More time to paint

With the weather changing from hot to cold over night I have found more time to stay in doors and paint. We did not have Fall this year Mother Nature decided to go from Summer to Winter in one day! We had snow on the ground last week and when it melted the grass was still green and all the leaves were still on the trees...green as ever!
Well after all this is Texas what else would you expect? They had sever thunderstorm warning yesterday for our county with the chance of tornadoes?? Now I know how the dinosaurs felt the last global warming we went through!
Sherri and I spend the morning in the living room looking out the back door at all this going on and wish that we were somewhere else. We would love to be where the weather is warmer in the Winter and Cooler in the Summer. We know where those places are but we have tied ourselves down with this house and we can not move.
I do, however, travel in my own way every chance that I get. My paintings carry me to places that I wish to be. What a wonderful way to see the sights and feel that you are there. I just surround myself with these paintings and I am there!
OK I guess I have talked myself into starting another painting now. Soon I will be thousand miles from here...

Somewhere...else...in Time

Have you ever heard of Wonder Lust?

Sherri and I were sitting on the back patio looking across the field behind our house. We kept noticing all the RV's passing by. Wonder where they are going, we would ask each time a new RV passed. Soon the subject turned to...Sure wish that was us going some place. We both looked at each other and said we need to get back on the road!
Now keep in mind this is just a thought right now. We are giving it some serious thought, however, and we just might load up the old RV and tour some more!
Kris would have to go back to home school. He did so much better when he was home schooled than he is going in public school. I had noticed last year when we enrolled him in 2nd grade that they were far behind what we were studying in our classes.
Well we are looking into the idea and maybe if all goes well we will be back on the road discovering new adventures with Kris...

Somewhere in Time

Where has all the time gone?

My gosh!! It was September the last time I posted anything on this journal. I should be ashamed of myself.
Sherri and I have been enjoying doing a little of nothing for the past month or so. We have not been anywhere to speak of so I have no news to report.
I am still painting and really enjoying it. It was 1974 when I painted my last landscape. I just got the urge to paint again last month and have been steady at since then. 
Many of the family have requested paintings and I have delivered those painting. Now I am just painting pictures of Colorado. We took so many pictures last summer when we were there. I pulled them up on line and started painting them. 
I think I will start going through all my friends journals to get some more ideas for paintings. 
OK...I have said all that I know to say so I will shut up for now. 
Maybe I will see you...

Somewhere in Time 

Things are cooling off

We have a cold front coming down sometime this week and I am ready for it. This has been a hot summer but not like the one they had here last year. 
We were in Colorado and missed most of the heat but with the new house we had to tough it out this year.
Sherri's brother Richard is having some stints put in today. We are on our way to Shreveport to be with Carol, his wife while they do the procedure. 
Hoping everything goes well today so they can return home tomorrow.
That is about all the news for now...here...

Somewhere in Time 

Passing the time away

Sherri and I have  been spending most of our time inside due to the hot weather. It has been up and down on the temps here all summer and I will have to say that for the most part it has been cooler than last summer.
We were in Colorado all last summer and the temps here soared into the 100's for most of the season. Creede on the other hand stayed in the 70's and maybe a few days in the 80's. This will be our last summer here. We plan on shutting down the house and spending the three hottest months in the mountains. 
This year we were just getting settled in our new home and had to spend most of our time fixing up some of the things around here. Now that that is behind us we will have time to head out as soon as Kris is out of school.
We have found out that by staying here we spend more money than if we were on the road!! I know that is hard to believe but it is the truth. 
Well that is about it for now. I will pop in from time to time to let all know that we are still hanging around...

Somewhere in Time 

Kris starts painting

After school Kris came in while I was painting one of my pictures and asked if he could paint a picture. Being excited that he would even show some interest in painting I fixed him right up.
I pulled out the water colors that I had stashed back in my cabinet...found some water color paper and let him go to town. 
Well I think for his first he did quite well. 
I will cherish the fact that he wanted to paint with his Pop and hope that he builds and interest...

