Category Archives: General Mutterings

Day 7 at an Art Retreat – it’s Fiesta Time


It’s our last day on retreat – the plan is spend the day finishing our art work, then meet at 4:00 for an art show and tell featuring – US!

This evening we’ve been invited over to the barn for a Fiesta prepared by our hosts… sounds yummy for sure.

The other night we were trying to take pictures of a lovely Cresent Moon in the oh so starry sky – and Dee managed to capture a picture of an alien. This is New Mexico of course – so that shouldn’t be so surprising – but today Carrie and I wanted to explore the area to see if we can figure out what she actually photographed.

No dice… Maybe it was an Alien? We are quite close to Los Alamos.

After our frustrating search of the grounds, I finish my rocks – enough for everyone to take one home – plus 2 extra. But guess who I forgot? Myself! So I’ll have to make my own memory rock when I get back to Montreal. Fortunately I’ve written down all the names often enough that I’m sure to remember them!

Cat, Carrie, Char, Carol, Dee, Leslie, Tabetha, Xan – 8 BadAss ladies – 8 wannabe Artists for sure!

I start one more painting – a huge in your face Sunflower that should end up interesting but has no chance of getting done today. But I do get a decent start.

Tabetha invites each of us to a one on one chat about our experience here at the retreat. She videos us talking about our experience, and with our permission might use these in a presentation. She’s very passionate about what she does – and I’m very glad I had this time to get to know her. I feel better about my future as an artist – more capable of continuing the exploration.

And – Oh so quickly it’s time for the Art Show. We carefully set up our personal displays in the ‘common’ room – and then get changed in preparation for a party night.

It’s quite a surprise to see all the pieces gathered in one place. Some of us are more experienced than others – I hadn’t realized that both Carrie and Char have only been painting for 9 months. I always think of myself as the rawest beginner at just over a year – and clearly it’s not true!

8 minds see the same wall quite differently – and we even took a photo of all of our paintings of the Adobe wall with the blue bench lined up. My version didn’t even include the bench! And yes I’ve attached the picture of our pictures – but you can only see it by hoping over to the main page of the blog. Just open a browser and go to MontrealMadame.com. Let me know what you think!

Some folks certainly get more ‘done’ than others. Cat and Xan were the most prolific – but I didn’t do too badly – and the rocks were definitely a hit. That felt great.

After our show and tell – which included stories about our history and reasons for painting – we gather in the ‘barn’ for our party.

This is the first time I’ve seen where our hosts – Leslie and Mitch – live. And it is amazing. They have transformed the barn into a massive kitchen – with very few drawers. So unlike Georgia O’Keeffe who hid all her plates in the walls, our hosts have everything on display – including all the silverware!

We gather for ‘appetizers’ and a chat on very comfy sofas by a huge 3 story fireplace, then collect around a huge wooden table for a dinner of Arctic Char, New Mexican Veggies that are so farm fresh they still smell of growing, and a knock your socks off Panacotta for Dessert. We provide the adult beverages of course.

Xan and I agree that the Panacotta is easily amoung the best we’ve ever had. It is that good. Wine flows, conversation covers many topics – including what it’s been like for Leslie and Mitch to host 150 people at a wedding in this space (crowded and noisy apparently).

All too soon it’s time for our final walk on the ranch, our final star gazing moments – and then it’s bed.

Tomorrow we will pack and leave – heading out in various directions towards our homes.

Carrie, Dee, Char and I are driving back to Albuquerque for Sunday night. We do some art shop visiting there – then dinner and bed.

Monday morning I have a 6:00 AM flight to Dallas, then on the Montreal and home.

I loved my Art Retreat. I met my objectives – do some painting, and get faster. I’d definitely go again – just to do a better job at capturing the strong, strong shadows of Santa Fe.

But I’m ready to get home. I miss my house, my bed, my bathtub, my husband! (And no – not in that order).

Signing off

The Soup Lady

Day 6 at the Art Retreat – Meow Wolf and an evening Art walk


After the rain and wind of yesterday, today dawns bright and sunny and warm. The amount of rain yesterday goes a long way towards explaining why there are so many eroded sections of land. When it rains in Santa Fe – it pours HARD. Great lighting and thunder effects too.

It’s Friday and to be honest – I only know because I looked at the calendar on my iphone. The time here has been distorted – periods of extreme focus while painting or visiting serious museums or Georgia O’Keeffe’s home – or times of relaxing and chatting. It seems that every day I learn something new about the BadAss ladies who are here on Retreat with me. I’m reminding of peeling onions – layers and layers…

Today is a ‘free’ day – Cat has chosen to spend the day at 1000 Waves – a local Spa (she’s getting a body massage, a foot massage, and enjoying the pools and hot tubs), and Dee, Carrie, Char and I have opted to visit Meow Woof. I can’t for the life of me remember what Xan and Tabetha have planned (painting I’m assuming), and of course Carol is flying home.

Meow Woof – this is an art installation that was created 8 years ago here in Santa Fe, and has now grown into a multi-city adventure. The original is housed in an abandoned bowling alley – offers free parking – and self-describes as an immersive Art/Fantasy/Mystery Adventure.

I’m so excited to go that I opt to arrive at opening time in order to explore by myself and see everything. I know that the Intrepid Traveler is nodding her head madly at this sentence. Yup – I need time to do a museum/art installation at my snail pace. I read everything.

