Category: vacations

September 18, 2018

Statues as rugs?

Statues in Bordeaux. — This…giant head is called **“Sanna”** and was created by Catalan artist **Jaume Plensa**. It’s in **la Place de la Comédie** in Bordeaux. Very cool.

Back to Bordeaux for another week and talking cool statues and sculpture.

Whether you hook rugs or draw or paint or in any way create “stuff,” you’re always on the lookout for other art that just might provide you with some inspiration. At least you should be. In theory. And given that we’re all carrying automatic copying machines around with us (in the form of our phones), there’s really no excuse for not making “graven images” of the things that call to us.

Okay, I admit that I often forget to jot down the artist info or even the name of some of the artworks I see when I’m out and about, but not in a museum or gallery with an identification sign conveniently placed near the object. I had to Google “large head sculpture in Bordeaux” to find out the info above. Enjoy!

That first night walking about the city, we came across the “Monument aux Girondins,” a monument/fountain created to memorialize the local heroes of the French Revolution. The various scenes portrayed seemed almost real in the dark and jet lag after traveling so many hours to get there.

Bordeaux statues. — Why, yes, I do see you pondering what this will mean for our future. Do you think that their wardrobes will contain something we can wear? I mean, better than these bedsheets.

Sorry, sorry! It was the jet lag like I said.

Meanwhile back to real life. These guys were in l’Eglise Collegiale de Saint-Emilion. It’s still a working church though not a monastery any more. Interesting fact we learned: Sincethe Revolution, the Catholic Church no longer owns any of the churches and other buildings in France. It only uses and administers them. Because of such dwindling attendance at Masses in the last decades, the churches do not receive much in the way of collections and support for these marvelous buildings. It’s up to the cities and government to take care of them. It also explains why you can roam at will through them; they are truly tourist sites.

Statues in Saint-Emilion church. — These guys were in the Eglise Collegiale de Saint-Emilion. Never saw anything like them in any of the Catholic churches that I’ve belonged to.

And then there were the carvings in the wall of a wine cellar beneath the medieval village of Saint-Emilion. Who knows when they happened or who made them?

Not Bordeaux statues. — Oops! Sorry about that, Tom. You’re definitely NOT one of the statues, especially carrying those two bottles of wine we purchased.

Bordeaux statue. — Okay, this is my most favorite image of the whole trip. I’m assuming it’s **Dionysus**. I will hook this rug! And I promise that purple will fit in with him somehow.

Bordeaux sculptures. — I shall peel these grapes for you, mon cher. Mais bien sûr, we must have another glass of wine.

Okay, okay, I’ll stop now. Instead we’ll leave the statues and the trip behind for this week and head back into reality…

Tynan (dog) with hooked rug — Tynan brings you this week’s “what’s on the frame.” Hm, looks very primitive doesn’t it? Not like what I usually hook. And yet, and yet… More next week!

Have you hooked something “not you”? Share with us on High on Hooking’s Facebook page!

September 11, 2018

River cruising in Bordeaux – Nature

Bordeaux river cruise — This is a bridge in Bordeaux, clearly an OLD bridge. I include it under the NATURE category, because the Garonne River is a tidal river. For our boat to go under that bridge, the captain had to have exquisite timing. At low tide.

If you’re a regular reader, then you know that Tom and I took our first really GOOD vacation in ten years in early August. No kid, not even the dog. (Don’t feel bad for Tynan; he had himself a fine time at a guild mate’s “doggie spa.”) Amazingly, neither of us had even been on a plane in five years – when we were scouting out Albuquerque before our move here in 2015. If you consider that this year we celebrated 25 years of marriage, you can see why it was time. So, we headed to Bordeaux, yes, the one in France, and boarded a Viking long boat for a wine cruise. And, yes, it met every expectation that we had.

Boat in Bordeaux — This is the clearance the boat had emerging from under the bridge in Bordeaux on our way to **Cadillac**. Thank goodness for a LOW tide.

