Non Traditional Student Graduates with Honors

For the past few years I've watched my wife Terrie sweat bullets over mid-terms, finals, and APA research papers. I've seen her determination and focus as this non-traditional on-line student never lost sight of her goal, despite being "on the road" most weeks to art shows and festivals all over the country. This past weekend her journey culminated when she graduated from Columbia College with her Bachelor of Arts in Human Services Magna cum Laude and I couldn't be prouder!

Our 2012 show schedule is beginning to fill in. In January we'll be at the Southwest Arts Festival in Indio, CA. A side benefit of doing this show is that we'll visit Terrie's mom and her husband in Yucca Valley. In March we'll head south into Louisiana for the Oak Alley Plantation spring festival. In April we'll return to the Stillwater (OK) Arts Festival. We'll be heading off to Sedona, AZ, in August for the Hummingbird Society's Festival. And we'll be back at Silver Dollar City in September and October. We're both excited to return to some excellent shows and to try out some new shows. More dates will fill in as shows complete their jurying process.

Hummingbird fact for today: Blossom shape can be a determining factor to flowers that are visited by hummingbirds. Nectar contained in a long, tubular blossom is easily extracted by a hummingbird, whose tongue can extend a distance roughly equal to its beak length and reach where most insects cannot.

Whew! Stop the merry-go-round!

The nearly eight weeks at Silver Dollar City in Branson is definitely a fun gig, but it sure leaves us out of touch at home - yard unmowed, leaves unraked, etc. We had some construction work going on while we were gone, and we've still not got the house back together from that. After we got home we have to completely shift gears, from the 1890's to indoor holiday art shopping. In early October, Terrie went to the Wild Bird Expo in Mexico, MO, and we had several good orders from that. They've all been created and shipped out. Plus Terrie is mid-way through her FINAL term at Columbia College (graduation is Dec. 17) and that takes a lot of time. It just seems that the hurried-er we go, the behind-er we get.

I'd like to devote more time and energy to the Best of Missouri Hands and the Lake Arts Council. Being on the road so much, I feel I'm doing a disservice to these organizations in my position as a board member, yet the LAC made me Vice President of Visual Arts. The amount of talent at the Lake of the Ozarks is really amazing.

Holiday plans are made. We'll go to Kirksville, MO, Thanksgiving week so we can finally meet the twin grandsons who were born in March. Over Christmas we'll go to Maryville, TN, to see family and visit with Lt. Cmdr. Sean before he and Kate and the twin grandsons head off to Japan for 3 years. Somewhere in between we'd like to see the 3 other grandsons in Smithville, MO. Guess getting the house back together can wait until January......... Unless, of course, we're called off the waitlist for the Southwest Arts Festival in Indio, CA!

The application process has begun for 2012 shows. It seems that the deadlines keep getting earlier. And most of them want you to send a check for the booth space, which they will hold for the 3-6 months until the jury process either approves or disapproves your inclusion in the show. Wouldn't it make more sense to request the booth fee UPON acceptance into the show? And of course we don't know what we will be doing in 2012 until the shows make their decisions.

The Hummingbird Society is planning a Hummingbird Festival in Sedona, AZ, in August. Yep, we plan to be there.

Networking with my fellow artists at SDC gave me insight into some new techniques that I'm anxious to try out over the winter. I also want to create some new items. Just need more hours in a day.........

Hummingbird fact for today: Even though hummingbirds are extremely resilient, they do face problems: 31 of the 331 known species have been designated at risk of extinction.