Passing thru the ‘entrance’ portal where you are warned that bad behaviour will get you removed. To be sure you understand the importance of behaving properly – there’s a list of sins that are considered bad. You are also warned that cameras are in fact watching you!

But unlike most art installations – Touching is strongly encouraged – and in fact if you don’t touch – you won’t figure out what is going on. This is definitely a place where the occasional hand wash is a good idea.

Bottom line – touch but don’t run, don’t damage stuff, and don’t make it hard for others to enjoy.

Ok – past the entrance you walk into the front yard of a two story home – complete with a lovely front porch with rocker, a mail box, and curtains in the windows. It’s evening, it’s peaceful – maybe too peaceful – and the stars are out. To the left is a shed/workshop that begs to be investigated, but I decide to explore the house first.

Front entrance – check. Small office to the left, living room to the right, dining room straight ahead with the kitchen beyond. There’s also a lovely curving staircase leading up to the 2nd floor. The living room features a comfy sofa with an ipad showing videos released by one of the members of the family – a self styled life guru. There’s also a fireplace, a TV showing home videos of the family, and some marketing materials. There’s a diary, newspapers spread around, and other details that all create both an atmosphere and a very real physical presence.

Taking my time, I start reading all the available materials, watching the videos that show in time delay fashion the startling amazing success of the life style guru and then move sequentially thru his huge success, his rapid fall from grace, and his hope for the future that seems oddly focused on a young nephew. All of this sets up the mystery. Where has the family gone? Why is the house stuck in an old Bowling Alley? Why do other travelers pop in and out of odd places – angled doors hidden under the staircase, entrances thru the fireplace, normal looking closets that lead into other places? What is going on here?

And why is there a code for a safe I can’t see? Why are there videos of an old gentleman showing off his ‘Transducer’ and talking about a 500 year old Hamster?

I’m not going to ruin the story in this blog – that would be totally unfair – but trust me – if you aren’t dragging kids who just want to run thru touching things – this place has details upon details to explore! And the most detail – the slowest part – is inside the house.

Bathroom cabinets hide worm holes, Pictures on the walls swing open in odd ways, Clothes and jewelry fill baskets and drawers, floor creak and turn on videos. Even mirrors might suddenly come ‘alive’.

But the largest physical part is ‘beyond’ the house – in another dimension that has suddenly become linked with the house.

There are portals to those other dimension hidden everywhere – inside the fridge, inside the washing machine, beyond the workshop, past the clothes in the closet, behind a bookcase, inside a picture frame. Don’t take anything at face value…

My favorite spaces were the ones that encouraged me to dance – and there were three rooms that not everyone even found – let alone spent enough time in to understand what was going on.

The first was a laser harp set-up – floor to very high ceiling laser lights that when interrupted by moving your hands thru them (think plucking the strings) played music that made me dance around as the strings of light responded to my motions.

The second was a light show controlled by pressing on buttons scattered all around the room.

The third was a room with a desk. If you sat at the desk, a light/sound video began to play – explaining the story, why things were as they were and what had happened. I’m going to guess that I might have been one of the few folks that sat thru the entire explanation! At least I never saw anyone else sitting there in the 4-5 hours I was in the exhibit.

Other rooms feature a futuristic travel agent explaining the advantages of various vacation destinations… And you can even Visit those destinations! The workshop is also a place for exploration, as is the Cake and Candy rooms, the Black and White Room, and even just the walkways that connect the levels and the rooms.

Thank goodness there are places to sit and rest and watch. These tired legs needed those breaks from the action.

In the marketing they say – over 75 rooms – and I believe them. By about 2:00 I thought I’d visited everything, only to finally bump into Carrie, Char and Dee! And then together we found even more rooms.

I particularly liked sitting in the bus that has been thrust between dimensions – resulting in the front of the bus pointing towards the sky with the driver’s seat 25’ over your head- and the ‘passenger seat’ in the bus being on the ground floor sharply leaning backwards to complete the illusion – and the feeling of flying thru space.

Bottom line – I loved Meow Woof! What a smashing idea.

Around 5:00 we head out to rejoin the rest of our fellow ‘retreaters’. We first went to Canyon Road – very upscale art galleries to visit – some closed, some open – all very very expensive. Then we moved on to downtown Santa Fe where they were having a fiesta. It was fun walking around, but too noisy for most of us and very crowded. So we opted to try a New Mexico ‘Mexican’ Restaurant where we ate a lovely slow and pleasantly quiet dinner.

Back to the ranch – and you know who went gratefully to bed! I do love my room at the ranch – it’s my own personal space – and after all the intensity of the day – just the perfect place to relax. So ice cream and down time and bed.

Signing off

Leslie

Day 5 at an Art Retreat – Everyone needs time to just PAINT!


Today is our rest day – aka – focus on painting!

And it’s a break day that is well deserved. Physically I’m fine, but emotionally – Georgia O’Keeffe is overwhelming. So much to process in this old brain.

So we voted to spend the day hanging out here. Given the weather report – that turns out to be the very best idea. Around 4:00 PM it is supposed to get very very windy and rainy. So despite the beautifully sunny weather outside – we are hanging here at the Ranch.

Carrie makes scrambled eggs for the group for breakfast, and Dee champions the coffee pot.

I finished one of my paintings – and then work on doing some more greeting cards. This is a fun activity – I love picking a saying for inside, and then trying to imagine art for the outside of the card that fits… It’s a challenge. But after an hour – I want to focus more on doing what I came here to do – larger paintings!

