Easter Sunrise Service 2010

Sunday morning was our annual "Community Easter Sunrise Service" at the City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, FL. There were 16 participating congregations, and it was open to the public. (Hmmmmmm...I just noticed one of the participating congregations was "Divine Circle of Illuminati". What's up with that? Is that "Illuminati" as in "The DaVinci Code Illuminati"? Can't be. I'll have to do a little research to find out more about them.)

So the service took place at the City of Palms park, where the Red Sox do their spring training.

There was a pretty good turnout. I don't know how many thousands were present...


I was surprised to find that the grandson of Billy Graham, Will Graham, was present to speak, and relayed the events that lead up to our memorializing Good Friday.


I look forward to this service every year. It's inspirational and uplifting to listen to not only the speakers, but to enjoy the symphony and choir as the sun rises.





It was a very nice morning. Then I came home exhausted (after getting up at 4:30 AM), and instead of sleeping I tackled this...
We spent about an hour working on my garage. Woodrow worked on the corner where I've allowed him to store some things, and I started clearing a path to the laundry room door. We got the bookcase moved inside, and I started bringing in books from the garage. We were able to get rid of a lot of empty boxes for recycling. A lot of this stuff is just waiting for a garage sale. I can't wait for that day! Half of this garage will disappear after that, because what doesn't sell will be going to Goodwill!

So yesterday was a productive day. First I fed my soul, then worked on the garage before heading to the movies to see Clash of the Titans. It was a good day!

Art Show Purchase

Yesterday we went to the annual Pine Island Art Association show, which Woodrow and I have gone to every year for the last three or four years. This year we went with my Dad and his wife, who are down here visiting. My father is something of an artist, so he really enjoys art shows as well.

Pine Island and Matlacha (prounounced mat-la-shay) and Bokeelia are beautiful, quirky areas here in South Florida. The area is full of artists and plant nurseries that grow exotic tropical fruit. There is a great introduction to the area here. This area is one of my favorite places on earth.

So we went to the art show, which was held in Matlacha. I saw a number of works that I would have loved, but only had limited funds. So after much debate, I decided to go with my first instinct, which was this piece...

I'm afraid that I can't remember the name of it (UPDATE 2/23/10: The piece is titled "Why Me?"), and I'm not certain of the artist's name, although I think that it is Maria Bouman (UPDATE 2/23/10: The artist is Deanna Berko). (When I bought it, the association kept the tag that had been on it. If I'd known they were going to do that, I would have written it all down!) I hope that the artist will be contacting me and letting me know any information on the piece. This item won First Place for Pastels. It is really stunning! I couldn't believe that no one else had snagged it yet, but I think that they were held back by the subject matter. It seems that people only buy portraits of dog breeds that they have some direct connection with. Everyone would ask me, when finding I was interested in it, "Do you have a St. Bernard?" Then everyone would go on to comment on how remarkable the portrait really was, and the eyes are unbelievable! The eyes almost glisten with reflectivity, and you feel like you can reach out and grab the dog's scruff and bury your face in his fur. It's just really remarkable.

So finally, after three or four years of the art show, I purchased a piece. It wasn't the sunflowers in a red pitcher/vase that I've spent years looking for, but I am very happy with my purchase. I feel that at $250 it was a steal!

A Day at Artfest 2010 (and other stuff)

This morning we decided to go try breakfast at the Dinner Bell Cafe. It is a local restaurant located in south Cape Coral. I know the wife Sandy from the coffee bar, where she performs many Friday evenings. Her husband is the owner and chef of the Dinner Bell. She was telling us last night what a great chef he is, and that he can make anything. I decided that today would be a good day to check it out, as I also wanted to check out the monthly market located near it.

We got there around 11:30 AM. The cafe is quaint.


We decided to go with Sandy's recommendation and order the Floribbean French Toast.

Yum! As we were leaving, I told Woodrow that the dinner bell emblem made me think of my home as a kid. I grew up across from a cow pasture, with a farmer's house not far away. I used to hear them ring the "dinner bell" to call in the workers or the cows. These were the same cows (and later on horses) that I would sometimes go out and feed treats like carrots and apples. Good memories...

After breakfast, we headed over to the market.


It was sort of like a small flea market. Lots of vintage items for sale. There wasn't anything I was looking to buy today. So we decided that we would head on over to the Artfest going on this weekend in downtown Fort Myers. On the way, stuck in stop-and-go traffic on McGregor Blvd, I saw this...


What? An egret? Look closer...


Still can't see? How about this?

That's an egret with a lizard in it's beak. Where's that dinner bell when you need it?

We arrived at the 2010 Artfest in downtown Fort Myers near the bridge and Centennial Park, and located next to the Harbor Center.

This Artfest hosts some of the greatest artists. The first one that I stopped by was one of my favorites.


This is the work of Michelle Smith of Mud Spun Studio. Very whimsical. I love whimsy!


The image above says something like "The nature of narcissism" and has a mirror in the body of it.

I loved this one (above). It said "At least she has beans". See? She's a "has bean". I love a good play on words!


Great stuff!

This was the work of Alexis Silk. Amazing stuff.


She works the human form in hot sculpted glass...


She did some really great stuff.

This was possibly Woodrow's favorite booth. This was the work of Richard Miree of Royal Arts Studio.



He does various copper and metal sculptures, and many of them are kinetic.




Here's a video of a couple of the kinetic sculptures at work...


After we moved on, I spotted this shirt in the crowd. Loved it!


We saw lots of other artists. Some I couldn't get the names of. Some were photographers or painters, who tend to not like photography taken of their work. (I've learned going to these things that sculptors and crafters are okay with photography, but photographers and many painters are not.) Here is a list of some other great work we saw today, with pics from their own web galleries:

Allan I. Teger of Bodyscapes...

The golfing one led to another attendee remarking that it was enough to get him to take up golf.

Kimberly Marshall...

Her work was really beautiful and interesting. It was mixed media, very textured. It almost appeared 3D due to the heavy texturing.

Ronald Lemoine Metal Studio...

This one was called "Fish and Chips". hee hee Clever...


The above was "Diving School". Loved them! Love the little goggles and the tanks!

Jason Napier of Napier Gallery and Studio...



Scanlan Windows to the World...


I almost bought the one above titled "Wine and Cheese". I loved the vibrant colors. It has lots of interest. However the smaller print that was only $55 just fell flat compared with the large canvas that cost something like $700.

We saw Ken Laffal at the last Artfest as well. I love his stuff, but am unable to show any of it here. He does striking photography in places like Cambodia. Very "zen".

Scot Schmidt sculptures in limestone...




Albin Arts...


Very interesting. They handpaint the frame to make it part of the image, extending the "photo" all the way across the frame.

I got this video of some giant kinetic sculptures, but unfortunately I don't know the name of the artist that created them.



Of course I didn't want to leave without my own little piece of art. I wound up falling for this:


This is by Michael Braun. He does some really interesting "virtual" painting. I loved the look of it. Woodrow called it "mathematical", and I call it "geometric", but I'd say that it definitely appeals to the scientific/artistic mind in each of us.

I'm not ready to hang anything yet. I want to be sure that I know exactly where everything is going to go before I pound nail holes in the wall, but here is what it looks like against the new blue wall in the bedroom.


It's hard to capture the colors with the flash.

So that was our day at the Artfest. I think that both of us really enjoyed our day. And now I leave you with one other thing that I really enjoy...