Sketching Day in Calvert

More Pictures From Sketching in Calvert

Here are some more pictures from our most recent sketching trip in Calvert, Texas. You can see more at the posts below this one. Sorry that I haven't posted sooner, but my computer was hanging, I got into looking for genealogy things, and now, it looks like we have thunderstorms coming and I may have to unplug the computer.

1. Our morning starts with a kolache at Zamykal Kolache Shop on Main Street. Jody, the owner, is a delight to visit with. In the first picture, she is serving a customer while we were sittingat a table, eating. I had my usual strawberry kolache and a Sprite to drink. Barbara had coffee with her kolache.

I accidentally made a movie when I was trying to see if I had the flash on or off on the camera. I may try to post that later, just to try to figure out how to add video to my blog. It is very short, since I thought I was just taking a snapshot!

2. Deciding where to go to sketch always takes a while. You could find something interesting to do almost everywhere you look! We do consider where we can find shade and a nice place to sit. This time, we decided to work inside the park. Plenty of shade, and a breeze inside the bandstand and pavillions, with benches to sit on. And lots of memories there, too. This picture shows the open car door and the view of the park from where Barbara stopped the car on Pin Oak street .

3. This is the latest sign outside the park, giving the name of the park and the date. Virginia Field Park, 1868. Land was deeded to the park in that year. The park was named for Virginia Field for all of her dedication and service to the community and the park. There is a historical marker. Several of the large homes in town, including the Barton and Gibson homes, and Hammond House, once had this same type of fence around them-pipes painted white, set into concrete posts. The fences around the homes, however, had about 4 rows of pipe and were, of course, taller. I believe that I asked older people why the fence in the park was so much lower and, if I remember correctly, I was told that it was just decorative, and also a barrier to keep people on horses from riding through the flower beds and the Crepe Myrtle trees that surrounded the park. At one time, there were large concrete objects with a ring in them, on each side of the entrance, for tying up horses before people entered the park. The same hitching posts could be found at several homes, as well. Those at the park were sold and two large white rocks were left on each side of the drive to mark the park entrance. The rocks also made a good place to sit and wait for a ride after activities in the park. The same kind of rocks were at the entrance to the sidewalk in front of the high school.

4. The west entrance to the park and the bandstand. At one time, there were entrances on all 4 sides, but those were closed up years ago. There was also a drive or road all around the park, beside the flower beds. About where the baseball field was, there was sand on a curve. Some people, like my dad, when he was young, liked to drive their cars around the park, hit that sandy spot, and almost turn over. I think that some people actually did turn over. Sometimes, they just got stuck in the sand, which wasn't too much fun. When I was learning to drive, I got "Toot's" 1950 Nash hung on those big rocks that marked the entrance. She wanted to teach me to drive. "Honey" didn't want me to drive his nice new car, but "Toot" took me out anyway while he was at his store. We did fine in the streets, but I never did like tight places, and just swerved too wide trying to get out of the park, and went right up on top of the rock on my left. We walked home, she called "Honey" to come get the car off the rock, and I hid at my house for a while until I was sure that he would no longer be mad. (The car wasn't hurt.) I thought I would never drive again! But, Daddy made me drive the tractor out in the country. Eventually, I did get back to cars. I never did like close places, though. Give me at least two parking spaces on each side of me when I parked, and I just crawled when I had to cross a bridge. They used to be narrow!

5.Walking up to the bandstand. Barbara is always prepared to paint, or for any occasion. She does plein aire painting often so she has all the necessary equipment like chairs, which she is carrying in this picture. We had views of the bandstand from the east side, growing up, and from the west side after we were older.

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Martha Marshall has a new website. I've changed the link to her site under Artist's Blogs in my sidebar. You can just click on her name and it will take you there.

Myrna Waknov has an interesting video on her site today. Click on the video to see a reporter/writer from NPR Radio talking about producing work, etc.

Gretel Parker is another illustrator/writer who I'm going to add to my links in my sidebar. She has an interesting poem about cleaning the moon on her website, along with some lovely illustrations.

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If you are a vendor, or if you have things that would be appropriate for Victorian times to show, you might be interested in the street fair that they are going to have with the Victorian Festival and Tea this year, Oct. 4. They are looking for vendors. Click on the link at the top of my page for more information, or contact Jody at Zamykal Kolache Shop in Calvert. They have a discount rate for first time participants. One thing they mentioned to me was anything like quilts, aprons, or anything that people make and would be approprite for the Victorian theme.

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