I had taken a photo of a ladder leaning up against the wall of Georgia O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiu – and the shadow was simply stunning – so I decided to paint that.

Dee helped me with my colors – she had a paint called ‘Terra Cotta’ – which when you add a bit of white and yellow looks like sunlit Adobe – and without the white – represents the darkness of Adobe in Shadow.

My fastest painting ever – it just came together! So check it out. I love the drama of it – and I adore the fact that it was FAST!

I don’t know if I’ve improved that dramatically – or this photo just rang a bell – or if having Dee help me with the color choices made it so much easier – but it was fast. And I love it.

Today is Carol’s last day – she has to get home for a funeral – and in true Tabetha fashion – is going to be doing a presentation on her Artist voyage for us tonight. I’m rather keen to hear how that goes. But meanwhile – I want to give her something to take home.

So after finishing my ‘Ladder to the sky’, I pick up some rocks from around the Ranch – and start painting them. Most come from a trash heap I found, some came from underneath plants – and some just jumped into my hands. I like rocks that call out to be painted – and all of these were obviously keen to be part of my Artistic Adventure. Each rock gets a layer of white, then I paint Santa Fe Art Retreat ‘24 with all our names – Tabetha, Carol, Dee, Cat, Char, Carrie, Leslie, Xan. And yes – to some I added a butterfly.

I make enough to give one to everyone – plus one for Leslie and Mitch (our hosts), and one more to hide somewhere on the Ranch – like an Easter Egg for other guests to find.

Dinner is another one of the delicious vegetarian offerings (with a Gluten Free section for Carol and a Dairy free section for Dee). For desert – my favorite – Ice Cream of course.

Then Carol does her presentation. She has been painting for years – took a bit of a time off because that happens – and is back at it hard as things have started to settle down in other parts of her life. That is a common back-story for most of us – Husbands, Divorces, Sick Kids – Emotional upheaval for which coming back to the focus of Art helps us cope.

I do like what Carol has done – particularly her Exploding Metal Grids in the windows. She sees things so differently – and isn’t afraid to capture her unique vision in paint.

I truly wish her the very best – she is a wonderful person to have gotten to know. I wonder which (if any) of these ladies I will ever meet again.

After the Artist show and tell, we sit down to chat and discover a card game hidden in the pile under the table. It’s called A Horrid Card Game – and the idea is very similar to Apples to Apples with a sexual bent! Everyone gets 5 or 10 cards – and one person – the Card Czar – gets a black card. It’s a fill-in the blank question to which each of us submits one of our cards. Then the Card Czar reads the entire thing – and some of these get us howling with laughter! Since Funniest gets the point – laughing is in fact the point of the game. It is really hard to think negatively when you are laughing so hard it hurts.

We laugh and laugh – then despite Dee’s attempt to get us to change games to Apples to Apples – I say good night. I definitely need my beauty sleep.

Another Art Retreat Day done!

Signing off – The Soup Lady

Day 4 at an Art Retreat – Ghost Ranch and Abiquiú


Getting to know a truly BadAss Woman!

Today we continue our insanely intense scrutiny of the work of Georgia O’Keeffe with a visit to her homes here in New Mexico.

But first it’s ’hello sunshine’, Yoga, Breakfast, and our lesson of the day – adding 3D to a flat shape. Texture, shading, shadows, highlights – all will make something flat appear round, spherical, diamond shape, detracted from the other surfaces.

After class we head out to Abiquiu – where Georgia O’Keeffe had her winter/spring home. Her summer/fall home is just a few miles away at Ghost Ranch – but the challenge for her was the isolation of Ghost Ranch. She feared being alone for the winter in such a deserted location – and I don’t blame her. When we did the drive from Abiquiu to Ghost Ranch – I was stunned by the drastic descent we made! Ghost Ranch is in bottom land. Towering around it on 3 sides are red stone cliffs reminiscent of Bryce Canyon. It’s Glorious – but not where you want to be isolated.

As per our brilliant guide – Frank – there was just a dirt road from Ghost Ranch back to Santa Fe in the 1940’s – and she had a driver. They went up a hill into the town of Abiquiu – and Georgia spotted a ruined adobe home on her left. Asking the driver to stop – she got out and explored – the view was astounding! Truly awe inspiring. She was determined to buy the ruins and to renovate them – but it took years of negotiation to get that to happen. Meanwhile she managed to buy a small plot of land inside of Ghost Ranch, and made that into her home – but her real love was to get that ruin in Abiquiu.

Eventually she managed the feat – and then her husband died. She returned to NYC to deal with the aftermath of that while her friend championed the renovation of the ruin into the home we visited.

Why was this particular site so special? Not only did it have an amazing view that could not be taken away – it had water rights. Dating from the 1700’s – it got water for two hours once a week.

Renovation done – she moved into her home in 1949.

It’s hard to imaging how critical that was in those days in this spot – but with water she could create a garden and a small orchard. Eventually she was able to grow and preserve enough food to feed herself year round – leaving only diary and meat to be purchased.

For a woman who left an estate of over $77 Million Dollars – she lived surprisingly frugally. But her taste was extradinordinary.

She only acquired things that spoke to her – and she loved modern furnishing – as our guide quipped – nope – these are not from IKEA!

Butterfly chairs, A dinning table of folded Plywood, Eames Chairs, Womb Chair, Womb Ottoman, Barcelona Table, clothes from Marimekko, and of course her paintings. Huge floor to ceiling windows – unique in an Adobe structure – graced every room. And there were skylights!

