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Something Visual At The First Second Saturday

6/17/2019

"I heard you're doing something visual this time," said Christian Peck, communications director of the Gahanna Area Arts Council,

...and one of the organizers of the Second Saturday Arts in the Alley, a summer monthly local artists festival taking place in downtown Gahanna on the second Saturdays of June, July, and August.

I ran into Christian as I was having a look around at the wares of the other vendors at this year's first Second Saturday Arts in the Alley and I affirmed that yes, it was true, I was in fact trying something visual this time.
The thing is, I'd participated in last summer's Arts in the Alley events, which were held on the first Fridays of July , August, and September,

...(see post from 7/14/2018, "The Lesson Of The Rubber Duck"),

...selling my book.
Hence I sold my book,

...in July,

...in August,

...in September,

...and in September again at the Gahanna Flea Market.

This year I figured that anybody in Gahanna, Ohio who wanted my book would surely already have it by now.
And so I decided to take a fling at selling some of my photographs; specifically some of the photos that I took during two hikes with my hubby Tom, the first in 2013 and the second in 2015, along the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

(see my Camino blogs at https://www.tightenyourboots.net/

...and https://www.andlightenyourpack.com/).

     I felt that most of the photos, vast landscapes, required a big print medium not fenced in by a frame.
     I chose ten photos and had them made into 12"x16" unframed canvases and I had four of the ten also blown up into 16"x20" canvases.
      In truth I would like to have made the canvases even bigger, but I feared that no one would buy a bigger canvas. In fact I feared that no one would buy the smaller canvases I'd had made, either. It turned out that my fears were not unfounded.
    But this I did not yet know as, with the the help of my loyal mate, I began preparing for my first public showing of my visual art, such as it was.

The first thing we did was practice setting up my tent in our basement to make sure we still remembered how to set it up.

Next came figuring out a display plan.
Books need only a table for display.

But canvases need a stand of some sort.

Now, I'd learned that there are all kinds of attractive stands that one can buy to display one's art.

But those display stands are expensive. And there was no guarantee that I'd sell enough photos - or any at all - to justify spending hundreds on a beautiful art display stand.
And so I gerrymandered together several art display stands from the following objects:
- a slatted room divider that I bought twenty-five years ago from a friend who needed to sell some of her things to make some money;
- another room divider I bought from a thrift store then covered with brown contact paper;
- a plastic thrift-store clothes rack upon which I hung a piece of peg board;
- a re-purposed baby gate I once bought to keep our house bunny from getting out of the family room.

(See post from 2/15/2016, "The House Bunny").

The result was mayhaps not beautiful, but I figured it would work okay, at least for a start.

I also made a few smaller 8"x10" prints that I framed.

On the afternoon of the first Second Saturday Arts in the Alley, June 8, Tom and I schlepped over to the alley and joined the other artists and artisans setting up at their designated spots.

While we were setting up we noticed that the wind was picking up. Tom worried that the wind might blow down my displays so he ran back home and procured some bags of fertilizer that he wrapped in plastic bags to hold down my displays.

The effect was in truth not the most esthetic.
But I figured it was what it was, and at least I had a secure little art gallery that people might step into and look around without having the art fall on them.

I had decided to present my photos as a series that I called "The Pilgrim's Progress," and I wrote up a program explaining the provenance of the photos:

The Pilgrim’s Progress
      For a thousand years pilgrims from all over the world have been walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, some as a spiritual journey, some as a penance, some as an adventure.
     People begin their pilgrimage from many points and there are many Camino routes through France, Spain, and Portugal, but all routes lead to Santiago, Spain and the great Cathedral of St. James, where the Camino ends and other journeys may begin.
     Thus the scallop shell, with its many rays ending in one point, is the symbol of the Camino.
    “The Pilgrim’s Progress” is a photographic chronicle of two pilgrimages walked in 2013 and 2015 along the 497-mile Camino Frances, the ancient, most historical, and most-walked of the Camino routes.
       On display are a few of the hundreds of photographs in the series.

I tagged each photo in the series with a number and a description. I priced the 12"x16" canvases at $50, the 16"x20" at $100,

...and the the 8"x10" prints at $25. ( And I decided to set up a few books, too,after all).

To my initial delight, most of the people who passed my booth stopped for a look and many folks came into my tent and made the round of my little art gallery, asking questions about the pictures and the Camino. I received many compliments on my photographs. Some people stayed at my booth looking and talking for quite a while.
Looking and talking, but, alas, not buying. I sold not one photo or book, except to a friend who came by and bought the smaller of the canvas prints of the colorful autumn field.

As for the rest,

...when the event was over we packed everything back up,

...loaded it into the car,

...and put it all back into the basement

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An Author At The Loft

6/14/2019

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A couple of Sundays ago I was at the Book Loft of German Village, the beautiful book store in the heart of the historic German Village neighborhood in downtown Columbus,

...where the books fill an amazing maze of 32 rooms and hallways,

...and then spill out into the garden.

