About Me

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Recent retiree--35 year's experience teaching reading, English, adult basic education and volunteer leadership skills. Started this blog to exchange ideas and commentary with friends and others having an interest in joining the discussions. Greatest life accomplishments include: 1.organized my 3rd grade class to check out library books for me to get around librarian's weekly limit--Amazon.com, the Mullins Elementary 3rd Grade Class of 1956 is still waiting for "thank you" notes; 2. volunteered in the Peace Corps, island of St. Kitts, West Indies; 3.taught adults to read, earn their GEDs., and speak English as a second language; 4. bought a border collie puppy for $6, got evicted rather than give him up, and began a life-long love affair with all things "Dog"; 5. joined a physical fitness boot camp in my mid-50s--don't mess with someone who's been doing regulation pushups in wet grass at 5:30 a.m.; 6. walked across Northern England with best friend Sally--over 80 miles from the Irish to North Seas; and 7. travelled to many foreign countries for pleasure and work.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Winterfair!

Yesterday morning, Black Friday, the smoke alarm chirped Willie and me out of a sound sleep at 2:30 a.m. The wake up call would have been fine had I intended to be in the Wal-Mart or Best Buy bargain shopper's line early in the morning. I think not. I would have preferred to sleep in a few more hours before observing the day after Thanksgiving in a less combative manner. However, no big deal. I shushed the smoke alarm and coaxed Willie from under the desk where he kept pleading "Make that thing stop hurting my ears!" Finally, after restoring the calm I left home to meet up with some friends in Frankfort for a day of fine arts and crafts.
We drove to Covington, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, for a preview of Winterfair!,the Ohio fine art and craft
exposition. Every state has it's own variation of this type of show which spotlights its state artists working in a variety of media including ceramics, metals, fine art, jewelry, fiber and more. At every booth we found works that were beautiful, functional, and whimsical. We tried on handmade clothing and jewelry and laughed and chatted with the artisans, learning about their works.

There were artists that stood out for all three of us. My friend kittyhawk was eager to have us see the blown glass work of Michael J. Mikula which combines brilliantly colored,intricately shaped glass with metal in strikingly architectural designs. They became friends through a special book project and she has come to really appreciate his artistry.

My favorite artist was a young silversmith from Berkley who specialized in making ancient coin jewelry such as you see here. He was totally full of himself in a good way and kept us lingering at his booth with a combination of real information about the origins and symbolic meaning of the coins he used and good salesmanship.

I closed out a very successful day with my first Starbucks Peppermint Mocha of the holiday season and memories of a great day traveling with friends and sharing appreciation for the artists among us. I'm not regretting a single Black Friday bargain that slipped through my fingers while at Winterfair!

3 comments:

laurie said...

that sounds much, much more fun than standing in line at 2 in the morning to get into best buy before anyone else.

Faye said...

Oops! Caught in the middle of a learning curve, Laurie! I'm trying to figure out how to insert some images from Winterfair and my tech skills are the pits. Hope you'll check back later to see some of the art. Meanwhile back to my Geek Squad script. . .

KittyHawk said...

Faye, that's great! Captures the spirit of the day as well as our favorite pieces of art. Great fun! And congrats on succeessfully inserting the pics!!!