The Next Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock - that spontaneous, free-form, abstract artist from the 1940s and 1950s - is well known for his large canvases painted while they were stretched out on the floor or ground. He is remembered for his style of dripping, flinging, splattering and pouring paint onto the canvas. Check out THIS picture of Pollock-in-action and compare it to Robert-in-action on our back patio yesterday afternoon:

And as for works of art, I may be looking through Grandma-colored glasses, but I think Robert's Number 1: Gray compares quite favorably to Pollock's Number 14: Gray.

We had a blast yesterday afternoon painting the patio, the fence and the bricks on the house. What fun this little guy can have with something as simple as water and a paint brush. Of course, a water shooter added another dimension to the fun. I wonder if Pollock ever used one of these to put paint to canvas?

Success! And Now the Fun Begins

Mission Aborted

Today was the big day! We got up and headed to Somerville, TX, where we were to meet Kelsey, who would hand-off Robert to us for our long weekend together. We have been looking forward to this for awhile, and Kelsey says Robert has been really excited.

Imagine our disappointment (and Robert's), therefore, when we failed at our mission and had to turn around and return home without our little passenger. The Winter Weather Advisory that we read about (and doubted) turned out to be accurate. When we left Temple, at 9:00 this morning, it was cold (in the 20s), but dry - no problem. But before we reached Cameron it started to rain, and the roads were getting slick. Our windshield, wipers and mirrors were icing up. After several emergency vehicles passed us, we stopped at a convenience store and learned that there was a 5-vehicle pile-up on a bridge, just ahead. There was no alternate route for us and, even if there had been, we knew it wasn't wise to continue on in these conditions. So we made the call to Kelsey, telling her it was a no-go for this morning. It was sad but absolutely the right decision. On our way back home we came upon two more wrecks involving multiple vehicles. We drove slowly, carefully and prayerfully and made it home just fine.

We will watch the weather and make revised plans when it looks safe. These pictures show the icy glaze that coated our car by the time we arrived back home.

A Visit with Captain America/Spiderman

You've heard of "mixed metaphors"? This is "mixed superheroes."

We drove up to Dallas on Friday to visit Dan's sister, Marci, and Caleb, Tammy and Miles (her son, d-i-l, and grandson). Marci was in a bad car accident about three weeks ago, and is staying at Caleb's while she recuperates from some pretty severe bone bruises and other aches and pains (no broken bones, thankfully). Although she is still limping and has difficulty sitting down and getting up, we were relieved to see that she is making good progress in her recovery.

We had a great visit. They took us out to a Japanese hibachi grill for dinner on Friday, which was a real treat.

While our Robert is infatuated with cars, little Miles is equally into superheroes. Here he is, sitting with his daddy, Caleb (whom he calls "Papa"), while watching a Superman movie on TV.