I was at the Book Loft on that particular Sunday, June 2, as one of the authors at the Authors at the Loft book event,

...to which book lovers could come to meet Midwestern authors,

...and, hopefully, our books.

The event was sponsored by the local book podcast yourbookmybook.com,

...organized by youbookmy
book.com Media Production Coordinator Miguel Lopez,

...and hosted by the friendly, accommodating, always smiling Book Loft Manager, Glen Welch.

Some of the authors had tables in the garden and some of us set up inside the store.
I had a cozy spot inside at the top of the second-story landing in the heart of the fiction section,

...where Tom, who'd come to help me, found himself a nice cubby.

Besides author book-signings and book give-aways, there were also yourbookmybook.com author live interview podcasts,

...and some of the authors, myself among them, gave book talks,

...though we gave our talks outside in the garden.

It was a good time, and the event was surely a labor of love all around,

...or so if felt to us authors.

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Portraits Of My Mother And Other Subjects, Part 2

6/12/2019

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...Continued from yesterday:
On Saturday afternoon my mother suggested that she, Tom, and I go out for lunch at Applebee's.
My mother seldom eats at Applebees, preferring rather to patronize the several small, locally-owned eateries in Seaford - she said she hadn't been to Applebees in years - but she thought it would be nice to go there for a change, a special occasion.

So we did.

Tom had the Salmon,

...while my mom and I split a Bouron Street Chicken and Shrimp. Delish!

    After we returned home my mom started reminiscing about her mother, how she did laundry for a living, how my mother when she was a little girl would walk to people's houses to pick up the dirty laundry, help her mother with the washing, and then on foot return the clean, ironed, and folded laundry to the customers.
    My mother told us that her mother charged twenty-five cents to wash, stretch, and iron a pair of curtains.
     She then talked a little about her mother's recipes, which reminded me that one of my mother's favorite comfort foods from her childhood was rice pudding - which was also one of my favorite comfort foods from my childhood.
      So I decided to make a batch of rice pudding.
      For anyone else who might have a hankering for rice pudding, here's my recipe:
      Patti's Rice Pudding:
      Ingredients:
      5 1/2 cups milk
      1/2 cup sugar
       1/2 cup rice
       A few shakes of cinnamon
       2 Tablespoons raisins

2 teaspoons vanilla extract, if you can find some. (See post from 5/18/2019, "The Vanilla Beans")

Instructions:
1. Combine all ingredients except the vanilla in a large sauce pan.

2. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture just boils. (This takes a while. Maybe fifteen minutes. Be patient. The rice pudding can't be rushed.)

3. Gently simmer for 50-60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mixture should be pretty thick.

      4. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
    5. Enjoy! Delicious hot or cold.
      Or with some milk poured over it, as is my mom's preference.

The following morning, Sunday morning, after mass we went back to P.K.'s (see yesterday's post) for breakfast.

After we returned home I took a walk around my mom's yard and saw a pretty orange and white cat hanging out in the yard, though he took off when I tried to get a picture of him.

   When I asked my mom who the orange and white cat was she said that oh, he was just one of the cats who liked to hang around.
    I have the impression that my mom's house is to all the neighborhood cats what our house was to all the neighborhood kids when I was growing up.
    That afternoon we received a call from one of my brothers that he and his wife were going to drive down from Pennsylvania and meet us for dinner.
    This time we went out to the Stargate, another of my mother's local dining venues of choice.

My mom had the Ravioli,

...Tom had Broiled Tilapia,

...my brother had the salad bar,

...my sister-in-law had an omelette with hash browns,

...while I had a hankering for an omelette with a side of home fries smothered in onions and another side of pancakes.

Later that evening - as this was the last night of our visit, we'd leave Seaford the following morning - I once again besought my mom to let me take one more round of portraits.

Once again she was a good sport about it,

...even if she did find it funny that anyone would still want her as a photographic model.

And yet she always was very photogenic.

My mom and me.

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Portraits Of My Mother And Other Subjects, Part 1

6/11/2019

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     The above is a picture of my mother, who will be 99 years old in a couple of weeks.
     On Thursday, May 23, Tom and I drove ten hours from Columbus, Ohio to Seaford, Delaware to visit her.
      It had been five months since I'd seen my mother, and in recent years every time we plan a visit I always wonder how my mother will look when I see her again after not having seen her for a few months.
        This time as soon as we arrived I thought she looked so pretty that I immediately made her sit in her kitchen for a few portraits:

     She was a good sport about it, though she made her usual joke that I should watch that her old mug didn't break my lens.
    She was dressed for going out that evening, as the plan had been that when we arrived we'd all go out for dinner with my brother and his wife.
      However, shortly after we arrived a thunderstorm flashed down from the sky, complete with torrential rains and high winds,

...so we opted rather to have my brother and his wife bring over some fried chicken, upon which we feasted in my mother's dining room.