Somewhere in Time 

Busy as a Bee

I know I have not been posting very much! Some of the family has called to ask me where I have been. Well as things would have it I have been right here.
Sherri and I spend our morning on the porch until time to get Kris up for school. We then move inside...I fix Kris his breakfast and Sherri gets his clothes laid out for the day. I get his lunch ready as soon as he sets down to eat. 
We take him to school and then when we return the day is all ours. Sometimes we leave from the school and go shopping and then sometimes we just go back home and spend the day working around the house.
Today is Sunday and we have Franki and Sahara here. We will spend most of this day inside due to the heat. I will have to mow the lawn as soon as the dew drys 
Not much going on so I just decided to sit here and bang out a post to let everyone know that I was still kicking.
We are planning some trips in the future...of course they will have to be while Kris is out of school. There will be some adventures and we can't wait to head out...

Somewhere in Time 

Better Pictures

I have been painting landscapes again and the other day I put some of my pictures in my journal. 
Well as things would have it I lost my cable to take the pictures off of my camera and put them on my journal so they were...to say the least a bit out of focus.
I found my cable and I am reloading them to the journal so those of you that requested better photos will have them. Most of these below have been promised to family members...so don't worry you will be getting the ones you requested.
Also took some photos off the back porch and want you to see our back yard as we have been working hard to landscape it...

Somewhere in Time 

Painting away

I know I have been lax on posting for the last great while but I have been doing more projects. One of the projects I have been working on is getting set up to do my landscape paintings. 
I have not painted for 40 years! Yes that is a long time to be away from one of the most gratifying things I have ever done! I minored in art and industrial arts in college but only pursued my major graphic arts for my bread and butter.
Industrial arts brought me to buying woodworking machines of which I used extensively for my hobby all this time. Painting was a hobby I had years ago but over time I could only spend so much time at one or the other so painting lost out.
Well now that I am retired and do not travel as much I have returned to painting as a way to travel in my mind.
It has worked out well for me and I have been many places...only in my minds eye but I have captured these places on canvas. Now I can return there with only a glance and I am whisked away to far off places at little cost.
I would like to share a few of the places I have been to...

Somewhere in Time 

Please excuse the quality of the photos. I have lost the cord to down load photos from my camera and I have had to use my computer as my camera.

Home Sweet Home

I know it has been a while since my last post and I had several family members ask me what is wrong.
Actually there is nothing wrong I just have been filling my days with a new hobby. I started back painting landscapes. This is something I use to do years ago and really enjoyed it. Now that I have more time at home and fewer projects coming up I can spend my time traveling by painting some of the scenes we have witnessed over the years.
I started out working in oils and now I have purchased some acrylic paints to see how I do with them. Much of my techniques that I acquired in the past have long left me and I am having to start over. With a few on line lessons I should be back in the swing of things as soon as I complete a few more landscapes. 
Painting is something that you have to work at all the time to improve your eye. Yes you do lose the touch as they say but I feel it coming back with ever painting I complete.
Other than this I have been mostly just hanging out and working in my shop. I hope to do something worth writing about...

Somewhere in Time  

Return home

All the muck...can you believe it?

We were up at our regular early time Thursday. This is our travel day back home. We have had a wonderful time here minus the seaweed on the beach. As things would have it...it is time to head home and say good-bye to family.
We enjoyed our last morning on the patio. Dellanera park is normally a great place to stay if you like being right on the beach...but with the rotting seaweed maybe it would have been better to be more inland this time.
We finished our coffee and then it was time to start packing. I had done much of it last night so this morning was not going to be that hard to do.
I drove down to the station and topped off our tank and then returned to hook up. Had a little trouble locking down the ball to the trailer but that got done after much sweat filled my eyes. Have to love this humidity down here!

We made it out about 10:00 am and drove all the way home with only one stop along the way. We got the trailer unloaded at the house and then drove it out to the lake. By this time temps were in the low 100's! We got everything stowed away and ready for the next trip...

Somewhere in Time