Catching up, Is it Day 8 AlreadyBarb

Barb Kobe, Pamela, in Barb's Garden

Pamela is delighted to receive a ceramic garden turtle

 

 

Hard to leave each place...Barb and Bill Kobe have made their house so wonderful inside and out. Bob's ceramic creatures hide among the wonderful plantings. Barb's creations and Bill's paintings make every surface inside and out rich and varied. Piles of books I'd love to read. Delicious food. Interesting friends coming over to talk and work.

Barb and Bill each have half of the basement for studios, with a green house and more kilns in the back yard.

Pamela and Barb in back of her lily bed

The conversations continue: how to be an artist and survive. I'm writing as I drive, in a state of semi-contemplation, watching the subtle changes in the scenery, getting ideas about connectivity/layers/stories.

The Gumbies on the top of my car at the Iowa Welcome Center

Reluctantly left Barb and her amazing Minnesota friends yesterday, enjoying Minnesota and Iowa greenery and the lovely Welcome Center, where I had delicious apple pie and coffee and picked up lots of travel information as well as maps for Iowa and Illinois.

Even with leaving Barb's at 10 and stopping along the way, I arrived in Iowa mid afternoon and Steve put me to work chopping vegetables. Steve lives in the house Mom and Dad built when I was in the last of High School...Interesting echos of past lives. Good to be with all the family and more coming. Thayer is still waiting for a flight out of Israel, although he was supposed to arrive yesterday. Some cousins and Mom's brother are on their way as well.

Driving into Iowa, flat with more green 

Mom on the throne as we waited  at Tony's Pizza, with Connie

Mom and Hugh in Steve's back yard

Hugh and Connie in Steve's bakyard