My First Year On The Road

What a year!

Has it been a year already?

Has it only been a year?

A year ago on May 23, 2018, I wrote and published my first blog as a RoadBroad! Actually it was my first blog post ever. Thanks to Melanie for having the wonderful idea to start a blog. I became an official RoadBroad and have been writing about my journey ever since. The first picture I ever included on a blog was a picture of one of my cats. I bought a new suitcase to make a road trip to Boulder, Colorado for one of Max Regan’s writing retreats and Hannah (the cat) was trying to figure out how to pack herself into the trip.

I still hold fond memories of meeting with other writers, having writing meetings at the Dushanbe Tea House and gazing at the Flatiron Mountains. I am including some of my favorite photos from that first road trip in this blog post. This was my first trip to Colorado and can’t wait to return.

May 2018 was also notable because that was when I retired from a 25 year career of being a Social Services Administrator for local government. I had been either working, going to school, being a part-time adjunct faculty member, going to school some more, etc., since the age of 15. I completed all requirements to secure a pension and health care into my senior years. It was time for a change.

Now my entire life revolves around creativity. Either I am engaging in creative activities or I am appreciating the creative work of others. The Vincent Van Gogh exhibition is still going on at the Museum of Fine Arts. I have to go at least one more time before it ends.

Since May 2018 I have been a full-time writer. Sometimes I submit a piece of writing and it gets accepted. Sometimes it doesn’t. I keep reminding myself that I am not personally being rejected. I merely wrote a story or essay that was not accepted for a particular journal. I continue to work on a book about Memphis, Tennessee in the 1960s and 1970s.

I am also a visual artist. I’m a photographer and I work with collage. In my spare time I take art classes at the Glassell and this summer I will add a class at the Art League of Houston to my list of visual studies.

There was one not so fun part to this past year; I discovered I had arthritis. Then I had physical therapy, bariatric gastric sleeve surgery, got to where I could walk a lot again and enjoyed many classes in water aerobics at the local YMCA.

I’ve read a lot of books and attended many lectures by other writers and authors. I love hearing other writers talk about how they write and what their creative process looks like. I heard Annie Lamott who was absolutely inspirational. Getting to hear Annie Lebovitz talk about her life as a photographer was fascinating.

My Dear Friend and I have walked many miles through the Museum of Fine Arts, The Museum of Natural Science, Bayou Bend, Rienzi and various other art galleries. We have attended performances at the Alley Theatre, Houston Ballet, Houston Symphony, etc. We have traveled to the beach over the winter holidays and Austin for a sister writer’s book launch.

As a RoadBroad, I have enjoyed my creative journey and love this new phase of my life. I am going to continue my journey as a RoadBroad and look forward to sharing everything I see and learn with you. Here’s to another RoadBroad Year!

Until next week.….

Art and Artists and Artworks, Oh My!

What a wonderful week!

It started off with my Dear Friend (DF) and I going out to the Cullen Performance Hall and listening to Annie Leibovitz talk about her photography while showing many examples of her work on a big screen. She is one of the artists I have made a point of following over the years. As you can see, I did not sit close enough to get a good picture of her while she spoke (yes, that is her down in the lower left corner), but what she had to say was fascinating. She discussed how she became a photographer, the places she has worked, the people she has worked with and those she has photographed. She talked about how the technical aspects of photography and the cameras have evolved since the 1970s. It was all interesting. I got a copy of her latest book, Annie Leibovitz At Work.

In the photo above, she is displaying a self-portrait that she took in 1970 using one of her cameras. I guess today you would call it a “selfie”, but even that she does better than most folks do now with their fancy phones.

Thanks to Houston FotoFest and Brazos Bookstore for arranging this!

Then on Thursday it was another gray day. I guess I could have stayed home and worked on my writing, but what the heck.…I was ready for more ART! So DF and I jumped into his car and drove over to the Menil Collection. It used to be called the Menil Museum when there was just one building. Now there are five buildings and acres of greenspaces.

Unfortunately, they are very strict about not allowing any photographs taken inside any of the galleries. So you will just have to go and see the exhibits yourself. I was able to take pictures in the hallway so you can see some of the suffusion of light and “…natural illumination that varies with the weather, time of day and season”.

There are artworks by Magritte, Ernst, Picasso as well as art from ancient and medieval cultures. Best of all there were TWO, count them, TWO charcoal works by Georgia O’Keefe! Be still my fluttering heart!

The Menil Drawing Institute is a very interesting building. Again there is a focus on natural light and green spaces. The building also includes three courtyards that keep visitors surrounded by Mother Nature. There are benches everywhere for those who want to sit and draw or sit and meditate or sit and visit with friends or just sit.

While I love living in the middle of a large metropolitan city, I really appreciate the green spaces provided by a place like the Menil Collection.

After walking around the Menil Collection for approximately three hours, both DF and I were tired. We decided to rest and recharge by visiting a local restaurant that specializes in crepes.  It is called Sweet Paris and it is located in Highland Village. Since I am still recovering from gastric sleeve surgery, I ordered a bowl of Tomato Basil soup. DF had a Vegan Crepe. As we ate, we reviewed which pictures to include in this blog. All of these pictures were taken with my phone. I’m clearly not as talented as Annie Leibovitz, but I have fun. What a wonderful way to end a day of art and walking.

What a wonderful way to spend a gray day.

Slowly but surely I am even learning more about using a real digital camera for my personal photography. Later this month DF and I will take a photography journey through the Rienzi. Stay tuned!

Until next week.….