Category: Liz Ackert

Touching base

~ Liz A ~ 12 Comments

I know, it’s been a while … no excuses, it is what it is. And I haven’t forgotten there are still New Mexico and Missouri posts to write … eventually.

Texas went from daytime in the 80s to 40s and 50s within 24 hours … with a touch of overnight frost thrown in for good measure … so the garden is struggling a bit …

Fortunately, the mealy blue sage and dwarf pomegranate don’t seem to mind …

I’ve got my list of beige food to make for Thanksgiving … mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, stock for gravy, creamed onions, apple and coconut cream pies … to which I will add broccoli salad for some green relief … there will be other sides to add color to the table, of course. There’s a wonderful warm comfort in anticipating the traditional foods. And since I do believe food is love, Thanksgiving will always be my most favorite holiday.

And Christmas is coming, so I’m playing with a new project in between stitching strips of cloth onto My Heart’s Compass …

Paper piecing adapted from an Ann Wood pattern

Happy days …

Halloween happy-ness

~ Liz A ~ 16 Comments

For those of you who don’t get trick-or-treaters, here are two photo-mosaics of the 100-or-so kiddos plus parents who came our way last night …

As it got darker, the camera did better in video mode, but I’ll spare you the actual footage. Although I did especially like the clip of one child who walked away saying, “Wait, I got two by mistake!” and turned back. “Keep it!” I said, “Your honesty earned you an extra treat!”

I do have fun creating our basket of treats, which are mini-packs of M&Ms wrapped in corny bat jokes and a maze …

topped by a ghostly watchman …

standing guard beneath the taco moon …

This year we got to see our Missouri grandkiddos modeling their costumes, captured here in a screen-shot mash-up from the video I took as the aliens “battled” …

While the Austin grands stood still for a more conventional photo-sesh, along with the “vocabulary parade” at school (a genius way to get around the Halloween costume dilemma that schools always face) …

And last, but not least, Corn Maze arrived safe and sound, taking its place alongside our New Mexico gallery …

All this and we even had Halloween candy left over. ‘Twas a very good day indeed.

Penultimate post on New Mexico

~ Liz A ~ 9 Comments

I don’t think I’ve ever documented a trip so fully, but this one was indeed special. The nice thing about blogging is that readers can choose to read and/or look as much, or as little, as they please. So please do read on … or not 😉

As we headed out from the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, I took one last picture …

Then we headed to the Taos Ski Valley, just to see what it was like on the way up into the mountains …

Don got out to walk around, but I took a pass. He came back saying he felt like his feet weren’t attached. I wonder why …

Then we headed down the way we came …

Look … a Hazel tree!

Back in Taos we had a great lunch of chillies rellenos and enchiladas at La Cueva, visited a few more galleries, and spotted a good candidate for a future visit …

After which we finally headed out of Taos …

on our way to the Abiquiu Inn (already documented in real time here). And in a bit of perfect timing, I picked up a message from Barbara Clark saying that her paintings could be seen there …

The paintings were hung in the Inn cafe, where we had a trout dinners two ways: blue corn tacos and a more traditional grilled fillet. The kitchen was slammed, so our meal was somewhat extended, which ended up being a good thing as we got into a great conversation with the folks at the next table.

They were from Baltimore and were planning to paint out at Ghost Ranch. And in a wonderful coincidence, it turned out that she interned with Textile Curator Linda Baumgarten at Colonial Williamsburg around the same time as I started working there … over 40 years ago! So of course I told them about my visit to the textile vault at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

We parted after dessert and then, on impulse, I went back in and asked if there was some way to contact them. With a wry look, Kathleen Kotarba said she had a website, but her husband Michael didn’t, although he could be searched online. And search for them I did …

It was the perfect lead-in to our last art-full day.