My World

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We were walking around the campus of
Rice University on Halloween
going to the Howl-o-ween Barkathon
when we came across this:

It is a portion of the Berlin Wall.
It sits outside the Baker Institute for Public Policy.
I believe today is the anniversary of the wall coming down and thought
I'd share this small portion with you.

Here are a very few of the participants in the Barkathon.
It was held as a fund raiser for women's athletics
and for a local animal rescue group.
They raised over $35,000.

This family came as the Jackson 5 -- complete with gloves and hats.
They and their dog were one of the winners.

None of the little lady dogs wanted their faces in the pictures.
But they sure enjoyed showing off their dresses!

Loved the little elf.

This little guy was in constant motion
as you can tell by the blurry photo.

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My World Tuesday

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One more visit to the International Quilt Festival in Houston.

This set of photos with a nature/animal theme.

In Hiding by Barbara Shapel from Washougal, Washington.
This was one of my favorite quilts.
I wish I had taken a photo of the back.
It was a beautiful as the front!

Summer Sanctuary by Ann Fahl from Racine, Wisconsin
Another favorite of mine because of the kitty!
Ann said this is her favorite reading chair and things went from there!

Pup Art by Nancy Brown from Oakland, California
Nancy said she loves bright colors and bouncy puppies
and thought it would be fun to bring the two together.
It sure made me smile!
Hand embroidery, hand quilting, hand applique and machine piecing
100% cotton, most dyed or overdyed by Nancy

The Great Crate Escape by Pauline Salzman from Treasure Island, Florida
This is Ally and Lucy and they are impossible to crate!
Pauline said the howling and barking that ensues is really unbearable.
But, riding in the car - that's another story!

I hope you enjoyed my visit to the International Quilt Festival.
We will all have to wait for next year for more!

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My World

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It's back to the Houston International Quilt Festival.
I'm a fantasy lover and a dragon lover.
These quilts sang to me!

Medea Escaping by Marilyn Belford from Chenango Forks, New York

Beautiful!
But it was the critter in the bottom left corner who waved to me.

I'd like you to meet Lizzie!
At least that is what a friend of the quilt maker told me -
the dragon's name is Lizzie.
Wonderful!

Words of Wisdom by Elizabeth Dillinger of Ajax, Ontario, Canada
I fell madly in love with this wise old dragon.
Dillinger based this quilt on the amazing needle work of Teresa Wentzler.

Lastly, this is Pandora
made by Vicki David and Terry Breazeale of
Santa Rosa, California.
Inspiration for this quilt came from a stylized Elizabethan
Christmas card.

More quilts next week!

Joy!

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My World

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I love this time of year in Houston.
There's so much to do -- too much!

Last week I went to the International Quilt Festival with
my Sista and god-daughter.
We girls always have a good time together.
We were wowed by what we saw.

It was a hard decision just deciding where to start!
So much to see!

(On the Wings of A Dream by Caryl Bryer Fallert)

This quilt is called On The Wings of A Dream
and was the grand-prize winner.
Caryl Bryer Fallert from Paducah, Kentucky is the artist.
Caryl describes the quilt this way:
"After a major life event, a new life chapter begins, and
there is freedom to make new choices and try new things.
The dancer and the transparent white bird merg
together to represent this freedom. The eagle represents
the past, which must be left behind in order to move forward."
Hand dyed and painted, machine pieced, embroidered, quilted

(Beyond the Horizon by Mary Ann Hildebrand)

I promised Kim over at Calamity Kim's that I would post
this quilt called Beyond the Horizon today.
It is based on one of Kim's favorite woodcuts.
The artist of this quilt called Beyond The Horizon is
Mary Ann Hildebrand of Comfort, Texas.
Mary Ann says " This quilt was made in response to a local
art center's call for quilts based on other art forms and my
husband's challenge to do the design.
It is based on an early woodcut."

(Touque - a neat word for a hat, eh? by Victoria Gray)

There was a whole section of quilts made by Canadian artists.
This quilt by Victoria Gray from Heffley Creek, British Columbia, Canada
is called "Touque (tuk) n. a neat word for a hat, eh?"
It made me smile. Fun, isn't it?!!!
I would think a knitted hat would be indispensable in Canada!
Techniques: Hand appliqued, embroidered, braided and distressed,
painted, stuffed, trapunto, machine quilted

This is just a glimpse. There are more for another day!

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Joy!

My World

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I think I've mentioned before that we are baseball lovers.

I'm going to take you back to the end of September
and the last game of the season (for us) with the Astros.

It was a beautiful day and the roof was open!

We are huge college baseball fans
and get a real charge seeing *our* boys play in the major leagues.
Here's Lance Berkman (first baseman for the Astros)
with Paul Janish (short stop for the Cincinnati Reds).
Both of them played for Rice U Owls.
Lance was the college baseball player of the year.
Paul was on the 2003 team that won the college world series.
I wonder what they were talking about? !!!!!

