A Day on the Prairie

Yesterday Wayne and I took a drive out to the Elk and Bison Prairie at Land Between the Lakes, KY. It's about 35 minutes from our home, and we usually visit it several times a year. This is the first time all year that we have been there. And Mother Nature certainly put on a colorful show for us as the trees were ablaze with color, and we say a herd of 26 elk, and all but one of the bison (according to the Conservation Officer that we thanked as we left).

I hope you enjoy A Day on the Prairie...

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Zentangle Seminar and Trip Home

Here's a bit more about the Zentangle Teachers Seminar in Rhode Island...
In case you missed seeing them up close, here is a photo of my Zentangled shoes.





First I colored the white Keds tennis shoes with Marvy permanent markers, then I added the Zentangle designs, and finished them off with sapphire and amethyst Swarovski crystals.








This is the entire Certified Zentangle Teacher class #7, October 2011. (I am one of the tall ones in the back row - near the mirror in the right rear section of the group.) We had students from India, Japan, Australia, Canada, and all points far and wide across the U.S. What a fun week in Rhode Island and we learned a lot. And now I can add CZT after my name. I'm working on some classes and will add them to my class list very soon. You all will love learning to make your own Zentangled art... and everyone can do it!

The trip from Rhode Island to Iowa was a lot of driving, but the leaves were especially beautiful as we drove through the endless mountains in Pennsylvania. Mountains were all around us and we drove through several tunnels through the mountains. Here's a couple of photos...

The mountains had a lot of red trees giving color all around us.

Here we are heading into one of the tunnels through the mountains.

We arrived at my sister Karen's in Durant, Iowa, on Monday evening. We spent several days helping Wayne's sister Kathi go through their Mom & Step-dad's home. It's hard to believe that they passed away exactly 12 weeks apart. There was a lot of sorting of clothes and soft goods, cleaning in the kitchen - Karen took on the kitchen clean-up, sorting out foodstuffs and pitching out-of-date canned goods. Makes me want to start on our drawers and closets and do the same thing. I know we have a bunch of stuff we could get rid of... all except my quilting stuff, or course. We enjoyed a nice dinner with sister Marcia and her husband Don, Karen, and Mom Kirkland one evening and we all ate way too much.

We drove home on Saturday. Did our own bed ever feel good, after 2 1/2 weeks away. Poor Tuffy spent that time at Kitty Camp (boarded at the Vet), and he was really glad to get home too. The first day he wouldn't leave Wayne's side.

We say pretty trees in Ohio on the way to Rhode Island, in Pennsylvania on our way to Iowa, and now the color in the trees is good here in Paducah. This is a photo I took tonight as I got out of the car of trees in our yard and the neighbors. It was drizzling but you can still see all of the color in the trees - reds, oranges, and yellows.

And now we are catching up on our sleep, and I'm busy catching up at work.

More later... we are planning to drive out to see the elk on the prairie at Land Between the Lakes this weekend. Hope I can catch a good photo or two there.

Bonnie B

Providence Zentangle Teacher Seminar

What a trip - Wayne and I just finished a 3,200 mile trip which took us from KY, OH, PA, WV, NJ, NY, CT, and RI to get to the Zentangle Teacher Seminar in Providence, RI. Along the way we spent a couple of days in the Poconos where we visited Ray and Linda (Poole) Williams and Linda's parents, Gero & Gloria Grohs. We took a trip through the mountains in NY and went to a big craft fair on the grounds of Woodstock.


Ray and Linda Williams at the Craft Fair on the grounds of Woodstock.





Wayne and I had our photo taken in front the tye-dye shirt booth - the only visible remains of Woodstock.

Then we all went to the Williams new home and enjoyed some delicious grilled shis-ka-bobs. It was fun to see Linda's new office and studio area, and their beautiful new home tucked into the woods.




Then Wayne and I headed to Hotel Providence, Providence, RI, where the Zentangle seminar was held. Neither of us had been there before. Since we arrived a day early, we did have a chance to explore downtown Providence and their 6-story art museum. One whole room was paintings by Impressionist painters - Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Pissarro, Gauguin, Picasso, Matisse, and Rodin. They also have a lot of very old - 3500 B.C. carvings of ivory and other materials.


A view of the river running through downtown Providence

Zentangle creators Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts.

After we completed our first Zentangle tile, they were pinned to a background.
 

Class members studying our first Zentangle tiles.
 

Samples of Zentangled items we brought to share.

This photo shows off some of our Zentangled shoes, including my colorful ones.

More samples, including some quilted Zentangle designs.

Check out the knee-high sneakers with red shoestrings, and the Zen-opoly in the upper right corner.
All of the properties on this game are Zentangle designs.

How about this Zentangled flag!

And when we concluded the seminar on Friday morning, we received our Certified Zentangle Teacher certificates.

Before we left RI, Wayne and I had to do a little sightseeing of the area. We enjoyed seeing the ocean and having dinner at the Top of the Bay Restaurant in Warwick, RI. Take a look...

A boat harbor near Providence.

I guess we were supposed to be in this harbor because this boat is called My Zenda - coincidence?!

Wayne and I enjoyed dinner at the Top of the Bay Restaurant where we could see the ocean. It was a bit rainy but that didn't dampen our spirits or keep us from enjoying this for dinner....

And we ate every bite!

More in the next blog on our trip to Iowa and home to Kentucky.