Chalk it up to experience

Saturday, I had tickets to Via Colori, which is a fundraiser for The Center for Hearing and Speech.  It's a two-day street painting festival, where various organizations (and a few invited artists) get together and do chalk murals on the streets around Hermann Square.

Doing this takes a lot of coffee

I'd heard about this festival a few years ago, but this was the first year I was able to go. The weather was absoloutely perfect and there was something to take a picture of around every corner. Heaven.  There was even an alley full of food trucks where I got to try kimchi fries, which I highly recommend. (However, it gives you the worst breath imaginable. Bring mints.)

There were a lot of Dia de las Muertos themes

It's a two day festival, and I only went on the first day, so the pictures I have are of largely unfinished works. For better pictures, click on the link above, and check out the photo gallery.

 

Sunset in Houston

 

 

 

This one was going to be 3-D when finished

 

Light the Night

In my never-ending quest to find cool things to take pictures of, last weekend I went to The Lights Festival (Light the fire within!). I signed up for it sometime in July, put it on my calendar and forgot about it for several months.

Fortunately, my calendar and The Lights people sent me reminder emails, plus a note saying to please show up by 4:30 pm and bring a chair.  


This is what you get, a mini-marker, a mini-flashlight, a sticker and a lantern, in a cute little burlap bag.

If you are unfamiliar with The Lights, this is what their website says:

The Lights Festival™ is a evening like no other. Imagine entering a place of peace, tranquility, and acceptance while enjoying laughs, smiles, and a little bit of dancing with the ones you love most. Never has there been an experience that allows you to throw your inhibitions to the side, and let your dreams fly. Join us for this one night experience of music, food and memories. The time is now to light the fire within.

Who wouldn't want a bit of that? So I packed my folding chair and a selection of reading material and off I went to the Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown. I arrived a little after 3pm.



I looked at my packet. I read my book. I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Around 6 (7?) they had a very nice singer attempt to entertain the crowd. She sang a few Dolly Parton and Kacey Musgrove songs, plus a few of her own. A nice change of pace, but she was up against a crowd of several thousand extremely bored people, who mostly ignored her. 

It became too dark too read.


This guy came prepared.

Finally, finally, they light the tiki torches. The crowd awakes from its stupor. Something is happening. But it's not dark yet. More light pop music from the sound system. It's getting genuinely dark, and the organizers, who seem like pleasant, earnest people, attempt to fire up the crowd. Cranky people who've been sitting in a parking lot for over 4 hours don't fire up easily.

It would be better if we could do something, but we are told DON'T LIGHT YOUR LANTERNS YET!!!! many times. The fire marshal has concerns. It's windy. If I have spent my entire day in a parking lot to not set my lantern on fire, I will be really upset. So will the rest of the crowd, which numbers approximately 10,000 by this point. 


They lit the torches! Maybe we'll get to do something!


After another 30-40 minutes, some very bad jokes and an onstage proposal, (Too late, at this point, nothing short of Prince reincarnating on stage is going to get my full attention) the fire marshal gives the go ahead and they tell us how to light the lanterns. Sort of. The sound system isn't as good as it should be, and the guy telling us what to do is speaking too softly. But we get to light our lanterns!

Chaos ensues. People set fire to the lanterns instead of the fuel cell, people send them off sideways instead of straight up, so they fall to the ground and crash into people. There are small children in the crowd, always a plus when dealing with fire. Eventually, I get my lantern lit and after three tries figure out how to get it airborne.

And for one brief instant, it looks like the scene in Tangled. It is truly a magical moment.

Which lasts all of 5 minutes, and then I come crashing back to reality because I realize I've lost my chair, which has my bag sitting on it, which contains my wallet. I spend 20 minutes looking for my chair in a shifting crowd, devoid of landmarks, any and all soul-improving, mystic benefit gone.

Eventually, I find my chair and wallet, and then spend an hour trying to get out of the parking lot. 


My attempt at a panoramic shot.

Conclusion: Go online and buy your own lanterns and do it with friends at home. It won't be as impressive, but it won't be as stressful either. And no-one will be trying to sell you corn dogs, lite beer, or souvenirs "of such a special night."

White Linen Night

It is a constant battle to keep from becoming a recluse. I always have wonderful excuses to stay home. For example, this weekend, when I attended White Linen Night.

White Linen Night is a street fair in Houston's Heights neighborhood. There are bands and food trucks, lots of booths selling the work of local artists, and everyone is supposed to wear white linen. (it's supposed to be cooler.)

The excuse making voices in my head said, "It's going to be crowded, hot, sweaty and expensive. Stay home and watch Netflix."

And it was hot, crowded, sweaty and expensive. Dinner (at Shade) was approximately $70. I won't even go into the art prices.  But it was a lot more interesting than staying home and watching Netflix.

