Just Another Day in Paradise

We're still pinching ourselves to make sure we're not dreaming. It's so much fun to be here in Rockport. It's relaxing and stimulating at the same time. There's always the ever-changing backdrop of the ocean with its many moods and textures. And we're having so much fun exploring.

Started out hearing the yard guys working outside this morning. Now that's a real benefit of renting, as opposed to owning a place. Just last night when I went outside to take pictures of the Christmas decorations to put on the blog, I thought the grass was getting kind of long. Didn't have to do anything about it. The guys showed up this morning first thing. Trimmed, mowed, blew off the debris...and all we have to do is enjoy it.

Our first outing of the day was to what I believe is the most inviting art studio/gallery I've ever entered, Studio 3 in the historic section of Rockport. The artists are a young couple, John and Jamie Speck. We didn't meet John because he teaches art at the high school in Port Aransas. But Jamie welcomed us in and we were awestruck at what they've done to this place that not long ago was a T-shirt shop badly in need of repair. Here's a glimpse of this amazing space:

Starting tomorrow morning, I'll be taking a weekly art journaling class from Jamie. here's the great space where we get to work, with the teacher/artist herself. We felt like we knew Jamie from the moment we met her because she reminds us so much of our daughter Kelly.

She provides all the tools needed....even aprons to protect your clothing:

Even the restroom is inviting!

A few more fun views of the studio....

Even Jamie's personal upstairs workspace, which SHE thinks is messy (it's supposed to be messy; she's an artist!) is delightful:

I can't wait to spend some time there tomorrow with Jamie and the other 3 women in the class. 

After visiting the studio, we took a photo tour of Rockport's harbor and picturesque bait shops:

Bea's Bait Shop seemed to be the only one open today:

As we wandered along the bay, we watched a guy kite boarding. He was amazing!

And here I caught him in a flip! (Missed the kite, though...)

And I took a few shots of the part of Rockport beach where all the Christmas festivities will take place this weekend. We've heard that there will be wall-to-wall people and cars, so I thought I'd show it to you on a cool, windy day when nothing is happening:

The band shell:

As we saw this friend, we remembered the cute 2-line poem by Dixon Merritt that we used to recite to our kids:

A wonderful bird is the pelican. 

His bill will hold more than his bellican. 

Actually, we just looked it up online to make sure of the poet, who we mistakenly thought was Ogden Nash. Turns out it has 5 lines, but when we read them we realized why we only taught our kids the first two!

Well, I'm off to bed. My art class starts early tomorrow, and I want to be creative, not weary.