It was a home crafted to foster inspiration, contemplation, and artistic innovation.

She explained that moving her art around in the home at least seasonally helped her to see each painting anew.

The outside color palette dictated the inside palette – nowhere more evident than in the living room where she spent every evening enjoying music with only her dogs for company.

When Georgia decided in 1984 at age 96 that she needed to move to Santa Fe to be closer to medical help if needed – she intended to return. And everything was left exactly as it was on that day.

Walking thru the rooms felt like being part of her life, her energy, her determination, her artistic vision.

A humbling experience.

The home offers several ‘roofless’ courtyards – and across one of these is her studio and bedroom. The studio is of course the largest space in the home – most open, most airy, most windows, most view.

Our guide tells us that towards the end she had an aide living in this room so that she could get help as needed. She lost all vision out of the center of her eyes – and could only see out of the edges. So if she looked at you sideways – it was because she thought you were interesting, and worth really seeing!

Her bedroom was accessed thru the bathroom – maybe not my favorite layout – but clearly it worked for her. Her closet contains only a few of her favorite dresses – partly for display, partly for preservation. As per Frank, the trust rotates items in and out to keep them all well protected.

From the closet – you are in her bedroom – and the huge windows at the corner opposite the bed go a long way towards explaining why she picked this ruin to restore, with this view. Stunning.

She would start every day by getting up before dawn, making her coffee (in a ceremony worthy of green tea), and return to sit on the edge of the bed with her dogs, awaiting dawn.

I want that so bad!

Tour over, we returned to the welcome center, enjoyed a marvellous lunch – and recalled a few of her favorite sayings:

Painting is breaking up a flat surface in a beautiful way

Simplicity is the result of profound thought

Take Time to Look

Our next stop is Ghost Ranch – where Georgia spent her Summer/Fall months. This was a very popular for the period Ranch that hosted many famous folks (including Ansel Adams, Charles Lindbergh and John Wayne).

While the drive to and from was stunning – the visit was rather a disappointment after the glory of her home in Abiquiu. The home she lived in while at the ranch is off limits – even for a drive-by, and as a group we were so exhausted that walking in the heat didn’t seem logical. So we snapped a few shots – and checked out a log cabin that’s been used in City Slickers and the Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Drive home, dinner, chat, and a bit more painting – I learned how to make greeting cards! Then bed.

Signing off – The Soup Lady

Day 2 at an Art Retreat


A glorious sunrise is peaking thru the window – and I’m glad to see it. The sky here on the ranch near Santa Fe is a huge blue bowl hung upside down over a landscape that is clearly NOT Montreal.

Dead trees, scrub brush, and even the occasional succulent are visible out my window – nothing man-made in view if you don’t look at the first 10 yards. And right now (almost 7:00 AM) there is a decidedly pinkish hue to the sky.

Good Morning World!

I start the day with Yoga, then head into the ‘common’ room for breakfast. There are lots of options – but this is a farming ranch so there are farm fresh eggs. You can easily imagine that the chickens just finished contributing their part – and I opt for just simple fried eggs with a slice of a Simolina Bread the host made yesterday. Yummy.

We sit around the outdoor stone table and chat. Most of my fellow artists (that gives me goose bumps..) had a former life as Councillors – and the conversation turns to the Myers Briggs Evaluation scale.

Nope – I didn’t know what that was either – Dee had to explain. She also explained that she, Carrie and Char are trained Soul Councillors – and her last job before retiring was as a Professional Career Advisor. Carrie – the highest trained of the group – had been working with Trauma Patients who were considered suicide risks – but gave that up when it started effecting her personally.

Back to Myers Briggs – apparently there are 4 different characteristics that make up the scale. Introvert/Extrovert, Concrete/Intuitive, Thinker/Feeler, and Perceiver/Judger. Dee described each one in detail, and she has promised to let me know where I’m at on these scales – But after her explaining what they mean – I’m going to bet I’m an Extrovert/Concrete/Thinker/Perceiver. But we shall see – and I promise to report back!

Finally Tabatha calls us to order for a review of the Retreat Rules! That’s cool – there are Rules in a Retreat. Sounds a bit like Rules in a Gun Fight for those with an interest in old movies.

And yes – I wrote them down.

  1. Relax, No Stress, Have Fun
  2. There’s a quiet zone. No talking to the folks there until they are ready to re-join the group. We choose a table with 4 chairs away from the common area. I wonder if I’ll opt to use it – or just excuse myself and hide in my room. I’m guessing – hide in my room.
  3. Respect – No Judgement. Don’t let your uninvited Critic rule your feelings – put him/her/they into the passenger seat – and let them know you are driving this car.
  4. You are responsible for your own experience. If you are feeling lonely, overwhelmed, whatever – TELL Someone. Don’t assume that the group is ignoring you, judging you, etc. That’s your inner critic talking.
  5. Honor the best in each other and in yourself.
  6. Honest critique is tough – leave it to Tabatha. Your job is to go – you Rock!
  7. Practice Positive Feedback – Ask “what do you like best about what you’ve done” – and then support their opinion!
  8. Be gentle with your own inner artist
  9. Look out for each other

Whew – those are interesting rules, eh? I love the idea of putting the inner critic in their own seat in the bus. I’m prone to letting my inner critic be a bit too loud. So I’m going to work hard on saying to my inner critic – thanks, but I’ll work this out on my own.

Next we have our first ‘class’ – where we discuss Marks and Lines. Art starts by making a mark. And you can get that process started by making lines – even doodles are art.

