The Thursday Ramble: Community Arts

This week will be dominated by the local arts group. I was recruited or voluntold to co-chair the arts council for the condo for 2026. We change shows every 6 or 7 weeks. This is a change out week. Wednesday the prior show was removed. The painters and decorators who are on staff of the condo, will repair and repaint the walls, and on Friday morning we will hang the next show. 

Two weeks ago, I was worried. At that time, I only had about 25 pieces and I really need about 45 to fill the gallery spaces. 

We generally fill the shows by asking anyone who lives here to submit their work around a theme for the show. In this case the theme is New Works, and First Works. New Works are anything created in the last year, First Works can be your oldest piece, your first in a new media, or your first time showing here at the condo.  

The numbers slowly creeped up, and I extended the deadline a week. And then the floodgates opened, I went from about 40 pieces to over 60, with late entries coming in after the extended deadline. We have works from 24 artists, half a dozen of those being first timers (first time showing here.) My cup runneth over with great art. 

Friday morning, I need to sort out what goes where, how to get all of them on the walls, and then work with Kevin to get them all hung. It is the largest collection since I have been involved in the arts group, it may be the largest ever. 

Are they all great works of art? I think so. They are something that the person who created them, is willing to share with their neighbors. Would an art professor give them all top grades, heavens no. But this is not a class, it is not a professional gallery, it is not a juried show, it is not a show that an art critic will write about. 

It is a show that will brighten the walls of the community center for a few weeks. It will encourage our neighbors to be creative, and fearless, and willing to share.  And that is what this is all about. 

Saturday afternoon, we will gather in the Lounge in the community center, the bar opens 15 minutes before the program starts if people want to buy themselves a drink, and we will introduce all 24 artists, and invite them to speak for a minute or two about the work they are sharing with the community.  Based on past experience, most of them will speak, some with nerves, some with passion about their work, and about being an artist. I have the pleasure of hosting the opening reception, it is my show and I do enjoy it. 

I have two recent paintings, and a photograph from 49 years ago in the show. 

My World of Wonders March 25, 2026

Where have I been this week? I started off with my annual visit to my doctor, then the pharmacy. I drove down to Woodbridge to see a camera buyer, and a long walk in the outlet Mall. The Farmers Market in Alexandria early on Saturday. The pool, the treadmill. A long walk around the Wilkes Street tunnel area in Old Town Alexandria. Balducci's a local high end supermarket. National Harbor across the bridge into Maryland for a long walk. Along the River in Old Town for lunch and a nice walk. The bank, and a nice walk in the north end. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen? Cheeseburgers, coleslaw and potato salad, poached eggs on toast, a risotto with chicken and shrimp, a ham and cheese omelet.  Roast pork, spinach, and French bread. 

Who have I talked with this week? David the new morning lifeguard, Warren, Paul, Renee, Mike, Veronica, Marcel, my Doctor, the vampire at the doctor's office - she has a wonderful sense of humor as she sticks needles in my hand, Jonathan the weekend housekeeping staff here in the building, Christine who is new in the community, Lynn who is always smiling. Rebecca, Linda, Paul, David, and of course my sweet bear. 

What is coming up this week? A change out in the art gallery and the showcase.  The incoming gallery show is the largest we have ever hosted, I get to figure out how to hang it all.

What made me sad this week? A couple of dear neighbors who are unwell. One has a kidney stone the size of a golf ball - that is good news at first glance it looked like a tumor - but still treatment will not be a walk in the park. And a neighbor who has diagnosed with a terminal cancer. Both are men in their 70's with adoring spouses. 

What is happening over on YouTube? Billy Petherick finally posted an update. After a couple of years of posting five or more times a week, he suddenly stopped posting in late December. He is the one that was restoring a convent in a small town in France. His disappearance drew of lots of speculation, and dredged up some skeletons from his past. Bottom line, he has split up from the mother of his two sons, and is moving on. He is a brilliant content producer. I do hope that he gets his feet back under him and returns to YouTube. 

What is on the easel this week? A 12 by 12, primed in a metallic melon color. I don't know what will happen next. I need to figure out what to paint for our 250th Anniversary of the USA show. 

What blog post moved me this week? House Dust and Wanderlust.

What did my Doctor say? I am still alive, my lab work was much the same as last year. I am fat - I should lose 25 pounds - I knew that. Nothing new. 

Travel Tuesday: New Near Home

The Wilkes Street Tunnel, originally build for trains to and from the water front. 

I loved the colors in these. 

About a mile from Home on Washington Street 

The Panda Agrees 

It snowed, and melted off all in the same afternoon, it was 84 two days before. 

First Blooms of the Season 

Along the back fence 

Huntley Meadows 

Dyke Marsh, looking north to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, we live directly west of this, on the second ridge. 

 

Monday Moods: Pass it on

I sold three camera lenses and a digital camera last week. I have been buying cameras and lenses since the mid 1970's, this is one of the few times I have ever sold anything. 

What did I part with? One lens I had two of, I sold the less desirable of the two, the other two were for a camera system I no longer use. One of them has a great story, I bought it in a moment of desperation in Paris, to replace the only lens I have ever broken. I dropped a lens on a stone floor in the Louvre.  Before breakfast the next morning I went to a camera store across from the hotel, and he miraculously he had a lens that would work, a slightly better lens than the one I broke. I was shocked to find one that would work. The other lens I sold was given to me, and I never used it. It didn't sync with the cameras I currently use. The camera I sold was a nice quality Nikon compact, that neither of us use any longer. Our phones take better photos and are easier to use. I took it out last week and used it for a couple of hours, came home and thought, I will never use that again. 

