Diane Wood Artist

January 7, 2013

Happy New Year everyone.  Holidays are fun, but they are so exhausting.  We give two parties, one we call the neighbors’ party and the other, the artists party.  We had over 40 people at the artists party.  It’s fun to get together with friends with a bit of wine and good food.

I met a friend of mine, Gretchen Heuring, for a cup of coffee.  We chatted for a while and she said besides wanting to talk and giving me a hug, she had official business.  She asked if I would judge the St. Stephens 2013 Art Show.  I was thrilled and honored.  What a great opportunity.  You can be sure that I will take my time, evaluating the art.  I will definitely be fair with the awards.

Our friends the Treats from Connecticut are coming out to Colorado more often as their son and his partner have a lovely baby girl.  They have bought a condo in Longmont and are enjoying exploring the area.  We took them on a hike to Diamond Lake which is at 11,000 plus feet elevation.  They were concerned about the altitude and their ability to do the hike.  I told them not to worry; we were not going to run up the mountain.  We took our time and they achieved their goal, Diamond Lake.  Which is like a diamond in the rough, a beautiful place to be.

Since Ken retired last spring he has been uncertain of what to do.  Inactivity is not his thing.  Recently he joined with Boulder County Parks and Open Space as a volunteer ranger.  He gets regular training and an opportunity to work with the professional rangers in areas the public is unaware of.  Boulder County is at the foot of the Rockies.  Our parks and even the towns have bears and lions roaming about in addition to hundreds of elk and deer and other furry things.  Ken hikes the County trails and counts the hikers, mountain bikers and dogs, and works to keep people safe and happy on these heavily used places.

We have taken our pets to Longs Peak Animal Hospital ever since we moved here.  On one wellness exam for Lily and Guinness, Dr. Meyer advised Guinness needed anesthesia to have his teeth cleaned, a more expensive procedure.  I must mention that Dr. Meyer asked me to hang paintings in their clinic.  I gladly agreed to.  There was one painting “Single Track” which she wanted to give as a Christmas gift.  She asked that I not put a sold sign on it, as it was to be a surprise.  In return she asked if bartering for the painting and cleaning Guinness’ teeth would be acceptable.  I gladly agreed.

Just recently a couple had to put their dog down and I had paintings in the exam room they were in.  She loved one of my paintings “Sunset Over Perdenale”.  Her husband came over Christmas eve day and purchased the painting as a surprise Christmas gift.  The gentleman works for IBM and does a lot of website work and is a specialist in color.  He was extremely complimentary on my handling of color.  I truly appreciated his comments.

December 14^th we celebrated our 39^th wedding anniversary.  Sugarbeet Restaurant is an excellent restaurant where we go to celebrate special occasions and did so for our anniversary.  We even got a complimentary glass of champagne to go with our PEI oysters.

Denver Art Museum  has an exclusive on the Van Gogh exhibit.  Personnel at the DAM (Denver Art Museum) worked at putting this show together and this is the only place in the world where this exhibit can be viewed.  Dot, Sally and I went to see this exhibit in October.  It was really great.

Colorado photographer John Fielder showed his work in Longmont at the Muse Gallery.  We have a couple of his books.  I brought one and he signed it.  Mr. Fielder is especially fit as he must carry his equipment into remote areas where he takes his spectacular photos.

A few months ago there was a crop duster working the fields in front of our home.  We took photos of this fellow.  He swoops down to just a few feet from the ground and does the crop dusting.  He must be very good to avoid a fatal crash.  Well, I painted a picture of he and his plane and it is now in Mary’s Market, the old general store in Hygiene.

There is an annual Polar Plunge at the Boulder Reservoir on New Year’s day.  The day was very cold and the 37-degree waters are challenging.  This event attracts hundreds of people and this year they raised $24,000 that will be given to the Young Professionals Alzheimer’s Association of Colorado to advance research on AD.  Last year they raised $35,000.

Life is not an easy road.  Everyone can attest to this.  My older son Mark (55) has been diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s.  Ken is going to travel to Connecticut in a few days to pick up Mark and bring him back to visit us in Colorado.  He cannot travel by himself.  I cannot thank Ken enough for doing this so we can enjoy Mark, do some hiking with him, etc. while he can still recognize us.  Scott, my younger son, will drive up from Los Alamos to visit with us also.  We will be enjoying the moment(s).

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying our new year 2013.

Best wishes for health and happiness.

