Life on the High Plains

Wow, things have gotten real in the last week or so.  It was a mere eight days ago that I was looking forward to beginning my birthday week.  The big 6-0! For Christmas I had bought Irv tickets to see Dwight Yoakam.  Although this was Irv's Christmas gift, I considered it to be the start of my birthday week.  We've been looking forward to hearing Dwight's West Coast swing.  In the days leading up to the concert we kept checking to see if it had been canceled or postponed.  When it became evident that it was going to happen, I booked us a hotel room in Denver for an unbelievable low price and we made our way to the venue. The concert took place in Denver's newest venue--The Mission Ballroom.  It is a beautiful venue with open space for those who want to stand and in the back of the room there are a bunch of tiered cement rows where you can sit if you prefer.  We preferred to sit.  About 6,000 tickets had been sold, but maybe half...

We recently returned from a week in Florida at my favorite place--Disney World.  I had a unique opportunity while we were there--the chance to have an art class with a Disney artist. I had signed up for this class a few months ago and have been really excited for it.  The artist was Kevin John.  He is an officially licensed Disney artist and also does artwork for Lucas Films.  When you think of Disney art you probably think of characters.  Kevin told us that when Disney originally contacted him years ago he didn't even return their call--he wasn't interested in painting characters.  When he finally took the meeting with Disney he signed a contract immediately.  He could specialize in the landscapes at Disney World--things like the Living Seas aquarium, the monorail. or the haunted house.  He showed us a trading card that he's currently working on for Lucas Films of Hans Solo.  He does amazing detail with watercolors--very impressive. ...