my house she told me she needed to add glue to it and that's what she's doing here in the picture. Cool Whip! huh?!? My little artist. :)

Might As Well Enjoy The Ride - Take The Long Way Home

Today Jerry and I explored a bit. We walked a couple blocks from the house to the nearest bus stop and did something we've been wanting to do for awhile...we got on the bus!

We had no idea of where it was going so we were off on an adventure. :)  The driver looked at us like we were bonkers and asked me a question in Spanish, which I didn't understand, but told him, (in English of course) "Yes...this is the bus we want". He shrugged his shoulders and took off.  And boy you better be ready when they take off because they're in a great big hurry to get to the next stop and if you're not holding on to something, you're gonna go flying. 

After taking the front seat we realized quickly that we were headed down the hill to the south. Pedro, and others, have warned us that there are many places to the south that we don't want to be so I got a little nervous when the bus kept taking turns onto these narrow roads that didn't look like they went anywhere. Anywhere safe that is. The neighborhoods are obviously very poor and shabby and rather depressing. I hate to think that so many people right here in Barranquilla live with so little. Unfortunately these are also the neighborhoods with the most crime. We finally came to a crossroad that we recognized from when we went to the airport but we crossed it and kept going into areas that I really didn't want to be.

I had to paste a smile on my face so the Colombians getting on and off the bus wouldn't know that I was scared. I never get scared. So...with half of the trip preoccupied with my  head trying to get my thoughts into a 'happy' place, I missed a lot of the scenery. I was worried about taking the camera out of my bag and then remembered those big words I wrote about on that very subject...was that yesterday?!? and bravely started taking pictures.

Here's one that's a little wonky but hey...those buses really do fly...so by the time I realized I wanted to take a picture we were way past. I didn't want to be stupid and flaunt my camera so I held it rather low and couldn't see that it was crooked. It made me feel slightly better to see that the area was so well patroled. :) God bless la policia!

That must be a  cooker for the restaurant sitting out there on the street. Yes...that's a restaurant. 

 All of a sudden we were in a market area and passed by several tiendas (stores) and realized we were the only two on the bus so I got braver with holding my camera up and took this picture:

It's really quite pretty, isn't it?

We quickly found out that the reason we were the only two on the bus was because we were at the end of the line. I had asked Pedro if he knew if we could get on a bus and ride until it came back to the point of origin and he wasn't sure but thought we would have to transfer. I totally did NOT want to get off the bus and try to find out where or when to catch the next one.

Again, our driver gave us a questioning look and I twirled my pointer finger in the air and thankfully he understood that to mean we wanted to stay on. He stopped, flipped his sign which said "Centro" (downtown) and we took off again. This picture was taken while the bus was backing up to retrace his route.

When I look at it I feel foolish for being afraid. I mean, don't those women and child look scary to you?!?


OK - so in this next picture, we're back at the crossroads I mentioned earlier and if we'd taken a left at this street, we'd be headed north up to our barrio (neighborhood). When you click on these pictures, they'll open up larger in a new window and you'll be able to see the tall buildings on the hill. Those are a couple miles west of where we live. If we'd taken a right, we'd be on the road to the airport which is at the southernmost end of Barranquilla. Yes, we do need to clean up our city. I'd love to see a campaign started like the good ole US of A did back in the 60s with
'Give A Hoot - Don't Polute'.

Soon we were back in familiar territory and kept asking each other, "Should we get off here and take another bus"? We didn't want to push our luck but both of us wanted to see where he went next so we stuck it out and actually ended up in an area that I'd hoped to explore. 

We got off the bus in a section of downtown (around the corner from where I get my nails done) that's almost all commercial and happens to be fairly familiar. We waved goodbye to our bus driver  - he was all smiles and honk honk see ya later by this time - and jumped out the back door to do some sight seeing by foot. There's a part of me that knows he was looking out for us the whole way and that's the real heart of the Colombian people that I've seen, time and again.

Right away we ducked into a fabric store because part of my mission this month is to find WonderUnder - or anything like it. They sent us down the street and we looked at Modiste after Modiste. They sell buttons, beads, buckles, sequins, thread, some paint and many other sewing supplies, but no bondable web. I've put it on my list to buy when I'm in the states next month!!!

