We, and by we, I mean myself, my best friend, and my son, went to Alpine, Tx for the annual Artwalk the weekend of November 19, 2011. If you have never been to Alpine, or to Texas in general, you are missing out on a rather quaint and wonderful experience. I mean, Texas isn't all quaint, but Alpine is. It has this feel of old West meets the artworld and it is blissfully surreal. We didn't know until the last minute if we would be able to go or not (the story of my life) so we didn't call ahead and make reservations. Last year it worked out OK and we got this cute little room in an old motorcourt with a little kitchenette that was awesome. This year, not so much. All the rooms were booked except this one little motel but they wouldn't allow dogs, but were very kind to offer the services of the local vet... ha. I called the vet and asked them what I needed to do to board the pooch for the weekend, haha, she said... "sorry, you have to be a patient, and we require a two week blah, blah, blah..." OK, so , I called around to the outlying towns, and came up with a room at the Hotel Limpia in Ft. Davis. They did charge for the dog, but it wasn't much, and the room was ok, not the cleanest (dust bunnies) but the hotel soap was nice. So was the breakfast and coffee. We were allowed to use the hotel's really nice sitting room and the sun porch to lounge in, dog and all.
I guess I should back up a bit and explain the pooch. He's a Greyhound, kind of big, actually he is one of the larger Greyhounds that I have seen, weighing in at about 95 pounds. I say about because I can't lift him anymore. He's put on weight since we got him, but I haven't a clue how much. There is no way to get him on the scale at the Vet's office. His name is MacIntyre, and is an ex-racer, with his cute little tattoos in both ears.
When I first went to pick up MacIntyre, he was bouncy and playful and went from one person to the next in the room, jumping and playing, throwing his toy up in the air and having a blast. I knew he was the dog for us. He had been diagnosed with Erlichia but was supposed to be cured and had been adopted before, but supposedly the family was in the midst of divorce and couldn't handle him anymore. I think that maybe there were issues with him that they didn't tell us. OMG, we had a time with him. He had a problem with urinating all the time all over the place, usually on my new rug in front of the front door. He was on a special diet and was supposed to get yogurt on his food in the evening... but that just gave him diarrhea which ended up usually in the kitchen floor but progressed into my son's room... Oh the problems were also with him getting into my bed, with or without me in it. I don't share my bed well, and I have allergies so I don't allow pets into my room... well, didn't. I keep him off my bed as much as possible, he won't get on it if I am there, but I know that he comes out of my room bleary-eyed when I come home unannounced. I have gotten used to that, and I will fold up the bed clothes and remove them, and all is well. I am not used to him sneaking in during the middle of the night and sleeping on the floor at the foot of the bed. It is kind of unnerving to wake up in the night and have to get out of bed only to step right in the middle of this big hound.
Oh, how I digress... the Artwalk was amazing. there were tons of great artists there, a lot of good food, and some terrific music. I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked just hanging out, but it was good. The Artcar parade was really cool, with some really inventive vehicles participating. There was a couple of bicycles that were decked out as butterflies which I must say were my favorites. Next in line would have to be the ratmobile that was kind of scary in a way!
Weather in West Texas can be sketchy in the Fall, but the day was beautiful, though a little windy, but no real problems from that. I had a long discussion with a lady (I can't remember names ever) about her spinning her own yarn, as I am just starting out with my spinning... and I don't think I will get any better with it, but brought home the prettiest auburn wool from Scotland this past summer and wanted to try my hand with it. I had bought a Turkish spindle while I was in Austin the weekend of the 5th and 6th of November at the Austin Celtic Festival. The guy I bought it from was wonderful and helpful and made it look so easy. I know, it is one of those things that I supposedly learned as a child from my grandmother, but it's been a long time since I really tried to spin some wool... so I bought this spindle and it came with a bag of carded wool, and confident from this guy helping me hold the wool and pulling off just the right amount.... so I had some problems... So I enjoyed talking to this lady, she was amazing, and her son, who I didn't get to meet, made these wonderfully beautiful spindles that I really wanted to buy from her, but they weren't for sale... she only had them for decoration of sorts. Sad to say, I didn't get her name, but the shop that she was showing her knitted masterpieces is pretty easy to find if I want to hunt her down.
There are always so many different people showing so many different types of artwork, from metal to paintings, photos, sculptures...to doors and knitted wool... oh, this must be what heaven is like. I don't know how I would take living in a place like New York, where there are artists and galleries and something going on every day. Probably go mad, or lose my interest... This type of escape to me is infrequent, except all the festivals that I attend, they really have some great artists as well, so it isn't just once a year at the Artwalk, but it would be nice to use this one time a year to really get invigorated and think that some day I will be prolific in my work to be a featured artist at a show like this. ahhh... sigh.... at least I am dreaming of making my artwork top priority.... sigh....
