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Well, never say never. Not too long ago, I declared that I'd never work on another mosaic in all my life. The entire color coded collection of broken tiles that I had gathered for years was recently given to a very grateful art teacher.

Technically, it's not a mosaic but it sure feels like one...only on a super sized grand scale. This newest project of mine is designing and installing a buckskin flagstone and brick patio in the back yard. The genesis behind the new patio is relocating our old patio to better accommodate the charming cherubic fountain. Our $13.88 small child's wading pool will (sadly) likely be replaced by an official landscape pool, much more suited to all this new work that's going into the patio.

Today, Hilary went with me to the stone yard. Everything was rocks, dirt, dust, and spanglish -- I loved it! The price for the stone has gone up since my last visit, which admittedly was a while ago, but I just wasn't expecting that big a jump. Originally, I had planned on buying approximately 100 square feet of buckskin flagstone. But the price increase per ton freaked me out a bit. So, in order to keep the price down and the square footage up, I figured that picking and choosing thinner pieces of flagstone would do the trick. The silliest part of that was trying to explain it to the guy loading it in the back of the suburban in my limited spanglish.

"Por favor, yo necesito mas skinny flagstone y no necesito el gordo flagstone."

He laughed, and helped find "skinny" flagstone. God bless him.
Posted by Sarah Hazel at 8:25 AM 1 comment: Links to this post 
-- untitled -- 
Pink and Ike 

Caroline Collective Courtyard
4820 Caroline St
Houston, TX 77004

Posted by Sarah Hazel at 4:34 PM 1 comment: Links to this post 

even in the wake of disaster
Jesus clings to you 
Star and the Dalai Lama

Carol and I met because she's wonderful. Oddly enough, the Dalai Lama brought us together. Last May, the 14th Dalai Lama came to Rice University to speak on "The Meaning of Compassion in Everyday Life." The event sold out pretty quickly.

How often in life will one have the opportunity to walk a few blocks and hear the Dalai Lama speak? Not only that, but to speak on the meaning of compassion in everyday life? I wanted to go, but there were no more tickets.

So the amazing Reese and I started searching hourly for tickets on ebay and craigslist.

Carol posted on craigslist that she had an extra ticket, and agreed that I could have it! When I went to pick up the ticket, she was preparing for a garage sale the following day. Turns out that she had some wonderful old French garden furniture destined for the sale. Yada yada yada, and the next thing we agreed upon, was a trade of the garden furniture for a painting.

She loves the painting (and I love the garden furniture!) And I already mentioned how wonderful she is, right? When she started thinking about doing something really special for her best friend and partner's upcoming 50th birthday, she thought of me. She commissioned a painting of Star, the beloved pet of her best friend, Slade. This is the painting that I struggled with so much this summer. One reason it was so hard was because it was a portrait (the dog,) it was a still life (the bluebonnets,) and it was a landscape. All of those aspects had to be believable in and of themselves, and had to be in harmony for the painting to work as a whole. Star's expression is what really gives the painting pizazz, though. What a happy dog. No wonder Star is such a beloved pet.

Happy birthday, Slade.

According to Carol, "Slade received the painting on Saturday night. He just loved it!"
Posted by Sarah Hazel at 12:43 PM 1 comment: Links to this post 
Outstanding in the Field It was enchanting. It is a movable feast.

The concept of performance artist and gypsy chef guru Jim Denevan is to dine on the very soil that nourishes the bounty on the plate, in the company of the farmers who cultivate it. The event is called Outstanding in the Field.

There could't have been a more perfect location on the Jolie Vue Farm near Brenham, Texas. The tables were set in a gentle curve on a hilltop overlooking waves of pasture. The guest chef, Monica Pope of T'afia, created delicious dishes with complicated names and mysterious taste combinations; names like gruyere, sambal, gribiche, cajeta. It didn't really matter what these words meant, except to confirm that Monica Pope was Jim Denevan's brilliant choice for guest chef. The local farm food and Texas wine pairings were Monica Pope's oil paints. The inspiration of time and place were Jim Denevan's canvas. Together, in the studio gallery of Jolie Vue Farms, they created a small masterpiece.

Reese and I had the privilige of being part of the art for the afternoon. That's me in the black cap across the table. Our dear friends the Globes and the Brownings have their backs to the camera. Reese, bless his heart, is literally outstanding in the field taking the photo.
Posted by Sarah Hazel at 12:39 PM 4 comments: Links to this post 
Busy Week in Review Sarah Hazel

I speak semi fluent spanglish.
