Le Marché de Noël

What an interesting visit to the Alsace area of France!  We stayed in Strasbourg for a three day trip to this area.  It seemed very cold to us, but not bad at all compared to what people in most of the U.S. are experiencing right now!

The markets are located throughout the city of Strasbourg.  The city is wonderful in that it is very easy to navigate and we enjoyed walking all over.  This is the entrance to one of the markets.

One is able to find almost anything desired in these markets!  Decorations and ornaments of all shapes and sizes are sold, as well as, all kinds of wonderful food!

The most interesting is the hot spiced wine!  It is not only a special treat, but it certainly helps to keep your fingers warm!

October Fun!

It was nice to spend a long weekend up on Beech Mountain, NC.  The weather was foggy at first, but turned out to be a beautiful fall weekend!  And the trees on the mountains were spectacular!  The colors were at their peak at the top of the mountain - down on the lower elevations they hadn't changed from green, yet.  It was perfect weather for art shows, country fairs, and pumpkins!

Le Tour de France 2013

I saw a sign about the Tour de France bike race - which would be coming through Aix-en-Provence. It seemed like a fun way to start the 4th of July!  So I decided to go out to watch! The Caravan takes place about 2 hours before the riders come by and lasts for about 30 minutes.

The Caravan is an exciting part of the Tour.  There are lots of cars, trucks, and other vehicles all decorated by the sponsors of the Tour - and along with all that - music, horns honking, and lots of yelling on loud speakers!

 Besides spraying water on the people watching the Caravan parade, there were lots of promotional items thrown out - candy, hats, stickers - all sorts of goodies!

This is the Boutique on wheels - the shop for all Tour items, such as your very own yellow jersey!

Stage 6 of the race began in Aix-en-Provence.  Here is the car leading the riders as they start.  See the "DEPART" flag.

The riders go by so fast - maybe 28mph - that this part is over in a minute or so!

Art....In the Rain

Well, this past weekend was a first for me - to do a fine arts festival in the middle of a Northeaster!  We were able to set up the tent on Friday before the rain came - which was great!  Then there was rain Friday night and Saturday morning - and it was cold, too.  (Well, cold by Florida standards since we had already had lots of hot weather!)  The wind came, and also many neighbors of the beautiful Boone Park in Avondale came by.  Sunday morning dawned a bit brighter and warmer - and the sun came out!  And with the sun, many more people from the area came out to enjoy the beautiful setting with all the exciting art throughout the park!  I had a nice time talking to lots of wonderful people!

This Saturday I will be at Arts in the Park - in Johansen Park on Seminole Road, Atlantic Beach.  This is always a super show - only one day (Saturday) 10 - 6.

Spring!

Two weeks ago I set up my tent at the Mandarin Art Festival!  This fine arts show is located on the beautiful tree-lined grounds of the Mandarin Community Club - close to the St. John’s River.  It was a beautiful - and hot weekend!  Everyone connected with the festival was wonderful, and so were all the other artists that I met.  We did set-up on Friday afternoon and take-down on Sunday after the last customer left at 5PM.

Yesterday, there was an Art League of Jacksonville art show connected with the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Matthews bridge in Jacksonville.  The art show and activities took place at the Norman Studio complex in the Arlington area. The Norman Studios was founded in 1920, when silent films were produced, and is the last surviving studio complex left from that era. The art show was held in what had been the prop storage building!  It was a very interesting venue and so nice to meet wonderful people!

Next weekend I will be showing my photography at the Jacksonville Fine Arts Show at Boone Park, in Avondale.