Love,

Diane and Ken

Colorado Tales # 56

 

July 12, 2012

 

Dear Friends and Relatives,

 

After working from our home office for 15 years Ken has finally retired.  This is a very different phase of life and he’ll need time to find his way in this new terrain.  Right now he is cleaning up loose ends with the business and spending more time outside hiking, bicycling and motorcycling through the Rocky Mountains.  He has particularly enjoyed hiking with our dog Lily who has become a reliable, off-leash companion.

 

I’ve been busy too – as usual.  Earlier this year I was approached by Karon Kelly, with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, NCAR, and the University of Colorado Atmospheric Research facility, UCAR, regarding a painting of mine which they wanted to put in the UCAR library in Boulder.  Two years ago the library’s director, Leslie Forehand asked if I would display my work at the UCAR library, something I was delighted to do.  Sadly, Leslie had ovarian cancer and passed away in 2011.  Karon, from NCAR, was instrumental in setting up a fund to honor Leslie and to acquire a painting she admired, a view of Long’s Peak and Mount Meeker at sunset.

 

Karon selected one of my paintings of those iconic mountains.  The view is from our back door.  I gladly provided the painting and told them that even if the donations to the fund were inadequate to pay my usual price the painting was theirs regardless.

 

On April 10, during national library week, a memorial was held for Leslie at the UCAR Library. There must have been 50+ people in attendance including family members, scientists and employees of both NCAR and UCAR.  I was overwhelmed by the central place my painting took. Leslie was loved and respected as director of the library.  I spoke at the event and met many of her relatives and friends.  At the end Karon handed me a check stating that they did very well with donations.

 

Ken was not at the event and when I returned home we relived my experience at the memorial and my tears of joy just flowed.  I have been happy and have had wonderful happy things happen to me, but it is special when tears of happiness flow.

 

The painting, unframed, is 18×24.  It now hangs at what was once Leslie’s desk in the library foyer.  A bronze plaque placed just to the right honors Leslie’s years with UCAR and speaks of her delight in hiking the Rocky Mountains.  Beneath the painting a small plaque displayed the title of my painting and my name.

 

What a tribute to Leslie Forehand and a wonderful experience for me.  Ken visited the library a few days later.  He was very impressed with this very technical library and the prominent display of the painting and plaque.

 

In addition to the memorial for Leslie, I also submitted paintings to NCAR at the summit of Table Mesa Drive in Boulder.  NCAR has a spectacular location looking down on Boulder and is the source of much of our nation’s knowledge of climate change.  I have 20 paintings at their facility in Gallery 1 that will stay until July 29.  This is quite an honor and I am very fortunate to be able to have an exhibit there.

 

You are probably aware of the Colorado wildfires.  This is nothing like Connecticut.  The High Park fire, 20 miles north of us, burned 87,000 plus acres of forest and destroyed many homes.  One older woman chose to stay in her cabin rather than heed multiple evacuation calls; hers was the only death.  Over 1000 firefighters and 100 trucks plus an armada of aircraft defended lives and homes.  The smoke at our home was thick for days.

 

The Flagstaff Mountain wildfire was a serious threat to Boulder.  Fortunately the people who dedicate their efforts to fire fighting contained it in a few days.

 

The Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs destroyed many homes.  We wondered who allowed the construction of so many homes on steep and forested mountainsides.  When the trees are close the home is indefensible.

 

When we were planning our move to Colorado we at first thought we would like to live in the high country.  After some second thoughts we chose to live on the plains.  Correct choice!  We can see the beauty of the mountains better than when you are in the mountains.  We have only a 45-minute drive to Rocky Mountain National Park.  We live among horse farms, hayfields and grasslands where fires happen often but are extinguished with relative ease using specially equipped fire trucks that soak the ground in front with fog nozzles as they drive right through the burning fields.

 

On June 15 Ken and I flew to NYC, the first stop on our trip back East.  We had tickets to the play “Wicked” on Broadway.  We had a few hours before the play on Saturday the 16^th and walked to Broadway where they had closed several blocks for a street market.  We also discovered several blocks were closed for a filming of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.  There must have been at least 20 huge silver trailers with steps leading up to quarters with the names of the cast on them.  We watched some of the filming which was quite interesting.

 

Ken asked an attendant on the movie set about the closed off blocks.  It was obvious that businesses were losing money since the shops could not be reached.  The attendant advised that the movie company had to pay off all businesses.  This was no nickel and dime venture.  We had lunch at an Irish pub with beautiful woodwork and stained glass windows and located just across the street from the theatre.