Woo Hoo! We're in Florida from October 1-8 and Kansas 8-14!!!

OK - enough for now. Hope you enjoyed the ride!

This is addictive.

My whole point in blogging is to share art and
Barranquilla, Colombia with you and I've been doing
some exciting stuff but I'm a little anal (possibly) and
feel a need to begin at the beginning. You don't know
how hard it was to skip over the pictures of the one
way flight when we moved here in May.


But...I'll fast forward a bit and mainly concentrate on
projects in progress (or completed). I mentioned
earlier that we had to wait for our belongings for 6
weeks in an empty house so I bought some paint and
painted my version of sunflowers on the wall enclosing
our lanai.

That wall is beautiful but

it's there to keep out the
bad guys. Same with the
metal gates out front that
you see in the picture below. Unfortunately,
there is an abundance of thievery in Barranquilla but I'm fully expecting them to stay away from the gringos (that's us). The flowers look quite different now because with the rainy season, some of the black tar that you see at the top of the wall has crept down into them. I love the look - nature only greatly improved what I did. Anyway, this project isn't finished yet but I don't want to work on it until December or January when things dry up a bit down here. It rains almost every day but the clouds move fast and furious so we see lots of sun on a daily basis too - usually. (I thought the storms in Florida were something but these put them to shame. Maybe it's because we're up on a hill. Remind me to tell you about the streets turning into
arroyos). I plan to add wildflowers and a few bugs to the wall around the sunflowers, along with lizards and
whatever else strikes my fancy. The whitewashed wall
goes all the way around the lanai, so I have high hopes for making it into a bit of wonderland. That is if I can tear myself away from the play room. The plant in the pot with the pink flowers is one that we bought at a nursery downtown and brought home in a taxi. It totally filled the front seat. You can see it out front in the pix below.

Jerry has taken over the care and maintenance of the plants and it's incredible how quickly seeds grow. He put a mango seed into a pot and Voila! we now have a little tree. Same with cantelope seeds that I scraped off the first one we bought and ate here. He also planted watermelon and tomato seeds that have a lot of greenery, but no fruit yet. They've been flowering like crazy so I don't get it.

I've been told many times (by strangers and friends)

that I should put my camera away but I dont' listen
and don't believe it will be taken from me. As my
friend Brenda said, I might as well take my chances
on it getting stolen because it doesn't do any good
stuck away somewhere. The point in having a camera
is to take pictures and at this time I have 24,610 of
them in Photoshop. Here are a few taken when Pedro,
Jerry and I went downtown to look at a Land Rover.
(Yes...we ended up buying it and that's another
story).

These pictures are of art on the sides or front of buildings in the old, poorer part of town:

 

They're taken from the window of a moving taxi so

they're not the best pictures - especially since you

can't see the buildings - but I'll get back down there

one day and take more. I've been warned that it isn't

an area I want to be in after the sun starts to set and I will heed that advice.

This picture (right) is typical of the walls around buildings in the city which in their own way, are beautiful. At least I think they are.

I have some awesome pictures of grafitti, taken in

Bogota, which I'll show you another day. The grafitti

in Barranquilla isn't quite as refined (I guess that's the

word I'm looking for)but still very expressive and way

cool.

Colombia is known for a few sculptors (Julio Abril,

Ramiro Areiza, Rodrigo Arenas and Fernando Botero

are a few of them) and I don't know who did this one

but there are several sculptures and statues scattered

throughout Barranquilla. This one is around the corner

from where I get my manicures and pedicures:

I pamper myself about once a month because the

cost for BOTH is only $9.50. I always thought it was

frivolous to have my nails done but this lady, Cheve,

knows how to give a pedicure and it's health thing for

me as much as a pretty thing. Those that I had in the

States didn't do a thing for me.

 

OK - just one more thought before I get off my...
computer. We hung the American Flag on the balcony
for the 4th of July and I felt so happy and proud to
have it hanging there.

