Friday, October 4, 2013

Days packed full of beautiful experiences

Thursday morning Cathy and I went back to Rockport to sketch and paint, When we arrived a group of painters were watching an instructor paint a really nice harbor scene with fall foliage showing  above on the surrounding hills.  His name is Jonathan McPhillips and maybe he will come to Fredericksburg. He knows about our town as we have several good galleries there.  After lunch Peggy took me on a tour of older streets and pointed out many old houses. We stopped in her bank as it has a nice collection of paintings in the lobby.  Every where we are reminded of Rockport being the oldest continuous art colony in the country.  We had dinner with Dennis at home.

Friday morning, Cathy finally had decided she does want to learn rug hooking, So We worked together a couple of hours as I showed her a bit about how to select wool, wash and tear and cut it. Then we went to three thrift stores for an almost fruitless search for rummage wool. Nearly nada. But stay tuned for what happened next!   I had lunch with Cathy. And went to Peggy's house for the afternoon. The sisters divide my time many days, as Peggy makes all the deserts for the restaurant each day before she is free. Cathy is free in the mornings till her family starts getting home from school a bit after two pm.

Paula Walton, a doll maker from CT, came with an arm load of dolls old and new, plus bags of gifts for Peggy and me all hand made. Quince Jelly, soaps, silhouettes in frames she grained, and in my bag a beautiful stash of hand dyed rug wool!  Just what was needed here!  I thanked her sincerely for these beautiful wool swatches and asked if I might pass them on to Cathy. All agreed it was meant to be.

  We played with the dolls Paula had brought as well as Jane, a great doll made by Peggy, and had a fine time examining little old clothing also.  One of Paula's dolls is going home to Texas with me, I am thrilled with her.  We finished off the evening at the restaurant/pub Halibut Point, owned 31 years now by Dennis and Peggy. We sat long at dinner with wine and laughter and tales.  When the girls brought me home Cathy had put a row of pumpkins by the guest house door. She met Paula and was delighted with the wool as well as with my doll. In photos, my doll is wearing a red bead recklace  and a green print dress. In one shot she is shown with an old doll in white which was the model for the new one. She also has a brown dress.


Tomorrow Peggy and I are off to Orleans on the other cape, a challenging drive from here for a doll study club meeting.   E