 

When we entered the theater I bought the most expensive tee shirt ever; a $50 Wicked-branded tee shirt.  New York is expensive in every way.  The set of Wicked was an engineering marvel.  A huge dragon arched over the stage with red flickering eyes, flapping wings and fire belching from its nostrils.  Actors dressed as winged monkeys flew above the audience suspended on wires.  Ken enjoyed the engineering of the set.  The singers were, of course, excellent.  You have to be good to make it in New York.

 

After the show we dropped into Rosie O’Grady’s for a beer.  While on business Ken raised a beer at Rosie’s a few times during the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.  He would call me at home and the noise from happy people in the place was unbelievable.

 

The next day, Sunday June 17, we rented a car and drove directly to Provincetown on the Cape.  We had lodging at the Inn at Cook Street.  This location was just 200 ft from the famous Commercial Street.  We spent three days enjoyed lobster, oysters, shrimp, and fish, fish, fish.  Great stuff!

 

The woman who ran our B&B gave us some tips on where we might hike to get great views of the dunes, light houses, etc.  It is always good when a local resident gives you information not found in the tourist guides.  We have a couple of photos of our time spent on the Cape.  Enjoy!

 

 

On the 21^st of June we travelled from one end of Massachusetts to the other – Provincetown to Great Barrington and Lake Buell using all secondary roads for old times sake.  We visited with our dear friend, Dave Logan at his home on Lake Buell.  On arrival we put our things in the guest cottage and headed to the shade at lakeside.  It was hot and humid at this beautiful lake and the humidity reminded us of one of the reasons we moved to Colorado.  Dave is always a gracious host and we enjoyed his company and the delightful electric launch he designed and built.

After our visit with Dave we traveled to Connecticut.

 

Our first family visit was with Ken’s daughter Jennifer and her family.  The children have gotten quite grown up.  Ken’s older daughter Melanie and her girls Jackie and Katie joined us for a hike up to the lovely Hueblein Tower and later took everyone to their favorite Mexican restaurant.

 

Each night we stayed with Norm and Donna, my Godchild and his wife.  They recently finished building their dream home in Coventry.  Norm and Donna have built a lovely home.  The Gessays, Norm’s family, are noted for building perfection and this was a perfectly built home in the country on Swamp Hollow Rd. in Coventry.

 

The next morning we visited with my son Mark, his wife Maureen and their extended family who drove up from New York and New Jersey.   Maureen’s brothers Bruce and Brian are each starting families.  We met Bruce and Sarabeth’s children whom we had never met before.  This was family.  Brian and Kendra drove from New Jersey.  They were married last June and Kendra is pregnant.

My son Mark is having health difficulties and is going thru many, many tests.  I wish I could just wave a magic wand and make everything better but…

We had to be back in Coventry by 5 pm as Donna and Norm had arranged to have my relatives come over for dinner.  This was wonderful as I was wondering how I would be able to manage to see all of them.  It was also great to have a gathering where we just enjoyed each other without it being a funeral.

Next day was a visit with Melanie and her family.  Katy and Jacky are now 20 or 21.  My how time flies.  Melanie had just gotten home from work at Hartford hospital so we arranged to pick up pizzas and an order of fried eggplant.  Eggplant was fantastic.

Time does slip away and we started our trek back to NYC and LaGuardia airport.  On our way we found the Murrays, Jeff and Caroline, who are building quite a home with their own hands and sweat.  It will be a couple of years before they are finished.  They are quite an inspiration.  The home and even the construction tools are clever and thoughtful as we would expect from Jeff.

The trip to NY was in heavy traffic.  We found our hotel near the airport and spent the last few hours reminiscing about our adventures.  Our flight departs at 7:15 am and we found a shuttle bus to the airport at 4:40 am.  There was a family group with luggage enough to start a home and we wondered if we would ever be able to get on the bus.  With angry travellers around us, we were relieved to get off the bus at the terminal.

Once back in Colorado I delivered three paintings to a national show being held at The Great Frame Up in Longmont.  I was fortunate to have all three of my paintings accepted.  This Friday, the 13^th, is the reception and award ceremony.

Because of the drought Colorado has a fire ban so our local fireworks display was cancelled.  On July 4^th we drove to up the mountain to the tiny community of Allenspark to enjoy their down home 4^th of July parade complete with horses and lamas.  Events like that are wonderful.

