Waiting for Rosabella

Hi Rosabella!

These young ladies are waiting for you to be mailed to us! We want to play!

Magnetic Personalities

So let's see a show of hands for everyone who has seen the steel balls in a Magnetix kit? Stephen and I were playing with Stephen's Magnetix kit and watching Discovery Channel and eating popcorn. Stephen got confused and ate one of the steel balls instead of popcorn. It took 5 days before it passed all the way through his system.

This, of course, gave Stephen's dad an idea. You see, Stephen is very serious about himself and never laughs at the silly things he sometimes does. So for Christmas Stephen is working on 5 pieces of art, each one named Day 1, Day 2, etc. representing the Steel Ball's journey through Stephen's belly. Here, you guys get the first peek at Day 1, the first in Stephen's series on the matter.

Okay, so while we're previewing art by a 10-year-old, here is Stephen's work for his Spring exhibition, 'Screw', never before published : )

Here is a photo of me, Rosabella with Paul's new Mustang GT, just because, well, Paul can't stay away from his new car.

Midnight on the Oasis

Mike and Paul and Stephen had a lot of friends come stay with them during Hurricane Ike. I took a ride on a Mule ( its like a golf cart, only diesel and 4x4). They use the mule on the ranch to feed cattle and work the land. Mike took us for a midnight ride on the ranch.

Here you see Ethan, me, Stephen, Johnny, and Mike. Angie and Jacob are with us but you can't see them on the mule.

Mustang Rosa... Ride Rosa Ride

This was such an awesome day. Stephen's Dad Paul (on the right) has

too many cars - like seven cars, almost more than even I can count after 5 years in third grade. Mike and Paul took me to Boerne to pick up Paul's new Mustang GT last week. Our salesman, Big Roy, was a great guy and offered to hold me for our first photo with Lucille, the Mustang. Stephen is a bit embarrassed by all of those cars; he never knows what his dad is going to show up in when he picks him up from school.

Note to readers - if you want a sports car - buy it - we are having a great time in our new Mustang!

Lorraine Benini Shares Turkey Salad

While it appears Lorraine is holding me close for a photo, really she was just pulling me from the table because the turkey salad was soooooo delicious! I had a rumbling in my tumbling for more turkey salad.

Here I'm sitting in the belly of a Long Horn. This sculpture was created by Bettye Hamblin Turner, a Texas sculptor who is very comfortable welding and grinding and cutting metal, bending it to her will. Mike and Paul and Stephen have one of her sculptures, a philly horse named Bailey.



















Here I'm posing of a photo with Stephen in front of Bettye's longhorn.



















What do you think? Too much purple? This paining is one of Benini's geometric works form the 1990's. He paints on canvas, the cuts the painting out and mounts it over aluminum so that it stands away from the wall. His work is very complicated, he uses acrylic paints which dry very quickly, so it takes many layers of paint to achieve the shading he accomplishes on the paintings which look like they have been airbrushed.


























As you can see, the Beninis are very kid-friendly - be sure to stop by when you visit Texas.

Rosa Visits Her Hill Country Italian Neighbors

OMG - So we're bouncing down Flat Creek Rd here in Johnson City just about to pull into Walnut Springs when it dawns on Paul and Stephen, Rosabella, HELLO, she must be Italian!

We keep on rolling to the next road and surprise me with a visit to http://www.benini.com/ - which is the Benini Foundation and Sculpture Ranch here in Johnson City. They have around 150 acres of beautiful Tuscan-like hills, with contemporary sculture nestled among the fossils, scrubb oaks, escarpment hills and dusty lakes. I was absolutely at home with these folks. Benini was busy in his studio this morning, so we shared a spicy turkey salad with his wife and curator Lorraine.

Benini is an Italian-born artist. He left home when he was teenager, hopping a merchant marine ship to the Bahamas where he lived through the 1960's. He's lived in Forida and Arkansas before settling under the Texas stars. His sculpture ranch used to be owned by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. His home was the LBJ hunting cabin and his gallery was the presidential press-corps building during President Johnson's term in office.

We're having trouble uploading a second photo here, so we'll try the others with a new post.

Hill Country Plum

Hi Bloggers! Sorry I've been so long in the Hill Country, but some of my fellow Ike evacuees are just leaving Walnut Springs today, and I've been really having a great time here.



I'm staying with Paul and Mike and Stephen. Stephen is Ten, and is an artist. You can check out his website at http://www.sumrallorsak.com/. Yesterday I spent time in Stephen's studio working on a new piece of work which will be displayed in http://www.kirchmangallery.com/ during the Christmas Holidays.



Not all of my adventures have photo proof. Something about deleting files from a Compact Flash Card instead of moving them. What does that mean?



I did attend a CPR class with the staff at http://www.thepreserveatwalnutsprings.com/ and then rode Toby, Stephen's quarter horse, along the trails at the ranch.



Here is a photo of Stephen and I after the ride. We were standing in front of one of the steers at Walnut Springs. I have more photos to upload later today, but I have to run right now and take Stephen to school. Be back in an hour or so!