 

A few of the neighbors gave me a 'thumbs up' and the
fellow next door mentioned it the next day and while I
don't understand most of what he says, I know he recognized it as Cuatro de Julio. Anyway, I was in my playroom and a vendor came by selling avacados. I wish you could hear them call out what sounds like
a-wha-cot-tay!
On the 4th, when he passed the house, he yelled out

a-wha-cot-tay gring-o!
To this day, I'm sorry Ididn't buy avacodos from him on the spot. I did and still do get a laugh when I think about or re-tell the story.

God Bless America! and Gringos!

Oh Happy Day!

Do you ever have those days when you think “things” are conspiring against your plans and decisions? I’ve been practicing the law of attraction – again – and it’s like an avalanche of negative things were poured out on me as a test. I decided yesterday, after much thought, that I’d like to blog about my life here in Colombia: specifically as it relates to art and the local culture. I like to sit with my cup of coffee and write in my journal while Jerry watches the news in the morning and after putting down some personal thoughts in my hard copy, decided I’d come upstairs and post an entry here. Well…yesterday and today have been two of the worst internet days I’ve experienced. We may have a connection for 5 minutes and then it goes away for 15; comes back for 20 minutes and goes away for 3. Frustrating. Especially while trying to find and book flights Friday night and yesterday or load pictures here, etc. It seems to happen with more frequency in the morning and since I don’t speak Spanish – yet – I can’t even call the company to complain (Pedro does that for me) (He doesn’t complain nearly as good as I do) which wouldn’t do me any good because sometimes the attitude here seems to be “the way it is, is the way it is”. So…I’m again learning patience and the law of attraction helps tremendously. For those of you that haven’t heard of it, I’ll try to explain it in a nutshell without getting preachy. What you focus on, with emotions (feelings) is what you’re going to attract to yourself. So…if I get pissed and focus on how aggravating the internet is and how frustrating not to be able to communicate my problem due to my lack of Spanish – then I’m just going to attract other feelings of aggravation and frustration that make me pissy about not only the internet problem, but anything else. Instead of letting the problem get to me, I’m writing this blog post in a Word document and will copy and paste it as soon as my connection is restored. It makes me feel good to ‘get around’ the problem so it’s win-win. I’ll also spend some time today learning the Spanish language which is beginning to not seem as hard. So, my focus has changed, actually just since I’ve started writing this and I’m feeling good; hence I believe I’ll attract good.




P.S.(My family knows how badly I need to practice what I preach).


We have a doorbell that rings at least once a day and sometimes hourly. The Colombian people are very industrious and vendors continuously walk (or drive donkey carts) the streets shouting out what they’re selling. Some ring the doorbell to make sure you see or hear them. My friend calls it the traveling yard sale but I don’t think of it that way because they aren’t yard sale prices. I do love the practice though. I learned the names of fruits and vegetables and the voices of who is selling what. We have vendors that sell the aforementioned fruits and veggies along with shoe repair men, ladies who carry bowls full of candy on their heads, donkey carts full of plants and pots to put them in, cleaning supplies such as brooms and mops, a sweet corn drink that we haven’t tried yet, ice cream, and bollo (pronounced boy-YO) – which is made from white corn (I think), is tasteless (at least the white variety is) but very popular as a side dish here in Barranquilla. We’ve been collecting plants and large pots since moving here and finally went to the nursery last week and bought a couple more to complete a grouping for the front yard. We have NO grass in our yard – just concrete but we do have a planter along the wall in the back around the terrace. I wrote all that because the doorbell rang a few minutes ago by the man delivering soil. He sold us pots last month and then brought back a bushel of soil the next day. These terracotta pots are very large and heavy and he had three on his shoulder the first time he came by, which we bought, and then again yesterday, another three. He also carries the soil on his shoulders and I’m here to tell you that Jerry and I together can barely lift it. And this man is always smiling and happy and extremely fair with his prices.


Anyway, it looks like we have an internet connection now so I’m going to copy/paste this and post it online with a picture of our beautiful plants. This  was taken from the far corner of the driveway which shows the house next door along with part of ours. Those little pieces of fabric hanging on the line up on the balcony will be described at a later date.