That evening we gave a dinner party of 10 people one baby (2 months old) and 5 dogs.  It was a fine 4^th of July cookout.  When you have really nice people, food and drink, it is always a success.  Our friends the Treats bought a condo in Longmont and will be travelling out to Colorado regularly to visit with their son, Tom, and his soon to be wife, Lola, and their baby Clara.

This past June was quite a reminder of different stages of life.  Most important is to enjoy life and live it to its fullest.

This Saturday is Rhythm on the River.  It is the largest family event put on by the City of Longmont.  There is no fee to enter.  I manage the Art Zone Tent and we literally have thousands of people come thru.  This year I prepared 200 sheets of drawing paper with outlines of animals for the children (or adults) to paint.  That is always popular.  In the afternoon we have an artist from the Old Firehouse Art Center who will be making tissue flowers with children.

Rhythm on the River is always exciting and tiring.  On Saturday we must deliver the final load of art, etc. and be off the premises by 6:30 am as there is a foot race at 7 am.  I have done this for 8 successive years and in September I turn 75.  When the day comes that I cannot do this anymore it will be difficult.

Hope you are well and enjoying the summer.

Love,

Diane and Ken

 

February 26, 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been several months since my last Colorado Tales.

In September Ken was inducted into the Optical Pioneers Hall of Fame for his work in bringing the old ophthalmic lens industry into the high tech, digital age.  He was in Las Vegas for meetings at the Venetian hotel and I flew in the day of the award and out the next day.

Why such a short visit?  Well, I have been to Las Vegas a couple of times and if you like gambling and nightlife that is where you go.   Not me.  The most important reason for my early return was so I could start setting up our home for Longmont Studio Tour in a few days.

We had 5 artists showing in our home and about 175 people visited during the tour.  I have found that people will buy small original art unframed.  So, I will have to do more small pieces.

At Thanksgiving we had neighbors and friends over to enjoy the feast.

Our neighbor’s horse farm is at the end of our private road.  They have added a chicken coop and a flock of chickens.  Now Amber, the 10-year-old girl, has her very own egg business.  She has named the business “Laughing Sun Farm” and has named all the chickens.  These names are written on her egg cartons.  There is one rooster named Foghorn.  We order a dozen eggs each week.  Smiling Amber delivers them.

We had a party for the Treats (old Connecticut friends) and Hevenors in December.  The Hevenor’s grandchild, Cece, a sweet girl just 1½ years old toddled around and everyone was relieved that our dogs were great with her.  They have never been around a little person before.  We were proud of Guinness and Lily.

Also in December we had a neighbors’ party and an artists’ party.  I cook for all these events and was partied out before Christmas.  A friend of mine asked how long are you going to do these parties?  I answered: until I am too old to do it.

I’m active in several art organizations.  One is Colorado Artist Guild.  Several months back an email was sent out to all members of CAG asking for submission of jpegs of paintings of Colorado.  Senator Michael Bennet was looking for artwork for his Washington, D.C. office.  I submitted two jpegs of paintings that represent our state.  In September I received word that both my paintings were chosen.  I called the Washington office to set up delivery, etc. for the shipment and asked if they had many applications sent to them.  They advised they had over 100 and could only pick 15.  They picked both of mine.  I’m thrilled.  You may see these paintings on my website.  They are on the first page of www:dianewoodartist.com

On the Front Range we get little precipitation in the form or snow and rain.  This year we had an early snow that lasted a couple of weeks and a couple other minor snowfalls that lasted for weeks because we had fewer than usual warm days this winter.

As a member of Boulder Art Association asked if I would chair the annual Labor Day weekend art show at the historic Chautauqua center plus the 2013 BAA/LAG show at the Boulder Fairgrounds.  I agreed to chair or coordinate both.

Early February we had a committee meeting at the Amante Coffee shop on Broadway in north Boulder.  After our hour meeting I walked out of the coffee shop to notice emergency vehicles a block down.  I had parked down in that area and hoped they would not be in my way as I wanted to get home as soon as possible.

As I got closer I saw my car, which had been properly parallel parked sitting crossways on the sidewalk with the right rear wheel off the car and the drivers side completely bashed in.  It was a “holy shit” scene.  After giving the officer my registration and insurance I sat in the car as the temperature was dropping quickly.  Got my wits about me and called Ken telling him my car had just been totaled and please come and get me.  It was fortunate I was not in the vehicle and also had not taken the dogs.  Most of the time I take them with me for company and they especially enjoy riding in the car.