We saw all kinds of things: vineyards, a big city (Bordeaux), tiny villages, 18th century forts,sculptures, chateaux, and so on. Got lots of pics to share. So many that I blew out my new Dropbox. Guess I have to pare down some. I don’t want to bore anyone, so I’ll post them according to themes. This week we’ll try NATURE.

Ultimately, we cruised along three different rivers near Bordeaux that week. Two met up at at the Gironde estuary not far from the Atlantic coast. Sadly, there were some, but not many, sea and river birds. I never got a good answer as to why that was given the estuary, but it might have something to do with the region’s agricultural practices.

Being in a world-famous wine region, of course, we toured several wineries. There was one which specialized in Sauternes wines – unfortunately, not my favorite, too sweet – but it was beautiful.

Bordeaux wine cruise — A wine chateau in the **Sauternes** wine region.

Mind you, chateaux in the Bordeaux area are not at all like those in the Loire valley. While those are about opulence and architecture, the ones in Bordeaux are more about commerce and the making and selling of wine. Often, there’s not a lot going on inside other than rooms for weddings,banquets, and wine tastings. These are real working farms and wineries. To that affect, see who we found at the one in Sauternes.

Karen Miller of Karen D. Miller Studio likes to post cool close-ups of leaves and trees and things. I managed to get a couple of tree pics for her.

And always, everywhere, things were growing!

But we didn’t have to be on land to enjoy nature’s bounty.

There was the captain of the Forseti. That was the name of our river boat.

Damn, I can get a bunch of posts out of this trip. Next time we’ll talk old buildings or something. I mean, we saw the ruins of a castle from the Middle Ages. You don’t see that every day in New Mexico. Till then, Tynan brings you this week’s rug on the frame.

Tynan presents to you my new “thistle” rug. I started it last week during the workshop that **Sharon Smith** presented to the **Adobe Wool Arts Guild** here in Albuquerque. **What’s on your frame???**

September 4, 2018

Crazy days at High on Hooking

Hooked rug — What’s occupied my time these last crazy days of summer. “Patriotic WOOF” was a commission that last week went to its forever home in Missouri. If you notice, it’s an almost copy of my original OD green **“WOOF.”**

Hi, guys! Did you miss me? I hope so. Sorry about the longer than planned hiatus, but life’s been filled with crazy days here at High on Hooking. And they continue for another week. Sharon Smith of Off the Hook Wool Rugs comes into town today; she’s running a three-day workshop for the Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG). Meanwhile, if you’ve seen my personal Facebook or High on Hooking’s Instagram feed, you know that my 21-year old daughter, “the Kid,” suddenly got a full-time job up in Durango, Colorado, an absolutely fabulous mountain town about 3½ hours north of Albuquerque. Hence, she’s moving. We were up in Durango this past weekend securing an apartment. She’ll leave for real Sunday, her minivan stuffed with a bed and necessities. Tom and I will follow her up with packed car(s) Thursday.

You can see the crazy days? But I’ll be back in a week or two. So much to tell, especially regarding our river cruise vacation in Bordeaux last month. Good pics to share. And we’ll have photos of the Sharon Smith workshop too. So much going on… So little time…

How was your summer? Any interesting stories?

July 17, 2018

She told me to tell you that she’s taking some time off – Tynan

Tynan here!

Tynan the Welsh springer spaniel with a hooked rug. — Tynan here with this week’s “What’s on the frame” (and the blog).Like last week, she’s still working on the dog bone commission. Has she made one for me? I think we all know the answer to that one. Oh, and BTW, she’s taking some time off.

So, you know how she went on and on last week about how busy she is? As if the whole world isn’t over-scheduled. (Right, I’m not overly busy at all; dogs are smarter than the average human!) Anyway, this week she’s soooo busy that she told me I had to write the post up and get it out. Clearly, she was afraid to tell you that she’s decided, what with everything going on, including a nice vacation on a riverboat in France!!! – no dogs allowed – she’s about to take her annual summertime blog hiatus for a few weeks. Look for her again sometime mid-August. In the meantime, she insists that she can be reached and “seen” through the Facebook page, Instagram, and email.