It was Friday night and the last fireworks of the season.

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Have a wonderful week!

My World

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Last week our grandson and his parents were visiting.
We had a great time and now you get to see some of the pictures!

(Himself with the menu)

One evening we went to the Rain Forest Restaurant.
We were surrounded by animated animals.
Every 20 minutes there was a rain storm.
No water, but the lights flashed like lightening with plenty of sound effects.

The monkeys made monkey sounds.

The tigers growled every now and then.

The elephants raised their tusks and flapped their ears.

But it was Tracy the Talking Tree that HIMSELF really liked.

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Joy!

My World

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I'm taking us back to Williams Tower and the grounds around the building to the Water Wall.

A three acre setting

Dedicated in 1985
Built and designed by John Burgee architects with
Philip Johnson Network

The gabled archway fronting the fountain, the scaenae frons
is reminiscent of an ancient Roman theatre stage.

11,000 gallons of water
per minute
spill over the walls of the 64 foot high fountain.

front and back

We had seen the Water Wall many times on the local television stations.
We had never visited the Wall before until the day we visited
the Williams Tower for the art exhibition for Mr. Turner.

I can't begin to tell you how overwhelming it is.
And, the sound of all that water!
WOW!

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My World

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Mr. Dragon and I took a jaunt (love that word)
to Williams Tower to see
Celebration: The Legacy of Arthur Turner.

Mr. Dragon is taking color theory from Mr. Turner who is a well known
water colorist. He has been at the Glassell School for 40 years.
This exhibition featured some of his students.

The Williams Tower is located in the Galleria area of Houston - a multi-use area, shopping, restaurants, hotels, condo et al. We parked in the Galleria parking garage and walked over to Williams Tower. I had to take a photo of the sign marking the Helistop!


This dramatic 64-story, 1.4 million-square-foot office tower is a product of the award-winning architectural team of Philip Johnson and John Burgee.

At 64 stories and 901 feet (275 m), the Williams Tower is the tallest building in Houston outside of the Downtown area. When it was constructed in 1983, it was also the world's tallest skyscraper outside of a city's central business district. Williams Tower was named "Skyscraper of the Century" in the December 1999 issue of Texas Monthly magazine.

The building is unique in that it was built to function as two separate towers stacked directly on top of one another, one comprising the first forty floors and the other the forty-first to sixty-fourth. The building has separate banks of elevators and lobbies for each of the two building sections. A majority of the bottom 40 floors are occupied by Williams. The remainder of the building is occupied by a variety of tenants. The building's stepback design suggests one of Johnson's earlier (and smaller) works, the IDS Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Committed to being an environmentally responsible building, Williams Tower was designed to be energy efficient and has earned the EPA’s Energy Star label for each year since 2000 that it was eligible and is now actively seeking LEED Existing Building certification from the United States Green Building Council.

Here are a few of the paintings in the exhibition on the ground floor of the building. Remember, these are all watercolors!

Onaxis and Eggplants by Anstis Lundy

Urn and Blossoms by
Keiko Yasuoka

Beautiful Morning by
Keiko Yasuoka

Map Poem, gouache on Strathmore paper by
Dee Wolff

A very successful jaunt.
We walked back to the Galleria and had lunch at the cafe
in Nordstroms.

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Joy!

My World

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Today, I'm taking you back to Texas Art Supply
and the last of the murals on the outside walls.

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Just a short note to thank all of you who have left messages of condolence
by commenting or by email regarding the death of our kitlet, Rocky.
All of us appreciate your kindness. The house is too quiet.
We all miss him -- two leggeds and four leggeds.
I'll have more about what took Rocky from us at a later time.

My World

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We had to drop by Texas Art Supply last week to pick up some supplies for Mr. Dragon. He is taking color theory this semester. Someone should have told me we needed to buy stock in Texas Art Supply! This time I had my camera with me and took pictures of the murals on the building.

I've saved some for next week!

Remember to click on photo to enlarge.

Have a wonderful day!

Joy to You!

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Today I'm taking you to The Path of Tea.

You can see all the teapots in the window.
They were everywhere inside.

This is the sniffing bar.
133 organic teas to pick from.

You pick the tea cup you wish to drink from.

Here's Mr. Dragon with his red velvet cupcake.
We need to go back to more pictures of the TEA!
We had such a good time, we forgot all about the camera!

They had wonderful goodies to pick from.
Here's my cupcake.
Several bars and cookies were made with tea.
We picked a green tea called Jasmine Dragon Pearl.

The girls had a black tea flavored with Lychee.

What made this tea drinking special were our two guests.
The one on the left is the curator for Asian Art at the museum.
The one on the right used to be her assistant, Vivian.
Vivian may look familiar to those of you who have followed me for awhile.
Vivian went temple trekking with us before she went to China to study.
Now she's off to Michigan to work on her Ph.D.
This was a farewell and good luck tea.

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