Next I removed all items from the center console and the glove compartment as “Goldie”, my Toyota was going to be taken to the wrecked car lot.  I cried when they put her on the truck.  We do not turn in our vehicle every couple of years.  She is eight years old, had over 100,00 miles, and ran beautifully.  We were going to keep her until repair bills were evident.

What happened?  A woman parked two cars behind me pulled out into traffic without looking and immediately struck the side of a passing car.  The woman driving that car swerved into the left lane and then foolishly over corrected hard right and motored nose first into the side of Goldie.  The impact shoved the car sideways over an 8 inch curb.  My car stopped just before going through the window of a shop.  The only good thing about it was no one was hurt.

Having a cell phone came in very handy, as I was able to call our insurance company and read them the information on the officer’s accident report.  Also on our drive home, I called Shelter Insurance company, the insurance company of the woman who pulled out into traffic causing the accident.  Oh, by the way, the woman who ended up hitting my car was driving a friend’s car and lives in Ward, Colorado.  Ward is a small, weird mining/hippie town up in the hills.  She fit that mold.

I pushed the insurance companies for fast action.  The title and the release form was sent to the Shelter Insurance company and they had a check in the mail just one week after the crash.

During the week without a car, Shelter Insurance authorized a rental vehicle from Enterprise.  They gave me a Chevy Impala.  What a tank!  No four wheel drive.  Our private road was all ice and snow with deep irrigation ditches on either side.  The Chevy’s rear tires kept sliding side to side threatening to take me down into a ditch.  It was a slow, thrilling ½ mile ride to get to our mailbox on Saint Vrain road.

That episode is over, but it really shook me up.  When I am driving, I keep a look out for accidents that may be waiting to happen.  We got a new Toyota Highlander.  It is a wonderful vehicle with many updates and features compared to the old Toyota.

Since I name my cars, I got to thinking what to name the new vehicle.  It is a burgundy red.  When I was a little girl my favorite doll was named “Rosie”.  Rosie had been with me for many years.  All of the enamel peeled off her face and I painted it a hideous yellow.  But she was my favorite.  So you got it!  I named my new vehicle “Rosie” and I don’t think the paint will peel off.

A big change is coming.  Ken will not be renewing his contract with the Vision Council and will be retiring the end of March 2012.  Ken has mixed emotions.  He is excited to have fewer demands on his time but is concerned that having worked fully 50 years he depends on work to bring meaning to his life.   Retiring for him will be a challenging project but he intends to succeed in this phase of life.

Vision Council is planning a couple of events for Ken’s retirement.  One will be in Milan in March at an international standards meeting.  The final one will be in NYC.  I will be attending the NYC event.  Travelling to Milan for a couple of days is not in the cards.

One month before he knew he would leave work, Ken decided he should learn to play guitar.  He bought an acoustic guitar, three music theory books, and signed up for weekly lessons.  Although I play piano regularly, Ken knows little about music.  He is now learning the theory and practicing daily.  His first real goal is to accompany me when I play piano each evening.

We have had very high winds especially in January and February of this year.  Our large picture windows actually move in the wind.  At night Ken puts ear plugs in as it actually sounds like a freight train and whistles.  You do not want to be outside in this type of wind.  One night the wind kept me awake as it was frightening.  The next day the paper reported 90 + miles an hour.  We do not have a device to measure the wind, but it sure must have been at least 90 MPH.

This past Saturday when taking out the dogs and feeding the birds at about 5:40 am I noticed many emergency vehicles on St. Vrain Rd. (About 1 mile from our home.)  A Honda Accord had launched into the air.  It overturned a couple of times and ejected two people from the car.  It is evident they were not wearing seat belts.  They were pronounced dead on the scene.  The driver is currently in the Longmont Hospital.  State troopers are considering alcohol or drugs as a result of the crash.  Our road was closed from 75^th St to 65^th St until 11 am.  In the darkness of the morning two of Hygiene Fire Protection trucks were at the scene illuminating the area.  There were people with flashlights in the field checking for more bodies as they did not know how many people were actually in the car.

I took November and December off from showing my art work,  March my schedule is really picking up and I will be displaying at three venues.

Hope everyone is well.

The sun is shining brilliantly and it is a lovely day.

Love,

Diane and Ken