Fall Travel to Moab

Time to start a new journal. My first entry is a trip to Moab.

I find myself interested lately in traveling to Moab (i.e. Liz).  This time they have the Moab Folk Festival, community Day of the Dead celebration and Liz's studio hosts a Soup Bowl meal to raise funds for a local charity. Good enough reasons for me. This time I fly out. I didn't look close enough at the ticket options and selected one that required me to wake up at 2:30 a.m. 

I check out the two quilt supply shops and find they have a selection of outdoor-themed fabric I'll never find in Kansas. I have a quilt retreat coming up and need a quilt pattern. They had that, too. I chose a Rocky Mountain National Park 4-panel fabric.

Of course, we (I) need coffee time. After spending time helping in her ceramics studio we chill out at a local coffee shop.

I've purchased a second touring bicycle to keep in Moab for convenience. It arrives and I assemble it. Then we have the Moab Folk Festival. Headliner is Sam Bush, who I've followed for 45 years. The festival grounds is not that large so it's a more intimate feel that the Walnut Valley Festival back in Winfield, Kansas.

Tried a new (to me) espresso drink: affogato. That's a different way to spell heaven. 

This community really supports their soup bowl fundraiser. This year the money goes to a kids nutrition program administered through the schools. Liz volunteered me to help, so I washed pots and pans for my shift. All a good time. I got a bowl out of the effort. The day before Liz and I cooked up some broccoli and cheese soup for it in a commercial kitchen. I love cooking in a nice commercial kitchen. It's the right tool for the job, as my dad would say. 

While Liz prepared to teach a class tonight, I took my new (to me) bike for a test ride. I stopped at the Moab Springs Ranch for a coffee and a sketch. This view to the west is superb! A local told me this formation is called "The Portal". 

Time to go home. This time I found a really nice view at the first leg of the trip: Grand Junction, Colorado. This part of the country received some snow over the last two nights. A light powdering of snow stayed on the flanks of the cliffs here and by a fluke of good luck my terminal had a great view of it. This is my last sketch of this trip. 

Out for Coffee

 My grief support group still gets together socially, though a small group. Our class started with six but one washed out (it was too soon since his loss). Unfortunately two others passed away recently. That leaves three but sometimes one doesn't show up. That was the case today. Just Sherry and I.  She came ready to sketch and I just had my sketch journal and a pencil and ballpoint pen. We sketched anyway. It was a lesson for me that I'm not restricted to my favorite kit to sketch. I forgot how nice graphite is!

A happy accident in composition: the hippo seems concerned to have the Grim Reaper looking his way.