Korean-Mexican food truck - I didn't eat here, but I loved the decoration.

I have no idea

My favorite part - I heard arias from Little Women, La Fille du Regiment, and the bolero Besame Mucho.



End of Spring Update





It's been a pretty quiet and boring few months. Partly because torrential rain kept me indoors more than usual, and partly because my house noticed all the attention I had been lavishing on the garden, and threw a fit. My garage door opener and in-sink garbage disposal broke, beyond repair. So I spent a couple of weekends handing my father tools and getting to know the local hardware stores much better than I ever wanted to. It's been expensive.

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But at least my house hasn't flooded. I've been sent home from work early because they were worried rising waters would trap us on site, but that's been about it.  On the bright side, it does mean that all the sod and plants I put in earlier this year are doing really well.

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I did manage to get out of the house a few times:

I saw Duran Duran in concert, and it was fabulous. I'm not a big concert goer, but this was a really good show. Chic was the opening act, and they could have been the whole concert. I actually felt sorry for Duran Duran, I wouldn't have wanted to follow them.  But they came out and did their thing and it was like back-to-back concerts. Not really related, but both shows were so good, who cared?

I saw "Sculpted in Steel" at the Museum of Fine Arts. The show was about Art Deco as applied to cars and motorcycles. I've never been a big car buff, but these were the most magnificent automobiles I've ever seen. The level of detail and the quality of the materials, was inspiring. I felt like I should go home and change because I was not dressed for the occasion. And if you wanted to feel like a real schlub, you could cross the street and see "Deco Nights: Evenings in the Jazz Age" where they had designer clothing of the era, including a bronze Fortuny gown that has to be one of the most subtly sexy garments I've ever seen.

Finally, I went to the Japan Festival in Hermann Park. As usual, there was terrific people-watching. I listened to J-pop and taiko drums, was wowed by the bonsai exhibit and I got to try takoyaki. I liked it, but not everyone is into octopus.

Of course I took pictures.

Portable shrine - it's mostly plastic and looks like the most expensive Lego kit in the world.

Tiny lanterns!

Bridge in the Japanese garden - I never time it right to get there when the irises are in bloom.

Shoes outside the tea tent. Only the orange flip flops are positioned correctly- together and facing out.

Doggy bag

 

Wabi-sabi

I found Waldo!

Turtle soup - though pizza would have been more thematically consistent

Can you have a Japanese festival without totoro?

I'll be more active this Summer. I promise.

International Quilt Festival - 2014

I went to the 40th Annual International Quilt Festival this weekend.  It was one of those events that I've been hearing about for years, but never actually gone. 

Wow. I never imagined it was this big. It was huge. Half of it was devoted to booths with things for sale: sewing machines, antique fabrics, yarn, baskets, quilt kits, fat quarters, quilting templates, jewelry made out of antique buttons, etc.  This was fascinating in its own way, but the show really starts when you get to the exhibition space. 

Since this was the 40th Anniversary, there was a huge exhibit of red and white quilts (aka "red work"). None of these were in the competition, they were just there to show artistry. There was an exhibit of quilts from the Texas Quilt Museum. I have no photographs of these, because no picture were allowed, but it doesn't matter. I couldn't take enough pictures. There was an abundance of incredible artwork.  I wandered around for two and a half hours, and eventually gave up out of exhaustion. I just couldn't take any more in. If I ever do the festival again, I'll do it in stages, going over several days. 

Sometimes, you can't believe these things are fabric. 

Traditional Victorian crazy quilt

I don't know what this is, but isn't it neat?

And it wasn't just quilts, there was doll category.

Wearable art

Can't you just see this at Comic-con?

An entire table set with (quilted) regional food

I really loved this one from India. It's the colors of the rainbow, in Braille. You can read the quilt by touching it.

There was quite an international presence:

Australia

You can't see it in the picture, but the sky is all patterned with lines of the dreamtime

Japan

The artist said she created this for her 65th birthday, when it's traditional in Japan to don a red vest. 

France

This is actually a completely white quilt, with all the figures outlined in gold thread. It's spread on a light box so you can it it better. It's the story of Tristan and Iseult.

There was even a challenge from NASA. Astronaut Karen Nyberg created a square while on the ISS, and it became the start of a 28 panel quilt, with squares donated from all over the world.

 

part of one of the panels

I took so many pictures, my camera battery ran out. I can't post them all, but these are the best shots. Enjoy.

A tribute to a teacher

Mariners compass

You felt like you should be lighting candles in front of it.

Embellished

All buttons. I'm sure there's some quilting under there, but who cares?

This one was painted, then quilted.

Dreamy poppies

The inspiration for this quilt was The Book of Changes

Every one of those squares is about the size of a Chiclet. Imagine piecing that.

Samson and Delilah. Honestly, the photo does not do this one justice.