Tabatha explains that before we arrived here we were in the Gathering Phase – putting the pieces we’d need together. Now we are beginning the Creation Phase – where the world is full of options – and we start to narrow our focus.

To this end, we as a group decide what our first painting focus will be – and we choose an area around a lovely adobe wall with a very bright blue chair and very bright blue windows to paint from different positions. Set-up is slow. I’ve never used my easel before, and I have to set-out the paint colors I’m going to use. Just thinking about creating a color for Adobe is a challenge. I muddle thru – and suddenly – There’s a break for lunch – then back to work.

Painting – just FYI – is hard work. And I’m slow. I did get the first paint layer done by Lunch time – then went back to work until it gets too dark to see my canvas clearly. We will get more time tomorrow. Xan deems her work done – Dee says her work has only 2 colors – and I’m thinking – oh dear – there’s a lot of detail to that blue chair!

We change for dinner (you don’t paint in something you care about staying clean – even if you are a ‘clean’ painter) – and drive into Santa Fe proper. Tabatha has reserved a table for 8 at The Shed – yummy New Mexico Mexican – and I splurge and have 14 of the best shrimp ever. Oh Yum.

We return to the ranch after a quick stop at grocery store to do our evening activity – a group painting.

There are 9 Canvas board squares – and Tabatha has sketched limbs on the squares. The limbs extend from one square to the next – and our job is to paint our square, keeping the parts of the limbs that leave our square in position to match the limbs in the squares that will border ours. If you’ve ever done a model railroad layout = you’ll immediately get the idea.

We start to work. It’s a lot of fun, and a lot of sharing. The group at the top of the table take a more collaborative approach – but I decide to treat my canvas as a flat rock with limbs. It ends up covered in Butterflies hiding behind the limbs Tabatha drew. The Butterflies are drawn with Metallic paints – Gold, and Silver, and Blue, and Magenta – and yes – even Pink.

Hours later (time definitely flies when you are doing art), we regroup by putting our squares into their correct positions in the larger piece. The result is rather cool. 8 unique paintings that interlock! My inner critic suggests that maybe we should have all had more direction – but I tell it to shut up!

It’s definitely bedtime – so we clear up the mess we’ve caused – told ya that painting is NOT a clean sport, wish each other good-night and head off to bed.

Tomorrow we go to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. I’m excited.

Signing off

The Soup Lady

Day 3 at an Art Retreat


Good morning Sunshine!

Day was a tough tough day! I was so exhausted at dinner time – I had trouble finishing my ice cream. That’s what I call a disaster.

But not to worry – I did finish the ice cream – then wished everyone good night before I wandered my way back to my room and bed.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Day 3 started off gracefully – sunrise out my window, Yoga, Breakfast, our morning lesson – on Shapes.

A shape – as per Tabatha – is just a line that meets itself. So there is an inner and outer part. It can be simple – a square, or it can look quite complex – a squiggle shape if you will. It can be identifiable like a man/woman shape, or it can be very complicated. It just needs an inside and an outside.

Breaking down something that you want to paint into the shapes that make it what it is is one way of attacking the drawing phase of art. Keeping things simple makes it easier to get the starting part completed before you move on towards adding details.

Looking at paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe is like looking at shapes without all the complexities of distracting details. Colors are bright and sometimes glaring – but the lack of tiny details makes her paintings stand out.

With these thoughts in mind, We then drove into Santa Fe to visit the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. I elected to take the free audio tour -everyone else opted to discuss the paintings in small groups. But I find an audio tour keeps me focused on the reason I came to the museum, I can tune out the background noise and just try to internally absorb the art.

And what smashingly beautiful art it is. Oh man – the shows I’ve seen just do not do the scope of her work – nor do they cover with the same intensity her internal and external struggles.

Georgia came from an interesting background – even in high school she was recognized for her talent – and the museum had two of her early water Color’s one display. Glorious. But of course I prefer her work done after she moved here to New Mexico.

In 10 rooms – the Museum attempts to cover the scope of her decades of work – culminating in two rooms that contain personal items from her years here in New Mexico. There are some of her dresses, her signature hat, her phials of pigments that she would add to the paints to get the intensity of color for which she is known.

While the museum displays focused on her art, the audio tour also talked abut her struggles with Depression and illness, and with her feelings about her husband’s disloyalty. These were all of course well documented and must have made her desire to isolate herself from the noise of the world around her more intense. She often escaped on solitary hikes and water voyages around her ‘homes’ at Ghost Ranch and Abiquiú.

We will be visiting both today (Day 4). I can’t wait.

After the visit to the museum, we grabbed an awesomely delicious lunch at the Plaza Cafe – a deceptively huge dinner like place on the main Plaza of Santa Fe that featured Breakfast all day. The Hash Browns were some of the best I’ve ever tasted. And everything packed a spicy wallop – to the disappointment of some of my fellow artists. I think our bland diets did us in!

After lunch we came back to our Ranch Home to paint. Most folks opted to take a rest – and in hindsight I should have done the same, but I was so energized by seeing Georgia’s work that I had to paint.

I finished my ‘Square’ of Butterflies – I’m very happy with it, and then decided to revisit my work from Day 2. This time I decided to take a much simpler approach. I got rid of detail to focus on shape and color. I’m much much happier with the result – but plan to continue working on it.

Suddenly it was dinner time – and I immediately realized that I was completely and utterly wiped out!

