Newport, Oregon and the Paper Art Festival

Yep, I am slow at getting all this stuff out but, by golly, I will.  I want to thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and just chatting with me. It helps to keep me writing and trying to do it a little more, honest.

Now, in April comes an event I love called the Newport Paper Arts Festival. If you don’t know, Newport is a wonderful coast town. And it charms me every time I am there. Just seeing the power of the water as it beats upon the coast and watching the waves beach themselves along the shore…. I grew up near a beach so I am drawn greatly to water and the movement of it, so I do love visiting Newport. And of course people have a lot to do with it as well.

Cheri Aldrich is one of the founding members (mothers, as they like to say) of the Newport Paper Arts Festival. It is a delightful three day event with day long classes. I was especially lucky as I got to teach in the same building for all three of my classes. I was in Pencil Port , and office and art supply store, run by Linda and her husband, with this great classroom area. That made it so nice as I didn’t have to schlep my stuff all over the place. And the students are some of the best. Of course, all my students are the best and my favorites. It’s true. Heck, they all show wonderful taste (yep, I’m grinning). Here you can see some of the great work they did in class. I wish the quality of the pictures were better but at least you get the idea.

While in Newport I stayed at Nye Cottage by the Nye Bead Store. The cottage is charming and has  everything you need to make your stay warm and comfortable. It even has an Ott light in the room, you know there are beaders around. Linda ( a different one) the owner of the cottage and the bead store was all ready to set me up with a beading tray. I hadn’t come to bead though, I was teaching books. Okay, some beads were involved but not the Ott light kind of beading. And there are pots of flowers, blooming, all around the cottage.

And while I was there, one night I woke up to the sound, the sound of hail beating down on the roof and the sidewalk and the streets and everything. This was April, mind you. It was pretty awesome. I mean, it was coming down hard. Hard enough to wake me from a pretty sound sleep. And as I realized what was going on and turned to go back to sleep a bright flash of light and a huge crack of thunder rumbled through the town. Wow, nothing like a good storm to remind you that you are just a wee blimp on the cosmic scale.

And there was snow and more hail. But during the days we had sunshine. It was great. The best of all the seasons in a really short amount of time.

I didn’t go beach walking this time. I hung out with great folks and just enjoyed being.

And while I’d love to leave you on that note with promises of talking about Art & Soul Virginia, I have to tell you of a friend of mine, Joe. Well, he was a friend of Ron’s, who is my husband’s best friend and my other brother, biggest kid, friend all rolled into one. About a year ago Ron started bringing Joe around and the three guys would sit outside shooting the breeze no matter what the weather. I would intrude on the male zone every so often and in doing so I got to know Joe a bit. He was a sweet guy. He never talked about his past much but he had a lovely laugh and kind manner. I loved the deep rumble of his voice. Joe passed away a couple weeks ago. There were so many things I didn’t know about Joe until after he died. I thought we had all the time in the world. I was wrong. But I knew what I needed to know, he was a good man. Today was his memorial service. I didn’t go. I shed my tears in private. Joe would understand.

Bye, Joe. You are missed.