I Like #185

 Well I'm keeping my head above water so that's a good thing!  I'm so behind, since blogging is just a personal thing it always gets pushed to the bottom of the list in the face of obligations to others, but I'm determined to at least get here for this weekly post.  Maybe this weekend I can catch up on some posts for other things if I'm lucky.

The first thing is a great piece of news;  my mom and I have put together a two-person show of our art quilts called Life in the Mountain West and we've been trying to find a gallery (s) to show it.  Of course we started right before COVID, so it's been pretty much a bust so far, but late last week the Macey Center for the Performing Arts at New Mexico Tech invited us to have a virtual show on their website (since the gallery is closed).  We had a virtual reception last night as part of New Mexico Tech's alumni week celebrations, and it was great to have some cheerful things.  You can see the virtual show here: https://www.maceycenter.com/ArtGallery.  Many thanks to Gloria Gutierrez-Anaya for inviting us.  Hopefully we'll be able to show it in person at some point!

One of the things I did last weekend was hang some more items my Grandmother gave me.  My Great Great Grandmother was named Grandma Kennedy (she was actually named Martha, which is where my middle name comes from).  She was an wonderful painter.  I need to look up her birth/death dates, but I think she was largely active in the 1930s-40s and maybe into the early 50s.  Anyway, my family still has lots of her paintings and my grandmother gave me two.  Most of her work is realistic, lots of landscapes with the occasional still life or portrait.  This painting I have is of El Capitan on the Navajo reservation in Northern Arizona where she (and much of my family) lived back in the mid-twentieth century.  I love it, and I love how it looks over the fireplace with the light frame.  The other painting is one of her only ones done in a modern style and I may share  picture of it another day if I remember to take a picture of it.

Unfortunately, while trying to hang the painting in the brick I fell off the ladder and broke the pottery cat lantern my mom made me.  So sad!

However, after failing to hang things in the brick with a regular drill, I borrowed a hammer drill from a friend which was magic.  And while I had it, I decided to hang this hose reel my uncle made.

I'm glad the store recycles containers, but these are the smallest brownest seedless watermelons I've ever seen!

I read a cool article this week about more ancient Roman mosaics,  this time found under a condo complex.  You can read about it here:  http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/59794. I was fascinated to hear about all the different levels of building- like strata of human history, and excited that the building owner is incorporating public access to see these beautiful artworks.  Must give a sort of panache to say you live in a building with ancient Roman Mosaics!

My dahlias are still going strong, we've been having cool evenings and warm days (sometimes up to 90), so they've been going along happily.  I cut new ones to put inside every week.

I hope you are all finding things to like amid the ongoing chaos that is 2020.  I hope you are all staying safe and healthy.  Being in this space every week and getting to see what you're all up to is such a fantastic part of my week.  Click over to Lee Anna's for more things to like!