Office Fire in Houston

Last night about 5:30 PM, I was working on the computer and watching the news and saw a building that I thought looked very familiar. It took me a little while to figure out how I knew the building, but I finally realized that I worked in this building several times during my ten years at my previous job.

The phone calls started with me calling to check on a friend who still works in the building and with others calling me to see if I had been watching the news. I found out about 9:00 PM that my friend made it out, but she was still on site waiting for supervisors to arrive at the building to assess the situation in person.

This morning I found out that two of my former co-workers did not make it out of the building. I spent much of the day in disbelief that something like this could happen so quickly that they couldn't get out of the building. I made and received calls and e-mails from people I know there, and everyone I spoke to is in shock at this terrible waste.

Links to the story:

http://www.khou.com/images/0703/hargrove.pdf

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou070329_jj_buildinghistory.1259b17f.html#

Hotei in the House

Last week we bid on and won two statues of Hotei (Buddha) on Ebay. I am thrilled because we had a statue that was almost identical to this one when I was very young.This is a painting of the statue that we used to have. When I hold them up together, they look like mirror images.

This is the two statues together. Diva is nestled in her box between them. Looking at this has reinforced to me how much I need to remove that mirror behind the book case.

Dovely Ada

Here is Ada with her Great Nana at Jimmy G's near the airport. I think it is impossible for Ada to take a bad picture. I woke up this morning and heard the doves cooing outside, and thought just for a minute that Ada was in the next room. She babbles so sweetly in the morning, it's more like music than fussing. It never occurred to me how hard it was going to be after she went back to Tennessee.

Venice Charcoal

This is my latest art find. I wish I could read the name at the bottom. I found it at a resale shop labeled "small poster of Venice." The glass was cracked and when I asked them to keep the glass, so I wouldn't have to dispose of it, we realized that it was an original charcoal. I think I like it because most drawings/paintings of Venice are happy/pretty works, but this has an expressionistic quality about it and I would not call it happy. It's not quite sinister, but I do think it is moody and maybe even melancholy.

Eureka! Aubrey Beardsley

The Platonic Lament

I finally figured it out - my print is an Art Nouveau stone lithograph by Aubrey Beardsley. It's called The Platonic Lament and it is from Oscar Wilde's Salome. I took the print into Michael's today to buy a frame and matting for it. The counter girl who helped me said she thought it looked like a French Art Nouveau lithograph. She suggested it was a stone litho, rather than a wood cut, and it turns out she was mostly right. I never heard of Aubrey Beardsley before today, but after some searching on the net for Art Nouveau lithographs, I found some prints that seemed to be by the same artist who made my print. I looked through page after page of Beardsley's work and eventually found my print, The Platonic Lament.

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/beardsley/works.html

Post-Visit Blues

Steve's Angels

Steve, Gina, and Ada came for the weekend. We had a great visit and got the chance to shop the wholesale shops on Harwin. We mainly bought at Mulan, where Ada and Gina got silk pajamas.

Matt, Caryn, and Sammy

We had a great meal and visit with Matt and Caryn at Dimassi's (and at Outback). Sammy is too cute for words - and what gorgeous hair!

Ada's Table Dance at Dimassi's

We had a really laid back visit. We met Mike and Bill at the Buffalo Grille for brunch (we should have taken pictures there), and spent the rest of the time it seems like we watched TV, played Balderdash and slept. I have really had the blues since they left. There is something about having family close by that can't be beat.

Beautiful Girl

I don't think it is possible for me to have a more beautiful grandniece. Ada has the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen - she he absolutely angelic.

Grandma and Linda would be spoiling her rotten if they were here. I'm planning to fill in for them (or channel them) - so I'll apologize to Gina and Steve ahead of time.

Gina looks awfully happy to have her pretty little Christmas elf. We're pretty happy she's here too.

Here is Steve being the doting father he was always meant to be. We can't wait to see you guys!!

Sleeping Beauty?

I found a print at The Guild Shop that I really like a lot. I have never seen anything quite like it, so if you know what it is from, please let me know. I am guessing that it is a reproduction of woodblock print from some edition of Sleeping Beauty. This illustration seems odd to me for a few reasons. The first reason is that the character that I think depicts the prince is so very effeminate, and the second is that he is naked. I don't recall the prince being naked in any version of Sleeping Beauty that I have read. I thought at first that it might be Romeo and Juliet, but Romeo is only naked in one scene in that story and it's not the one where Juliet is sleeping fully clothed. Another thing that seemed strange to me is the triangular tree in the background. It measures about 18" X 26"

ACEO's

Candid Goblin

Since our walls are for the most part bare, I started looking for original art on Ebay. After slogging through page after page of junk, I found some drawings that jumped out at me.

Hangin' Too Loose

The artist is Nancy Tuttle and she draws goblins. Yes, I have fallen in love with little bitty pictures of goblins. I am completely captivated by detail in their faces. It all started when I saw the King of Melancholy.

King of Melancholy

These are all of the pictures we bid on and won. They are only slightly larger than the pictures shown, because they are ACEO's (Art Cards, Editions, and Originals). Finding these drawings has brought me into the world of ACEO's, which to be honest, I had not head of before finding Ms. Tuttles work. The format is on art card stock and each measures only 2.5 by 3 inches. They are little trading cards for artists, but each one is an original work of art. I am pretty sure I have a new thing to collect.