The next morning, Friday morning, the weather having cleared, Tom and I joined my mother in her daily routine of attending morning mass at her beautiful little parish church, Our Lady of Lourdes,

...after which we went to my mom's favorite breakfast eatery, Pizza King,

...or P.K.'s as it's known among the locals,

...where my mom goes for breakfast after mass so often with her church friends that no sooner had we sat down than the server hurried over to our table with the pot of decaf, my mother's breakfast beverage of choice, to fill my mom's cup.
When we were ready to order the friendly server asked my mom, "your regular, Hon?", my mom's regular being the "one-one-one," which is one egg, one slice of bacon and one pancake for $3.99.
Tom and I, however, felt we needed to look over the menu, of which I commenced snapping a few shots.

     I noticed my mother was chuckling and I asked her what was funny.
   "I was just wondering if you take pictures of the toilets when you use the bathrooms."
     I informed her that as a matter of fact I have been known to snap a shot of a toilet if I came a cross a particularly distinctive one,

...such as this Toto Washlet I encountered in a mall bathroom in Honolulu.

(See post from 5/9/2019, "A Nice Surprise At The Royal Hawaiian Center").

After breakfast we returned home and I then set about taking pictures of my mother's house,

...which for me somehow never loses it's charm.

The table used for my mother's church group, which meets at her house every week.

The front yard,

...and back yard.

Next, camera in hand, I headed off my mother's three cats,

Hidey,

...who likes to hide,

...Blacky,

...and Funny Face.

I also met a neighborhood cat,

...who sometimes stops by for a bite.

I got the idea of making a blueberry pie, so my mom and I drove over to Walmart to buy the berries and, of course, some ice cream.

This time when I raised my camera for a shot my mother saluted me,

...even though she's the former U.S. Army officer.
Here are some pictures of her taken during World War II, during which she was an Army nurse,

...this one at the Army hospital in Puerto Rico where she was stationed during the war.

After we returned home with the berries I made the pie.

Later in the afternoon we watched a couple of re-runs of my mom's favorite show, M.A.S.H,

...which, frankly, I had never seen, not being much of a TV person back in the era of M.A.S.H. or even now,

...still, I thought this show was pretty witty and I can understand why it was so popular, something I can't understand regarding many of the TV shows past and present that I've briefly perused.
When dinnertime rolled around we headed over to another of my mom's favorite local restaurants,

...the Golden Eagle,

...where my mom had the Fish 'n Chips,

...Tom had the Stuffed Flounder,

...and I started with a bowl of yummy Cream of Crab Soup,

...followed by the likewise yummy Gyro and Fries.

Then we went home and desserted on blueberry pie.

To be continued...

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Bag O' Skins

6/4/2019

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      This morning I was listening to Joel Riley, early morning host of Columbus radio station 610 WTVN when he broke the news story of the launching of a new KFC product: chicken skins without the chicken.
      Apparently one can now buy a bag of chicken skins. This is obviously a development born of the generally-accepted narrative that what people love about Kentucky Fried Chicken is the chicken skin; that we in fact buy the chicken so that we can peel off the skin and gobble it down.
      But then we're left to deal with the naked chicken, which holds far less charm without its crispy, tasty, covering.
       Which creates the perennial KFC paradox: The chicken derives its worth from the skin, but the skin is 'way yummier than the chicken.
      Perhaps some South Park afficionados recall the episode a few years ago in which one of the kids’ mothers buys a bucket of KFC for her son and his friends to share. But one of the boys,

...the ever-opprobrious Cartman,

...sneaks into the kitchen and eats all the skin off all the KFC.
Cartman gets extremely sick to his stomach,

...and his friends are so angry with him that they decide to ignore him and act like he's not among them.

      Cartman subsequently believes that he's become a ghost, having died from eating all the chicken skins.
      Anyway, the point is that everybody knows the skin is the best part.
      I suppose it's amazing that no one came up with the idea of chickenless skin sooner.
      Perhaps even more amazing to us Americans is that this idea was not born here in our country, the origin of Kentucky Fried Chicken as well as many of the other addictive links in the unhealthy food chain.

The chickenless skin concept actually rose up in Indonesia,

...where it is currently available exclusively at six KFC locations throughout that country, specifically in Cideng, MT Haryono, Kelapa Gading, Salemba, Kemang and Kalimalang.

Apparently the item has been selling out faster than the stores can produce it.
So what do you think of that, America?

References:
https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/kfc-fried-chicken-skin

http://thesource.com/2019/05/30/kfc-indonesia-new-fried-chicken-skin/

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Something Visual At The First Second Saturday

An Author At The Loft

Portraits Of My Mother And Other Subjects, Part 2

Portraits Of My Mother And Other Subjects, Part 1

Bag O' Skins

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