Looking Forward

Last night Christi came over and we shared dinner, tv watching and making plans for our joint vacation. The four of us will be traveling to Cashiers, NC the first weekend in November. We'll be staying for a week at a big, wonderful house Christi and Sue have rented. I'll be spending my 54th birthday there.

I love North Carolina and have vacationed there at least 2 times a year for the past 5 years. There's something about the mountains, the air, and the casual pace that I love. The landscape is so different from Florida. Jacksonville's landscape is more varied than that of south and west Florida, but it is still Florida. I miss mountains and vast varieties of trees and plants. I miss dirt that looks like dirt and not blonde sand.

The first week in November the weather should be cool, with brisk evenings. We may see some fall foliage, although it'll be a little early in the year for NC. The house has an out door hot tub and a fireplace. A little chill will be great motivation to enjoy both.

For the past several years Frankye and I have taken art classes in North Carolina. We are scheduled for another week of classes in March 2006. The trip next month will be the first time in a long while that we haven't taken some kind of classes while in NC. We'll have an open schedule and can just enjoy and roam as we desire.

Some of the art classes we've taken have been in Boone, NC, called high country. Elevation 5000 ft. The two watercolors I've posted were painted during a plein aire class we took in Boone with Don Getz in Sept. 2003. I really enjoyed the class, demos, and painting outdoors. We had wonderful weather on that trip and everywhere we looked there were paintable scenes. There are farms, falling down barns, streams, picturesque valleys, lush woods, cabins and lots of art galleries and antique shops. It's a pretty place.

I'm really looking forward to this coming vacation and will probably write more about my anticipation as the time to leave nears.