WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

I've had several inquiries the past day or two asking me "Where in the world are you, are you all right?" and all I can say is that I'm here, relatively healthy and just haven't been "computerizing" as much lately! When I was still affiliated with Canvas by Canvas, I spent the majority of my time on the computer and had little time left for anything else. Now that that burden has been lifted, I have other things to fill my days (not to mention my nights ;-) but I'm not sure what all I'm accomplishing!

Monday of last week we went to a party that our travel agent hosted in Fort Worth. She was celebrating 30 years in the travel business and it was a lovely gathering. Her name is Ruth Turpin, her company is Cruises, Etc., and I would highly recommend her if you need any assistance with your travels. She's the best of the best.

The next night we went to see the stage play "Steel Magnolias" which is part of the Broadway at the Bass series this year. We ate at our favorite restaurant, Caro's, on Bluebonnet Circle. Frank and I have been eating there for 52 years and it's as good as it was way back when. It's always a special occasion for us to eat there because we like it so much. The place still looks the same and the Mexican food is wonderful.

We purchased season tickets for this Broadway series and so far we have not been disappointed. For those of you not from Fort Worth, Bass Hall is a wonderful place and as residents of the Metroplex, we are so blessed to have this wonderful facility. The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall complex is the crown jewel of Fort Worth which boasts the nation's third largest cultural district.

Built entirely with private funds, Bass Performance Hall is permanent home to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Texas Ballet Theater, Fort Worth Opera, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and Cliburn Concerts. It also hosts special productions of Casa Manana Musicals and presents Performing Arts Fort Worth's "Hall Series," a popular array of eclectic entertainment.

The 2,056-seat multipurpose Hall is characteristic of the classic European opera house form. The Hall itself is renowned for its superb acoustics, exceptional sight lines and ambience on level with the great halls of the world.

It is, however, a very difficult structure to photograph. Because of the fact that it is located downtown and surrounded by tall buildings you can never get a good enough camera angle on it to due justice to the magnificent angels who are blowing gold trumpets that are on the front facade of the building. I have included a painting that a friend of mine painted. His interpretation of these angels is very dramatic and I like it very much.

This performance that we attended however, was not held at the Bass, but at Casa Manana, which is another theatre here in Fort Worth.

Steel Magnolias is actually a very sad play. What has made it so popular is the best collection of one-liners since Neil Simon in his prime. "Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion," one character says and there's a lot of this in this play.

Casa Mañana assembled a stellar cast for its new production of this clouds-and-sunshine warhorse. Most of the performers have at least as much movie or TV as stage experience, but that doesn't mean close-up-to-the-camera subtlety. Most of the acting was stagy in the old-fashioned Broadway way.
The setting is the beauty shop that Truvy (Sally Struthers)

runs as a kind of clubhouse for the wealthy ladies of a small Louisiana city. The bighearted and buxom Truvy takes care of her new assistant, Annelle, as if she were a member of the family.
As the first client in the door, the late mayor's wife Clairee, played by a Fort Worth favorite, Ruta Lee, broke character immediately to acknowledge the audience's applause – as if she were back in the saddle as Mame or Mama Rose yet again. Fort Worth has always been her home away from home and she's delightful to watch.

With that purring baritone croak of hers, she delivers every speech as if it were the punch line of a stand-up joke, which most of them might just as well be. It was a delightful play but I think it would have worked better at the Bass as the acoustics are much better there.

Valentine's Day came and went and Frank and I got a new video camera to celebrate the occasion. It's no bigger than a package of cigarettes and takes marvelous images. It will come in very handy when we travel and it doesn't weigh much. That's the beauty of it! We're nearly half way through Lent now, and I have been busy studying, reading and doing a little painting.Unfortunately I had to miss my Bible/Book Study group last Monday as I have a cold and felt like the dickens. I have read my assignment, however, so I'm caught up. It's difficult for me to not move ahead as the book is so interesting and I want to keep going with the story line, but I'm trying to stay with the group and not get ahead.

