Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plain

Painting of Historic Route 66 in a garage at the
Blue Swallow Motel

Yes, we are in Oklahoma tonight.  Rain and tornados followed behind us for an hour or two, but we are safely tucked in for the night.  There are lots of full hotels in the area, though (this is the second one we stopped at).  And parking lots filled with trucks--workers obviously here to clean up after last week's tornados.  We are planning to leave early in the morning to escape this somewhat unnerving state.

Appropriate sign at the ghost town of Cuevo, NM

Still, we had another excellent day of travel from New Mexico, across the Texas panhandle and halfway across Oklahoma.  We had thought we'd be good and stay off Route 66, but several times were side-tracked to points of interest, often pulling a U-turn to go back to something we'd passed.  Once, we were saved from a possible accident because we stopped at the ghost town (literally) of Cuervo, NM.  We actually turned around and went up a (deserted) one-way street (for a bit) to get back to it.  We got out and explored the abandoned buildings before moving on...right into a traffic stand-still of mostly tractor trailer trucks (reminded me of our border crossing from Zambia into Botswana, going through all those trucks on foot).  Turns out it was an accident involving two motorcycles.  Looked worse than it probably was, though.

The Mexican eatery where we ate our lunch.

We took a couple of detours onto Route 66 just to break the monotony.  We saw a lot of cool signs and buildings and ate at a home-town, home-cooked Mexican place called "Unburritable."  Loved that name!  The food was pretty good, too.  Another Route 66 stop was the Blue Swallow Motel (look it up, it's pretty cool).  We met the owner and got a tour of the place.  Quite charming!

We stopped briefly in Amarillo to get something to drink at Starbuck (Iced Chai Latte for me) and to see the Cadillac Ranch, an interesting art instillation in the middle of a cow pasture.  We saw many other interesting things along the roadside as we whizzed by, looking them up on my trusty 3G iPhone so we could be truly enlightened travelers :)

Here are some of my favorite photos of the nearly 300 we took today:

Joe Bear and La Rosa de Lima at a
Hispanic Catholic Church we
stopped at (we saw the spire and
drove through the village until we
found it).

Abandoned home next door to the church at Cuevo, NM.

Linda's artistic view of the house and church.

The Cadillac Ranch--10 Cadillacs in the middle of
a cow pasture!!!

Close up of the half-buried Cadillacs.

Linda and Rondi in the heat of the day in the
middle of a cow pasture looking at Cadillac
graffiti!!!

The Blue Swallow Motel

Linda hanging out with some bikers along Route 66 :)

For the numerically challenged!

A giant cross by a church surrounded by
much smaller crosses.

Welcome to Oklahoma!

Bright colors along the roadside in OK.

More bright colors

Wind generators along the OK roadside.

Western Town

You know you are in a western town (as opposed to a New England town) when cowboy boots beat out Bean boots. Friday, I decided to explore Old Town Scottsdale while hunting down some Arizona-ish stocking treats.

This was the first touristy thing I've done since I moved to AZ 5 months ago. Having started work the day after I arrived in August, I've not had the time to look around me until Friday. And even then, I didn't have much time to give it. Still, it was enough to enjoy. And I found the stocking treats I'd hoped for. Not a bad couple of hours!

There were many art galleries and jewelry shops with beautiful offerings I could not afford. There were quite a number of sculptures of horses, cowboys, and indians and a couple of real horses as well.

Venders were friendly, and even helpful. One lady gave me a great stocking stuffer idea (which I can't share at the moment since I followed up on it).

I wanted to get some native pottery, but didn't find anything I liked (that I could afford). I didn't get to all the shops, though, so maybe I'll find something when I go back (and I will).

Airport Art.

My colleagues and I were treated to a cross-country art show during our recent travel from Manchester, NH to Chicago to Portland to Washington, D.C. and back to Manchester, NH. We noticed that at each airport there were interesting sculptures tucked into various nooks and crannies for the rushing travelers to enjoy, if only periferally.

Unfortunately, by the time we were awake enough to realize the particular treats before us (we were up at 3 a.m.), my camera was out of reach, so I missed taking pictures until I went back to the Portland Airport on Friday. What you see here, then, is just some of the dozen+ works of art we saw in four different airports last week.