Alligator Quilties

You know, I don't always like some of the cutsey names that people come up with for...whatever, but Quilties just sounds so...cute...and appropriate. So I'm happily calling these...Alligator Quilties...
     

<>                     

When I returned from Bogota, I couldn't wait to get into the playroom for the first time and also couldn't wait to intrepret the alligator wallpaper border (see below) into fabric. I dug out surface designed fabrics that I had done previously and came up with enough to make three quilties. I love to make things 'assembly line' style and figured if I made three, I'd be able to choose the best to give as my gift. The orange alligator will be given to an as yet unknown recipient; the blue one in the middle will be for my inspiration, Julio and Maria's baby boy and the pink one will go to Sophia's room as soon as we can coordinate a time for Jerry to bring his drill down to Hillary's house and hang pictures. The houses here in Barranquilla are made of concrete block and in order to hang a picture you have to drill a hole for a screw. It really makes you think about what you put on your walls. Of course that didn't stop me from hanging around 50 pictures so far. (I haven't finished upstairs yet). (Or the lanai). But I digress. The fabrics used were mostly those that I've painted, stamped, stenciled, burned, batiked, dyed or discharged. I hope I didn't break any copyright laws in taking a picture of the wallpaper and then making the quilts. I drew the alligator template free hand while looking at the picture and tried to make them matchy so they would coordinate well in the nursery but I'm not selling them and don't claim them as original work. I did look online at many websites for the jungle print nursery wallpaper so I could give the proper credit due but didn't find it. After the gift is received by my friends in Bogota, I'll ask where they bought it and will publish the information. What do you think? Did I break copyright laws?

WHOOPS! - Still learning!

OK - That's the picture of the Jungle theme wallpaper border I mentioned in the last post. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I have any control over where the pictures land when I add them. They keep wanting to attach at the top of the page...not under what I've written...but I'll muddle through.

Baranquilla Inspired

I'm back!

I've been making a lot of art in the last couple months and thought I'd blog my art notes and pictures online instead of in my journal which I like to use for more personal stuff. What I should do (I don't like shoulds) is update my website but I'm just not able to make myself work on it, so...here I am.

Since moving to Barranquilla, Colombia last May and receiving our belongings a very long and tedious 6 weeks later, I've set up my play room and have been in it almost daily. I l-o-v-e, love my play room! So does Sophia, my 2 3/4 year old grand-daughter and reason for moving. I've set up areas in the room for her crayons, TaDoodles, markers, sketchbooks, coloring books, etc and her favorite chair at one of the tables. It's pure joy to watch her high-tail it up the stairs and make a bee line right to her things - pick up what she wants and arrange everything at the table. The only thing I have to do is have my camera ready.

After the container arrived, it took me a little over 3 weeks to organize the house. Afer I 'roughed it in", I got the playroom semi-organized. I was ready to go...finally...on July 15th - my mom's birthday - but we were leaving in the wee hours the next day for a trip to Bogota so I cleaned and oiled my machines and did a tiny bit of utilitarian sewing and happily left the room that night knowing I'd be back the next week.

We stayed in Bogota for the weekend with a wonderful couple, Julio and Maria, who have been friends of Pedro (my son-in-law) since he was a young boy. They graciously gave us a comfy bed to sleep in, delicious food, hot showers (houses in Barranquilla aren't equipped with hot water heaters) and took us to see the sights all day Saturday and Sunday. And what sights we saw! Bogota is awesome and if you haven't seen them already and would like to...I have an online photo gallery with some of the favorite pictures I took there which I'll be happy to share with you. Just ask. We (my hubby Jerry and I) went with Hillary (my daughter), Pedro and Sophia just for the weekend and then flew back home alone. Yes...we thought of it as home while in Bogota and were happy to get back. The kids had some business to attend so they stayed most of the week. Maria and Julio are expecting their first child, a son, in September and had just finished decorating the nursery the week before we got there. The wallpaper border was a jungle theme pictured below:

Please check out my website at www.bohemiannieart.com


thanks,


annie! Wade