We had a special presentation last Sunday afternoon at St. Alban's and I attended that. It was interesting, but not as informative as I had hoped it would be. We will have another presentation this coming Sunday by The Rev. Canon Charles Hough, the Canon to the Ordinary and assistant to the Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth and I'm really looking forward to it. He and Father Tom Hightower will explain the changes that are taking place in the Episcopal Church in the United States and how this effects the churches within the Anglican Communion.
Last night I attended Evening Prayer and the Holy Eucharist which was followed by a meatless Lenten supper. We had a guest speaker, the Rev'd Chuck Hough, Jr. who spoke on the road that led to the crucifixion. The topic was "Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me". Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all provide witness to the crucifixion, but each does so in a unique way that when put together provide a multifaceted view. First, Matthew's account of the time from when Pontius Pilate delivered Christ to the Roman troops, to the time that they cast lots for His clothing. Matthew's account of Simon, "this man they compelled to carry His cross" is direct and plain.

"Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium, and they gathered the whole battalion before Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe upon Him, and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on His head, and put a reed in His right hand. And kneeling before Him they mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they spat upon Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the robe, and put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
As they went out, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; this man they compelled to carry His cross. Father Hough's presentation was excellent and well attended. We are having these meditations every Wednesday night during Lent. If you have anything like this at your churches, I would urge you to attend. These meditations help put the season of Lent into the proper perspective in our busy lives. I'm looking forward to the study next week.

I started taking private instruction today with a really good art teacher and I'm trying to stretch myself in a different direction. I've always been interested in landscapes and I'm attempting to paint in a more impressionistic style rather than painting with so much realism. We'll see what happens. Here's what I have painted in the last 24 hours. It was very interesting to work on. It's a copy of a painting that my teacher had done and I love it. I think I'll entitle mine "Reflections on a Golden Shore". It's a fairly large painting, 16 x 20 without a frame, so that in itself is a stretch for me!

This weekend will be a busy one. We will be keeping the boys and Harry overnight Saturday and then have a full day at church on Sunday. I'll try to get back to you soon and will hopefully have lots of interesting anticdotes to share.

Our evenings have been filled with American Idol and tonight we get to find out who gets eliminated this week. The voices this year seem to be much better than usual. The young man pictured is our favorite so far. His name is David Archuleta, he's 17 years old (I think) and is from Utah. He is adorable and he has a very strong voice. In my humble opinion, he has the best personality of the lot and he's so adorable looking.

Frank and I both love this show. We plan our evenings and meals around the television set during AI season. If you aren't a fan, stay tuned and I'll bring you up to date. If you are ... vote for David. We have and will :-)

XOXO, Pcasso

U2, ELVIS, CASH, MADONNA, OPERA AND MULTICULTURAL DAY

We had a very unexpected surprise today. After we got back from exercising this morning, we had a phone call from our son, Franklin. Today was Multicultural day at Key Elementry School where Ian and Connor attend and he needed to borrow one of my tripods in order to video the program.

Franklin and Beth have been working for several weeks on a project for this special day at the boys school and it was a huge success. Everyone always feels welcome when they go to Key Elementary in South Arlington. It's a wonderful school.

I'll have to be perfectly honest. I hadn't planned on attending this particular event as it was not necessarily open to everyone like it is on Grandparents Day, but when Frank went to the school to deliver the tripod when I was at church and saw what was going on, he thought we should go to one of the performances. I had Bible/Book study at church this morning that lasts until noon, so right after lunch we headed for the school.