Dee – who had brilliantly taken a nap – spotted me just sitting in a chair with my knees at my chin and questioned how I was feeling. I tried to figure out why I was so insanely done in, and we eventually agreed that the intense focus went a long way towards explaining my depleted state.

So it was dinner, the aforementioned ice cream, and bed.

Day 3 over!

Signing off – The Soup Lady

Day 1 at an Artist Retreat


I’m at a ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico with a group of 7 other women on an art retreat.

For me – That is one truly wierd sentence. For starters – I can’t remember ever being with a group of only women before in my life. I’ve been just 2 or 3 with just women – when my sisters and I travel together without our sig others – and when I travel with the Intrepid Traveler – but 8 women. Just Women. First time.

Point 2 – It’s a ‘Art Retreat’. I knew I wanted to do a yoga retreat, and I’ve definitely done Bridge regionals and nationals – which I suppose are rather ‘retreat like’ in that you focus on one activity – but Art. Really? Nothing but Art? I mean – I love doing Art – but just Art… maybe that’s why I’m blogging – a retreat from an Art Retreat.

Am I over thinking this?

Yesterday was my travel day. I woke at 3:00 AM in a hotel near the Toronto Airport having eaten a lovely dinner the night before with my husband. We said our good-byes before bed – knowing that I had to be at the airport so very early it wasn’t a good plan to wake him up.

So – I’m up, I didn’t do my Yoga – hard to do that without disturbing my husband, and got dressed in the dark. I had mostly prepared the night before – so it went quickly – and I’m pretty sure I didn’t forget anything.

The trip to the airport in the shuttle was painless – but surprisingly crowded. Lots of airline crew starting their days – and a few other travellers. My fellow voyagers are clearly Japanese heading home. Neatly dressed, with their suitcases carefully over-wrapped in flashy cover-ups to make them easy to spot on the carrousels. Organized travellers. In comparison I feel like a flake – a very senior hippy heading out to see the world.

My ‘Safari bag’ suitcase is a hold-over from our first trip to Africa. Soft sided, but with wheels, it’s easy to over fill, and has no structure. So I’ve put in all my paints and art supplies – including the 10 canvases I’m hoping will be filled with art on my way back home. Right now they are white and unprepared – Full of potential – but very empty.

The airports were airports – large, packed with people with very specific destinations – and busy. The trip itself, while long, was uneventful. Not Adventure travel, unless you count arriving at my connecting flight just as they called my group # to board! I think that’s just great timing. I will admit I wondered if my big suitcase packed with the art supplies would make the connection – just 50 minutes, and Dallas is a huge airport – but yup – it was safely riding around in Baggage Claim in Albuquerque.

Getting the rental car was super easy. There are clear signs to ‘Rental Cars’ near Baggage Claim – and they have just one bus that takes all folks picking up Rental Cars to an off the airport Rental Car Building. Go right for one group of agencies, go left for the other. Hard to get lost – easy to find your agency!

Got my car – a small SUV – that to my eyes looks like a huge truck. And drives like one too! The agent proudly explained that it was a 2024 model – one of the newest they had on the lot. Hmmm.

I’ll grant you it was huge – although when Char (76) and Carol (58) and I put all out luggage in – we had to use the 4th seat for extra storage. I think the issue is all the art supplies. We all were told to come prepare to paint not shop – and it’s hard to judge what you’ll need. Just picking the colors is a challenge – what works in Montreal might not be appealing to paint with in Santa Fe. The light is different, the air is different – and I think the colors will be very different. We shall see.

We meet up with Carrie (1/4 Cherokee and 79) and Dee (my age, 4’11” and super nice) – and agree to follow them as we head out to the Turquoise Road – a scenic bypass between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Painless trip – broken up by stopping for lunch at a decrepit looking old Coal Mining town that has been turned into a terribly cutesy Western themed Art community.

We all agree that the wide-open spaces around us are both lovely, and conducive to folks doing big sculpture. We pass several ‘art studios’ that feature old car frames that have been repurposed into ‘art’. Some painted, some left to continue rusting. There’s even an Origami Garden with the largest Metal Origami structures I’ve ever seen. They tower over the landscape looking like huge folding paper Birds and Horses. Unfortunately – it’s closed, and we can only peak in from the entrance.

We chat over lunch – I learn that Carol is Gluten Free – and suffers badly if she even eats the tiniest bit of Gluten, and Dee has a dairy free diet that it turns out to include all Cheese made with goat, sheep or cow milk. Well – I knew that – but the folks at the ranch did not – and they had carefully added cheese to both the salad and the ‘Gratin’ dish at dinner time. I know – dealing with ‘food issues’ isn’t fun – but hey, at least we are all getting better at saying ‘No’ – rather then eating and suffering, or not eating and just pushing the food around the plate to make it look like we ate.

The Ranch is a 10 acre field with a large low adobe building forming the main ranch house, and a heavily renovated ‘barn’ acting as the home of the hosts. We have the entire run of the place – all rooms are huge – all the furniture is huge and well worn – and there are tons of ‘spaces’ where folks can gather or be alone. I like it.

My room is a small suite. Huge bedroom with lots of storage spots but not much furniture and a mini-kitchen/desk area. Bathroom too. I have windows on 2 sides – one with a lovely view of the sunrise – that I admired greatly while writing this post, and one leading to a ‘private’ porch with a hammock I shall never use.

After getting our gear into our rooms – I help move the suitcases of several of the other guests – who thought that at 76 I’d be the strongest… (Thank you Mona) – then we gather for a quick chat and orientation.