Writing from Art

I got interested in using art as a story prompt when my oldest niece was very young. I went with her and her mother one afternoon to a furniture store...one of those huge places that sets up scores of room settings to show you how furniture pieces can be put together. My niece soon tired of the task at hand and it fell to me to entertain her while my sister pressed on to find whatever it was she was looking for (I don't recall now what it was). We wandered a little bit more and finally found a setting that had two comfy easy chairs side by side facing a large painting of a barnyard. My niece was quite taken with it, so we sat and looked at it for awhile.

I don't remember whose idea it was, but we started telling a story about what we saw in the painting. Julie was as engaged in the story as I was, maybe even more, contributing names, ages, conversation. We sat there for quite a long time, totally entertained until my sister finished her business. I remember thinking about how amazing this little girl's imagination was. I started to think about telling stories about art and even went so far as to sketch out some stories of my own.

Then books like Girl with the Pearl Earring and Girl in Hyacinth Blue were published, setting of a new wave novels with an artist/work of art emphasis. And instead of writing a story myself, I began reading every such book I could get my hands on. I like to think there's still an arts-related book in my future, but for now content myself with connecting my students with art, taking them at least once a year to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts for a creative writing experience and writing along side them as much as possible.

All 24 hours are not Equal

It's weird how time flies one day and drags the next, even though the amount of time in each day is exactly the same. Yesterday, every time I looked at the clock, only about 20 or 30 minutes had gone by, but it felt like hours in between looks. Today, I could hardly catch my breath things went by so quickly. Seems as if time ought to move along at the same reasonable pace every day, but it never cooperates. Reminds me a little of 17th century poet Robert Herrick's poem that begins Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May:

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be a-dying.

the glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

The paintings are both entitled "Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May," and were painted by John William Waterhouse, a Pre-Raphaelite artist most famous for his illustrations of literary works, my favorite being "The Lady of Shallot" which reminds me of Anne of Green Gables when she was acting out this scene and her boat sank and Gilbert rescued her from the pond =) I also like his "Ophelia," though...such a tragic figure... (We're studying Hamlet right now which may explain why I feel particular empathy for Ophelia at the moment...)

All four come from Wikipedia and are in public domain.

First Impressions

My sister (our art teacher) and I took her art class and my honors English class to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts yesterday specifically to visit the Impressionist galleries of the European wing. This is my favorite gallery in the museum, one I've visited many times, with kids, friends, and on my own. There are many, breath-taking works of art there, and I always enjoy sharing it with students. Here are some of the beautiful pieces we saw:

Art in the Courtyard

Sunday night's dinner was served in the hotel courtyard after Eleanor Clift's keynote. It was a little brisk, but otherwise, it was a lovely evening.

The food was delicious, and there were dozen photographs,s of paintings, sculptures, and pieces of pottery on display for us to enjoy as we strolled through the (somewhat crowded) courtyard.

I particularly loved the Native American pottery crafted by teenagers from an Indian school in Arizona. I wanted to purchase a piece, but thought I'd get it later when it wasn't so crowded. Turns out I missed my chance. I'll have to go to the website now, although everyone got a lovely small vase or bowl as a welcome gift courtesy of our hosts. All the guest speakers of the conference got larger pieces. What a great gift idea, don't you think?

My Pilot

Tuesday morning, our chaplain gave the staff an assignment. He read the familiar Shepherd's psalm to us (Psalm 23) and asked us to write it in language and imagery that speaks to us more personally. He gave us about 10 minutes in which to do it before we shared what we had written. Here is my contribution to the morning's creativity:

The Lord is my pilot; I will never be lost with Him at the wheel.
He takes me to the greatest heights; He lands me safely at all my destinations.
He puts my mind at ease; He protects me from evil doers. Even when there is turbulence, I am calm because He is with me.
That comforts me beyond words.
When I am hungry, He feeds me. When I am hurt or sick, He heals me.
Blessings abound under His watch and care and I am grateful to be on this journey with Him.
All this makes me a loyal follower and supporter.
I will fly with Him anywhere throughout eternity.

The paintings here were done by Nathan Green, one of my students my very first year of teaching. I knew then that he had a special talent, but none of us had any idea how he would go on to become one of the nation's most popular nature and inspirational artists. You can read about him and see more of his paintings here and here.

Motivation

What is this mysterious
thing inside me that rails
Against the mountains in my way,
that rebels against the mundane
And yet hesitates to fly free?

What if I need the monotony
to motivate me
to cultivate wings
to discover le monde
without fear, within my means?