Tag: Sharon Smith

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?

April 17, 2018

When you finally meet a rug-hooking Facebook friend

Facebook friends — Me with Amy Buesing, former Facebook friend and now just…friend at the Albuquerque Recycled Art Fair last weekend.

So, Saturday dawned bright and COLD – about 35 degrees. At least the windstorm had passed.(If you’re from New Mexico, you know that spring goes by another name here: wind.) Tom and I toodled down the road a couple of miles to Albuquerque’s Open Space Visitors’ Center to participate in the Recycled Art Fair.

Got the tent up and all the rugs and such in place by 10:00’s opening. People were already showing up looking to score good stuff made from other folks’ waste. Music was playing. It was gonna be a great weekend. Certainly better than last year when it snowed and rained and winded the first day. All I had to do was wait for the customers to come to me.

And they did. To see what I was working on. I like to hook when I do shows. For one thing, it draws people in either to 1) figure out what the hell I’m doing or 2) tell me a story how they (or their mother/father/grandparent) used to hook. And, of course, there are the latch hook tales, but we’ll skip over that today. Fortunately, I love to chat up folks and to spread the hooking gospel, so no problem there.

Hooked rug for Facebook friend — The mug rug Amy purchased. In reality, being a double mug rug, it comes with two of those mugs.

The problem was that no one was buying.

And then, suddenly, none of that mattered. A woman approached my tent; I was in my camp chair working away ~~muttering trash talk~~ about people who weren’t buying my trash-to-treasures. She says, “Laura?” I respond affirmatively, pleasantly even, because ~~I have to~~ I’m that kind of person. And then she tells me who she is: Amy Buesing of Las Cruces!

If you don’t know Amy, and I know many of you do, she’s a member of my guild but can’t make the monthly meetings given the five-hour drive between Albuquerque and Las Cruces. I’m pretty sure that she and I became Facebook friends before I left Massachusetts and even knew there was such a thing as the Adobe Wool Arts Guild. We bonded over family matters and such. Last October she and Mary Ramsey, our guild president, roomed together at the ATHA Biennial. Neither had met the other, but hookers are game for that kind of thing. Mary told me that Amy and I would hit it off when we finally met.

Here’s the thing, I thought that would be in September when Sharon Smith of Off the Wool Rugs comes to give a workshop. But Amy surprised me. She was in town and, knowing that I had a show, she made time before driving home to come meet me. I was touched. So touched

mug rug — Duh! One of the two mugs that actually got wrapped up and went home with Amy. Fortunately, it’s easy to find a mug to go with this rug. Undoubtedly, I already have one on the shelf.

and discombobulated that, when she bought one of my rugs, I 1) almost didn’t give her her $10 of change and 2) sent her home with a mug that didn’t match the double mug rug that she bought. Duh! I’ll get the right one out to you later this week, Amy!

Not only did I get to chat with Amy and her friend/travel buddy Michele, but she must’ve brought some good luck for me too. I managed to sell a few rugs the next day, including the sunflower table runner/wall-hanging I just finished. And then I was invited by the fair’s organizers to participate in their Cinco de Mayo Folk Art Fest on May 5 here in town. Woohoo! And all because of Amy. Cathy Kelly, also of AWAG and general hooking fame, will be doing that one with me. Come visit us!

Have you met any Facebook folks years after friending them? Heaven or a horror story?