We play a name game – which clearly didn’t help me because I’ve forgotten names already – but I’m going to write them down over breakfast so I get them right in the blog.

We spend time introducing our selves, and describing where we are ‘art’ wise. Outside of Tabatha (58) – our leader – Cat (68) and Xan (54 and the youngest) are the only ones actually making a living from doing ‘art’. Char explains that she is a newbie – but learning constantly, Xan is a friend of Tabatha – and has been doing art for a long time – although I don’t think she makes a living painting – it’s creating jewelry that she sells on line that provides some income.

Some of the women are married – although for all of us – while our husbands support our desire to do ‘art’ – they didn’t come on the retreat. Most of the women are single and unattached. Two never had kids, One has only one daughter who at 24 is still living at home and has health issues.

After dinner there is more chatting until I excuse myself. I’m way past my expiry date… I need to wind down, straighten my room and go to bed.

Signing off to do Yoga – eat Breakfast – record names – and start painting…

The Soup Lady

Shaw Festival 2025 – 2 Don’t Miss Plays


“Snow in Midsummer” and “The Orphan of Chao” are two short but quite stunning offerings at the Shaw in Niagara on the Lake this summer.

And we have Season Tickets! So of course we went to see both – and good news – saw them both in 2 days – not quite back to back, but close enough to both compare and contrast them.

All 6 of the Actors in The Orphan of Chao also appear in Snow in Midsummer (12 Cast in total) – not a surprise perhaps for a repertoire theatre company like Shaw – and even less of a surprise given that both plays are taken from Chinese Stories that date back hundreds (thousands?) of years. So while not all of the surprisingly excellent cast is clearly Asian – there is a decidedly Asian bent! Logical I suppose – and it must have made casting easier to have two plays for these actors to perform!

But cast excellence aside – it’s the stories and the dramatic nature of the setting and staging that made these plays so stunning. Thank you Directors!

Both stories are tales of revenge and redemption. Both Plays feature minimal staging to maximum effect, and both Plays have women cast members playing the strongest roles.

“The Orphan of Chao” tells the story of the rise, fall and rise again of a family in China during the Jin Dynasty – c.145 – 86 BCE. Given that history has a way of repeating itself – the play relates the not so unique story of a corrupt High Official at court who decides his safest strategy is just to get rid of his major opponent – and since this is China – that means killing off every person related in to him. 300 people get murdered quickly – leaving only one infant – saved from death by the suicide of his mother, a guard who knows too much, and the extreme sacrifice of a doctor of his only child. It’s not easy to hide an infant, let alone raise the infant, under the watchful eyes of a malevolent man with a great deal of power.

The staging was truly remarkable. There is a high movable fence that serves as the entrance to a palace, the entrance to a hovel, the barrier against attack, and the background. The players use paper hats, paper costumes, and some effective props including a medicine chest that the Doctor uses to hide the infant to convey the impression of soldiers, court officials, scared parents, Evil Dictators, and young challengers.

I was never lost in the story – every set change was done with clear explanations as to where we were now, and what was happening. There wasn’t actually much text – most of the story gets told by people dramatically interpreting what is happening. My clear favorite – the mother of the Orphan giving birth! A second favorite – the Doctor trying to escape with the infant – and doing a very bad job of it.

I was left with an emotional high – perhaps there is hope for the future, that the ‘good’ guys can actually end up ahead.

“Snow in MidSummer” was a modern re-writing of another old Chinese Story. In the program notes it explains that you can’t risk re-telling these stories in today’s China – so the author is based in the US – along with all her family. Unlike “The Orphan of Chao”, the author takes great liberties with the story – revising the love interest, making it more of a murder mystery than the simple retelling of a convoluted, but clear good vs bad story.

And the changes make the story much more ‘acceptable’ to our modern ideas. It isn’t clear who is right and who is wrong, who is good and who is bad in “Snow in MidSummer” – although the sprit crying out for redemption/revenge has a solid plan.

Again – the minimum set – a partially ruined brick wall becomes a bar, a court room, a torture chamber, and an execution ground. Waving flags and minimal props generate mood, and move the story along. The steps leading up thru the audience are the stairways to heaven, at least the Buddhist version of it, and rapid changes of small bits of clothing (including gas masks and full animal head puppetry) allow the audience to quickly understand who is who.

I particularly was intrigued by the wordless funeral held for one of the main characters – showing how things thrown into the fire become a part of the spirt world – an orange, some money, a flower – all go from the hands of the funeral party thru the burning fire into the hands of the spirts. Stunningly beautiful and completely wordless.

Without spoiling the play for those who have yet to see it – again we have a tale where the name of the game is Redemption/Revenge, Forgiveness, Moving Forward, and having hope for the future – of a person, of a town, of a tree.

I loved both. I would gleefully see both again.

Signing off to go see My Fair Lady for the 2nd time… Shaw does it all!

The Soup Lady

Ice Cream in Turin – aka La Romana


I Love Ice Cream – and I’m particularly fond of Pistachio Ice Cream/Gelato. And I adore the Ice Creams of Italy.

During my quick visit to Turin (July 2024) – I definitely intended to eat Ice Cream in as many places as possible.

But things got difficult. I was in Turin to do a Regency Weekend that included tours of several of the historical Palaces/Museums that related to Napoleon’s visits to the city, a dance practice, a Ball, and a night at a Turkish Bath. Squeezing in time to try Ice Cream was a challenge.