I want you all to know that I did her bidding, but I’m not happy. 1) I don’t get to hang in Bordeaux on a riverboat eating goat cheese and drinking wine. 2) They wouldn’t let me explore the cave I found yesterday. See, we went hiking on an obscenely easy trail in the Cibola National Forest on the other side of the Sandias. (Okay, the master’s still babying his gouty toe.)

Cave off train in Sandia Mountains. — Here’s the mine shaft opening on the **Tecolote Trail (No. 264)** in the Sandias. Contact me if you’d like to investigate it one day.

As usual, I’m leading the way up the mountain. I’m scanning the trail for the usual suspects: bears, bobcats, mountain lions, geckos. Don’t laugh, those little bastards can sneak up on you and scare the shit out of a dog. Anyway, I take a gander to my left and what do I see – no, not a giant gecko, smart-asses – but a cave. Cool! Who knows what kind of snacks might be hidden in there. I adjust course and head for the opening. Cautiously I enter and next thing I know…someone’s got my tail. Damn, I hate that. “Tynan, get your ass out here!”

Turns out it’s an old mine shaft entrance. But who knows who lives in there now? Not that anyone would let me investigate. Chicken shits! They insisted that we take pictures of the cave, but that’s all. Damn. I just want everyone to know that I was willing and brave enough to find out what was in there. Some others…were not.

On that note, I wish you all a good rest of the summer. Like I said, we’ll be back to the blog mid-August. She’ll probably make me write that first one too. I hope that you and your dogs (okay, maybe the cats too) enjoy your vacations even if they’re staycations. And if you’re taking your dogs somewhere cool this summer, PLEASE comment here. It’ll give me more ammunition for next year.

-Tynan

July 10, 2018

What’s on the frames this week

What's on the frames beside the Big Boucherouite and Tynan? — Tynan presents one of the “rugs on the frame” this week. As you can see, I managed to get around the whole perimeter of the **“Big Boucherouite.”** Woohoo! Unfortunately, it has to take a back seat to the rug below. But I’m getting more excited the farther I get with it. Soon color!

Sure, “what’s on the frames this week,” but more like “what’s not happening this week?” Too much stuff is breaking as I get ready to take my first vacation with Tom for the first time in, like, 10 or 11 years! And it’s a good vacation, made more special because it’s the year of our 25th wedding anniversary (long gone by back in January). But more on that another time.

Just take in all these things I have to get done this week :

an acupuncture visit;
a “see you in September” luncheon and group hooking for Mary, a guild member who’s moving back to Wisconsin, but, fortunately, will be back in September for our Sharon Smith workshop (and this winter too, we hope);
some additions to the Etsy shop;
pictures to ready for Judy Taylor’s new project on t-shirt rugs (do you have some to send her?);
finding out how to change the guild‘s ATHA page as it isn’t at all current – BTW, did I tell you that I became AWAG’s president on July 1?;
an Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council Education Committee meeting;
find some GOOD earplugs so that I can sleep when “Snoring Tom” when we go away;
pay my New Mexico gross receipts tax for the first six months of 2018 (the rest the country just calls it a sales tax);
update my inventory after Sunday’s Rail Yards Market – hey, I did really well; some lady bought out almost half of my mug rugs to send here and there for gifts;
send in my applications to Española Valley Fiber Arts Center for the Fall Fiber Fiesta and to Mama’s Minerals for the Sawmill Rocks Fall Festival; and
all the other things you usually have to do just to live – clean, bake, shop, etc., etc.

What's on the frames? A new "Woof" rug. — Look familiar? Yep, it’ll be an almost-clone of **“Woof.”** A lady saw the original in my Etsy shop but didn’t want the OD green background that I hooked in. She prefers a blue-based background. Perfect for last week’s Fourth of July holiday judging by the great pic of her pups that she sent. All SIX! were decked out in red, white, and blue and had American flags. Gotta love the dogs!

I won’t bother you any with any more specifics, but I’ll show you the other rug that’s on the frame this week. How’s your summer going? Busy???