The equipment didn't sell for much, $104 total. Not really worth the drive and the time. So why did I sell it? It was sitting in a drawer, useable, but unused by me. Loved, but not being enjoyed. Someone will use it, two of the lenses are for film cameras that have become popular again. Selling them to someone who will sell them on, was passing them onto the next user. I hope that they are enjoyed, loved, and create stories for the next user. Maybe someone will drop a lens on a stone floor and desperately need a replacement, and KEH will suddenly have two in stock. 

There were a few items that I didn't sell. A film camera body, that was in the wrong color, and has little demand - no offer. 

Another no sale was a nice digital that is just one generation too old, the offer was less than $5 with a recommendation to "find someone who will use it, and give it to them." I will. This triggered a story, a confession. A couple of years ago I gave away a 16mm Bolex movie camera, a really good one with three lenses. I had owned for 40+ years and never used it. I bought it from the original owner in the early 1980s. I traded emails with someone who was borrowing cameras like this to make movies the old fashioned way on film. He didn't own one, they are hard to find and expensive when you do. I sent it to him as a gift to the next generation. 

What do we have in our lives that we don't use, that someone else might love and enjoy. These are opportunities to make difference in someone's life. Remember in the end, you can't take it with you. 

The Sunday Five: Shopping

1: How far away is your nearest grocery store? 

2: How often do you go grocery shopping? 

3: How do you get to the store and back? 

4: Could you shop without driving a car? 

5: If you could have one store within easy walking distance, what would it be? 

My answers: 

1: How far away is your nearest grocery store? There is a latin specialty market about half-a-mile away, for a general supermarket about 2 miles as the streets wind around. 

2: How often do you go grocery shopping? About once a week, I would like to buy less and go more often. 

3: How do you get to the store and back? We drive, though the condo does provide bus service a couple of days a week. 

4: Could you shop without driving a car? Limited shopping yes, there are three stores that are options, two of them are near metro stations.  

5: If you could have one store within easy walking distance, what would it be? I know they are expensive, but Whole Foods, if they would build a store in place of the falling down parking garage at the metro station life would be easy. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Leave a Creative Legacy

 

Back in January, Neil over at Yorkshire Pudding posted an image of a drawing he had completed of one of his granddaughter's favorite toys. His plan is to have it framed for her fifth birthday. At five I imagine she will find it sweet, 75 years from now, when she turns 80, if she has hung onto it, it will be a precious reminder of a grandfather she has but memories of. 

Our challenge is to create and share, to create a legacy, that will trigger memories long after our time. Most of us hide away our creations, afraid that our work is not worthy, not good enough. Your work is  precious, it is your legacy. Legacy is not about the riches you leave behind, it is about how you are remembered, how you want to be remembered.  To be remembered for your creative endeavours, create and share your work. Create work that has meaning for others, for others to have and to hold onto.  I have crochet throw my maternal grandmother made for me, in colors I selected. I have another my one and only Aunt made for my great grandmother. These are tangible connections from those two members of my family, to me today. They are the legacy of those two loved one's.  

Funky Friday: The Time I Made an Interior Designer Cry

A comment on a Saturday post a couple of weeks ago, reminded me of the time I unintentionally made an interior designed break down in tears. 

It was in the summer of 1985 or 1986.  I was working for now long gone Laurel Homes* in Orlando Florida. We were opening a new community called Arbor Woods North out near the University of Central Florida. In a rare step for that company, at that time, we hired an interior designer to decorate and furnish a model home.  It was a 2-bedroom, 2 bath, about 1,000 square feet (a little less than 100 sq. meters.) Our target was young, recent graduates, first time home buyers.  And we hit the market right, we sold half of the community in just a couple of months. 

The designer came up with the idea of doing the model to attract female buyers. The color scheme was light and bright, with celery green paint, and pink carpet. The pink carpet was a bold choice, but it worked. It felt very comfortable for single women, and very old Florida. The designer reasoned that if young single men, thought young single women were buying there, they would also. (That part didn't work, there were very few women buyers, and those that did buy were not interested in men.) 

The living room in the model had a light tropical print sofa, and glass topped tables.  On the tables at each end of the sofa, was a lamp, that combined a coil of brass as a base, perched on that was a pale green grecian amphora, topped with a shade. The young designer was finishing up the installation and she asked me what I thought. 

Then for some reason she asked specifically about the lamps. I honestly answered that the lamps looked much better turned on, than they did turned off. 

That triggered a breakdown, tears and shaking. She kept repeating, "I knew no one would understand what I was doing, I knew everyone would hate it!" I didn't hate it, in fact I it worked as a model showing what could be done with a relatively small space.** I swear I meant no harm. And the lamps stayed for the duration of the project. *** 

*The company was named after the founder's favorite cow. 

** One exception, the glass topped table in the tiny kitchen was to large, I begged them to put in a drop leaf table, and was told "I didn't understand design." 

*** I was onsite as we were setting up and moving in. The desk for my office arrived, and wouldn't fit in through the door.  We lifted it in through the window. I was not there when it came time to move out of that office, the guy couldn't figure out how to get it out, and took a power saw and cut it in half. The next day he asked me how did you get the desk in there? Sometimes you really should ask the person who helped put it there.