In the end – I only got to eat Ice Cream at La Romana. It was described as the best ice cream in Turin by the Receptionist at our hotel – and that was enough to make sure I found time to get some.

So – morning of the day we were to fly home turned out to be the only chance to get Ice Cream – and after breakfast we stored our luggage in the hotel and walked the 5 minutes to Piazza San Carlo.

La Romana is – for an ice cream shop – a magnificent store front. High ceilings, a long counter on one side, multiple tables in and around the displays of Ice Cream Confectionary, and a generally ‘yummy’ buzz of people enjoying the simple, but oh so good, offerings.

Ordering was simple – but required an explanation that clearly is given multiple times a day. First you pick a size and pay – only then do you get to taste and then select your flavours. This is the reverse of how it generally works in North America – because the hope is that upon tasting, you’ll order more. But – hey – when in Turin, do as the Turinians do!

So both my husband and I lined up to select a Medium sized Cup. Paid our 4 Euro’s each – and then lined up to select flavours. The team behind the counter cheerfully provided tastes – and in hindsight I should have done some tasting – but instead I just opted for the 3 flavours I thought sounded right.

Pistachio for sure, Sabayon, and a third that featured whole Hazelnuts and a name I can’t quite remember.

My husband also had several different flavours – but the Sorbet called Stratelli con More – Raspberry and Blackberry with Dark Chocolate pieces was not just his favorite – he went back for seconds.

Just how good was this Ice Cream? How about the best I ever had?

I actually started wondering if I could open a franchise in NOTL…

And I’m planning another trip to Turin. I definitely want more of that Ice Cream.

Signing off – The Soup Lady

Tags – a Lesson Learned about Banktivity


For years my husband has counted on Banktivity to monitor our spending money and accounts. Finally I convinced him to let me work with it too.

What followed, after the – it won’t sync, you’ll mess it up – among a long list of reasons I should steer clear, was a day of lessons.

The first thing we had to check was syncing – if I made a change, could he see it quickly on his computer – and visa-versa. Answer – absolutely YES. And when it’s fast, it’s very very fast since you are effectively reading and writing to the cloud. But it’s not always fast – and sometimes the things that are slow (like the list of categories showing up) are frustrating. But it does Sync – both immediately upon a change, and again when you close the session.

Once I got a bit of experience under my belt – I quickly starting asking questions about reports and categories and tags. My husband had never used tags – and I decided to experiment. I’m here to report that the Tags in Banktivity are super powerful.

I’m using Banktivity on an ipad – so some of the following won’t work quite as described if you are working on a computer or a phone. Just FYI.

Tags are pre-setup using the Manage Tags option found in Configuration on the Summary Page. It worth spending time thinking about HOW you’ll use the Tags you create before setting them up. And knowing HOW you’ll use the Tags requires understanding how Tags differ from other ways of looking at your transactions.

So – Step 1 – How do Tags differ from other ways of looking at your transactions?

A) Tags run across currency, across bank accounts, across methods of payment (different credit cards). So say you want to quickly know how much a particular trip will cost you in total. Using a Tag and carefully assigning it to every transaction that impacts that trip will work perfectly, no matter what method of payment you use. And it easy to check the totals – and individual impacted transactions. On the Summary screen is a heading entitled Tags. Just click on that to ‘see more’ and you’ll see totals for the current month for all the Tags you’ve created. Click on a specific Tag to show all the associated transactions. Cool.

B) Multiple Tags can be assigned to one Transaction. So you can have #Dining as a Tag, and #Trip to India as a different Tag – and assign BOTH Tags to a transaction with the Payee of a Restaurant in India. Then when you look at the Summary across Tags – you’ll see that single transaction amount included in both Tag Totals.

C) Tags can be ‘renamed’ in the Configuration Routine on the fly, and all transactions that use that Tag will be updated. You can’t delete Tags already in use – but you can rename them and search for them.

Step 2 – What Tags should you create?

A) Think Small – Do you want to know what you’ve spent on Dining this month/year? Make #Dining a Tag. Do you want to know what you’ve spent on a particular activity – like a trip to Paris, or a Weekend with Friends? Make #Paris a Tag, or make #Weekend with Friends July 2024 a Tag. Tags can be rather long – and it doesn’t matter because you just tap to assign them to a Transaction.

B) Think Big – Do you want to be able to see the total you’ve earned over several different activities – say renting 2 condos, or selling Coasters and selling Painting, or buying Clothes and buying Furniture for a specific home? Since Tags accumulate the money spent or earned across all the other types of transaction divisions – just create them and assign them – Use the Tag option on the Summary page to see how the totals compare. Just remember that you can assign multiple Tags to one transaction – and the money spent/earned will be accounted for again and again.

Step 3 – How easy is it to add/remove Tags?

A) Very Easy is the quick answer

B) To add a Tag – go to a transaction, even one that has been verified – Edit the transaction, pick a Line and click on the Message/Tag blank. Click on a Tag to add it to the line. Click on a Tag already associated with a line to remove it. Close the Transaction – Job done.

Step 4 – Can you use Tags in your history?

A) I haven’t really explored reports yet to see how Tags are handled – and since it’s thru Reports that you can do historical analysis – the quick answer here is – I’m not sure. Perhaps you can comment if you have more information.

I hope this quick and easy description sounds worth trying – I love being able to quickly see how much a particular activity (biking) is costing me – or to evaluate how much a trip has cost so far (Paris July 2024).

Signing off the add some more Tags… The Soup Lady.