Franklin has put in over 100 hours on this project and I have no idea how much time Beth has spent on it. They built a sound stage and reinacted the TV show, American Idol. The main theme of the "show" was the history of music, from Opera to Blues, to Rock and Roll and Rap. They even threw in a little Country Western! The kids had a great time. Franklin researched all of the information and then put it on film and coordinated it with the music of that era. It was extremely time consuming but he enjoyed doing it since that's what he does at his company, Reel FX. Don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but he's an Audio Engineer and he loves his work. He's also very good at it (nothing like a proud Mama talking about her son ;-)

At the beginning of the show when they introduced "Randy" and Simon" as two of the judges,

they made the announcement that Paula couldn't be there due to a previous engagement. It was at that time that they flashed this photograph of her with Franklin on the screen.

If you remember from my China blog, Franklin used to work with her in California, so he had this photograph of the two of them together. Some of the older kids got the message but it flew over the little one's heads :-)

They transformed the room they let them use into a set for American Idol and then the show began.

One of the first acts was a Diva singing an aria from a well known opera

and that was followed by Joan Baez and her accompanist.

A musical history presentation wouldn't be complete without "The King" himself, Elvis Presley,

The Man in Black, Johnny Cash,

and none other than the Beatles and their fans. There was audience participation on this number and some of the younger students got to dance to some Rock and Roll with two screaming fans even though they really weren't sure who The Beatles were. They did, however, enjoy the dancing!

Once John Travolta appeared in that famous white suit from Saturday Night Fever as the Bee Gees sang "Stayin' Alive",

Randy and Simon had a big discussion as to which act had been the best so far and which ones didn't quite measure up to par.

That was when The Material Girl, Madonna, appeared on the scene and she had a great performance. I think she might be in a close race for the lead.

Her act was followed by rappers Run - DMC

and a surprise guest also came ... Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin!

No musical history show would be complete without U2 and Bono. U2 are a rock band from Dublin, Ireland. The band consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar) and Larry Mullen Jr. Only Bono and The Edge were there today. When we were in the Mediterranean last year we saw Bono's house. It was unbelieveable. It was so large that it looked like an entire shopping center!

I would love to have The Edge's black hat! Since he is my son, do you think he might let me borrow it for a while? It would look great on our next trip to Santa Fe!

Since the early 1980s, the members of U2—as a band and individually—have collaborated with other musicians, artists, celebrities, and politicians to address issues concerning poverty, disease, and social injustice. I think Beth looks great as Bono and I'd like to borrow her hat as well.

The people on Beth's committee put this wonderful presentation together with her as the Chairperson, and the youngsters as well as we old folks loved every minute of it. There were 7 shows throughout the day, consisting of 12 skits and 16 costume changes. They are all to be given a standing ovation for their successful endeavor and their hard work.

They all took a curtain call when the production was over and the producer had a big grin on his face. This has been a labor of love and everyone had a wonderful time.

Thank you for going on surprise this adventure with me. My talented little family "did good" and I'm SOOO very proud of them both.

XOXO, Pcasso

MARDI GRAS, MIKHAIL and MEETINGS WITH FRIENDS

It's been a very busy week for me. It's the first week in Lent, so I am always very involved with church activities. On Monday I attended my Bible/book study and as usual, it was very interesting. As a group, we decided to forego refreshments when we meet for the next 6 weeks as part of our Lenten discipline. The next day was Shrove Tuesday and we attended a pancake supper which was sponsored by our church's Boy Scout Troop. The food was very good and the fellowship even better. During the meal we listened to a Dixieland Jazz trio for a little taste of what was happening in New Orleans. Mardi Gras, which is French for "Fat Tuesday", is the day before Ash Wednesday, and is also called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day". Mardi Gras is the final day of Carnival the three day period preceding the beginning of Lent, the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday immediately before Ash Wednesday .The entire three day period has now come to be known in many areas as Mardi Gras. Perhaps the cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include New Orleans, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; Venice, Italy; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
I had the privilege of being in Venice for Carnival one year and it was the experience of a lifetime. All of the local people are in costume the entire time. I was there with my Mentor in my photographic career, Lisl Dennis, and we were invited to many special events because of her connections there.
There is one thing that really stands out in my mind from that particular trip. We attended the Opera at La Fenice for an invitation only performance. La Fenice is reputedly the most beautiful Opera House in the world. After the performance, both Rudolf Nureyev, who is regarded as one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century, and Mikhail Baryshnikov danced for us. You may remember Baryshnikov from his role with Sara Jessica Parker in "Sex in the City" if you were a fan of that show like we were. Can't wait for the movie to come out! I have always loved to watch him dance (and I might add that he's also very easy on the eye!) Nuryev isn't all that bad looking either!!! I can't wait until we get to Russia this summer :-)

