Walking to New Orleans

Good morning all y’all!

New to me stuff going on in New Orleans. The schools, government offices and many other businesses are closed for two days because of a storm coming in. The grocery and Red Box were crowded with people yesterday, like before a hurricane. The low tonight will be 27. It is 36 as I write this. The roads will be icy. Some bridges will be closed. For this transplanted me, this preparedness seems over the top. Maybe I will be educated.

The Blush Ball was last Saturday. There is a great video on Facebook of our dance, but I can’t get it to transfer out of Facebook. At least you can see our costumes and our awesomeness.  We raised $30,000 for  the Metropolitan Center of Women and Children.

That is me in the very middle in a short pink, curly wig.

Walking to New Orleans, because I have been thinking about alligators and skyline.

I have a nice old frame that I acquired at an estate sale. My sweet darlin’ cut a piece of wood to fit in the frame. It measures 15.5 x 28 inches. Usually, when I do a background, I start haphazardly, intention mixed with wild abandon. Most of it gets covered up. This time, I thought it would be cool to paint the land and sky the same colors. I started painting land and sky (with intention and abandon).

I cut out maps, music, and decorative paper for the buildings and paper that looks like French writing for the foliage. I outlined the skyline in black paint and painted a much finer line around the buildings.

I am waiting for Golden self-leveling gel to arrive in the mail. It will be shiny and totally protect the paper. I think people will be drawn to touch the buildings, so I want to protect them.

The Chinese New Year begins this Friday. The year of the horse. Symbolically, I plan to dust the house before then. I like to take a small part of another culture’s ritual and make it my own. Especially, if many cultures share the same ritual.

Looking at the rain. Shaking my head. I believe we will be open again on Thursday.

Last but not least, our own Fats Domino.

Love you all,

Gator Girl