Unfortunately, shortly after I had been there, the Opera House burned to the ground for the second time. It was arson.
After various delays, reconstruction began in earnest in 2001. In 650 days, a team of two hundred plasterers, artists, woodworkers, and other craftsman succeeded in recreating the ambience of the old theatre at a cost of some €90 million.
La Fenice was rebuilt in 19th-century style on the basis of a design by architect Aldo Rossi and using still photographs from the opening scenes of Luchino Visconti's 1954 film Senso which was filmed in the house in order to obtain details of its design. It reopened on 14 December 2003. The first opera production was La Traviata in November, 2004. Critical response to the rebuilt La Fenice was mixed. The music critic of the rightwing paper Il Tempo, Enrico Cavalotti, was satisfied. He found the colours a bit bright but the sound good and compact. For his colleague Dino Villatico of the leftwing La Repubblica, however, the acoustics of the new hall lacked resonance and the colours were painfully bright. He found it "kitsch, a fake imitation of the past". He said that "the city should have had the nerve to build a completely new theater; Venice betrayed its innovative past by ignoring it". However, for many Venetians, a painful wound in the historical, much-admired cityscape has been healed.

We occupied one of the boxes for the performance. This is a photograph of the new Opera House. You can see how elegant it is with it's wonderful Old World charm.

Anyway, Carnival in Venice was a wonderful celebration and I took some unbelieveable photographs on that trip. People in costume were posing everywhere and were just waiting to be noticed.

It was a photographers dream! Here is a painting that I did from a photograph I took on that wonderful and most memorable trip.

The Piazza San Marco was a sea of humanity and I remember that those of us traveling together had to make a human chain to cross it in order to not get lost from each other. None of us spoke Italian, so it would have been difficult to find someone to help us if we had gotten separated. There's safety in numbers ... especially if they're American and speak the same language ;-)
It was very cold there that year. In fact it even snowed! Here I am on the Grand Canal wearing a heavy wool coat.

That was a difficult trip to pack for since from there we went to Egypt where it was very warm. I also had all of my photographic equipment to schlep from place to place, so it was quite a challenge. More about that later!
Frank and I served at St. Alban's at the early service (6:30 a.m.) on Ash Wednesday and that night we went to Dallas and had dinner with our friends, the Cooks, at Le Rondevouz which is a favorite of ours. We used to frequent the place when it was on McKinney Avenue. It has now moved and is in North Dallas. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed their company very much as we always do. I had lunch with a dear artist friend on Thursday at a local tearoom and yesterday we went to Fort Worth and had lunch with friends from Fort Worth at Charleston's which is on Restaurant Row. We had a delightful lunch and they bought this painting that I did from my China trip.

I have entered this particular painting in an art competition and it was featured on the cover of their on-line magazine. Should it win, they will be the proud owners of an award winning painting. Keep your fingers crossed!I always feel as though my paintings are like my children and if they are no longer going to be with me, I want them to have a good home. I know that this one will have the best.
We're going to take it easy today. It's been a busy week and it looks as though next week will be the same.

Now that I'm no longer painting with the group on a routine basis, I have a lot more free time to do the other things that I really love ... mainly with family and friends. Our lives seem to get very complicated at times and I really needed a break. After all, I can always paint!
We have several social engagements next week and as things evolve, I will keep you posted. In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend and a Holy Lent.
XOXOX, Pcasso