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SUZY'S BLOG Hi, I'm Suzy Moon, Wife, Mother, Booth Goddess,Registered
Nurse, and Blogger. From time to time I'll be sharing thoughts on art as it applies to us, art shows, other
artist, etc... and also music, food and Life as we experience it. Grab a cup of tea and join me for a paragraph
or two. If you'd like more info on anything I write or have a comment you may email me at suzy @ kotahmoon.com
(remove spaces)
January 29, 2012 Happy New Year everyone! As this year begins we are concentrating our efforts in Florida. There is a lively thriving art circuit throughout Florida starting the first weekend in January through about May. It picks up again in the Autumn when the temperatures return to a reasonable level. The first 3 weeks of January was spent there and we will be returning for the entire month of February. We've rented a house in Astatula - between Ocala and Mount Dora so Kotah can work between shows. We will be out in the sticks with no cable or internet. I fear I may be bored out of my mind! Taking reading material and as much busy work as I can manage without using the internet. Amazing how dependent I - we - have become on this phenomenal tool Al Gore created. (snicker) Kotah has been putting a lot of effort into some new lines for the Florida shows including his Lager Head turtles made from beer kegs. I believe there's a picture in Gallery V. I hope we fare even better in February than we did in January. Without weekly hotel costs, we should be golden. Meditate for peace and compassion everyone. It matters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiMGdcVtrO8&feature=youtu.be
November 1, 2011    This is a custom wall hanging Kotah created for
a friend who has reached her 5 year anniversary with sobriety. I went to high school with this friend and our dads were poker
buddies.Over the years I had heard things about her that were disturbing and I guess most of them were true. When we were
reunited on Facebook, she was already in recovery and doing well. Now she's taking classes for a therapy degree.
She wants to give back and help others. Here's to you my friend, stay well!!
From August: Glen Ellyn Lion's Club Festival of the Arts:
From August: Piedmont Park Art Festival. This was a bust for us but you gotta love Atlanta!!:
From August: Y-Bridge Art Festival, Zanesville, OH:
From July: Art and Soul on the Fox, Elgin, IL. Random pictures:
October 3, 2011 Yeah. I have totally ignored the blog. I have been fighting some personal demons and trying to get my head
screwed on straight. You’d think nearing the 50 year mark I’d have it all figured out by now. Life, people mainly,
continue to throw me curve balls and instead of simply missing my swing, the ball thwumps me in the hip or head. Hard enough
to knock me down but not quite out so that I can experience every single second of the physical and/or emotional pain. July 11, 2011
June 26th, 2011 Can I just say that people suck? Can I? May I? Do they? It's been a tough year so far for art shows. The weather has been horrible with several shows being effectively rained out and and people just are not spending money like they have the last two years I've been doing this with Kotah. Each weekend has felt like a real competition to get the eye of the patron. Lots of effort goes into talking up the art, planning and decorating the booth, explaining each piece, the process, our mission. People walk into the booth, say something like "your art is amazing" or "you have the best stuff here" and walk out without making a purchase. The costs of jurying into the shows and booth spaces have gone up. Every Saturday morning as we set up I'm so anxious about the finances at home that I'm mean and bitchy to Kotah and find myself apologizing for the way I feel and act sometime during the course of the weekend. To top things off - today - one of the people at the fair stole my camera. It wasn't the best camera in the world but it was the best one I had ever had and it was a present from my son. The first "real" present he ever got me. A little Sony point and shoot. Took all the great pictures you see on the blog, many of the pictures on the other pages and took great video at concerts and such. it was the perfect size to sneak in to the controlled concert venues where it says "No Cameras or Video Recordings!" Ha! I hate camera Nazis: those attendants that roam up and down the aisles with their laser point flash lights and point at you when you've got a great shot. They rarely caught me! When you pay anywhere from $65 - $200 a ticket to see live music, you want to take a little of it home with you! Right? I set the camera down on the table to turn and talk to a customer - who ended up not buying anything - and when I turned around, it was gone. Whoever took it now has to live with that Karma. As I get older I find there's really something to the idea of karma and what goes around really does come around. So that person sucks. And he, or she, will get theirs. I can't spend any more energy on it. On the brighter side, it was a good
weekend for those people who do not suck. We were able to spend an extended amount of time getting to know Julia, a jewelry
artist and our booth neighbor at the Fransisco's Farm show. She has a big heart and a lovely soul and never ending
patience. My goal is to be that kind of person. I've always been a spaz and have always been drawn to people who are not;
people who have an inner calm, a deeper understanding, people whose light shines seemingly out of their pores. In the short
two weeks I've been away from nursing, I find myself nearly surrounded by people like this. There's my husband of
2 years for one. The Terras (Michael and Victoria) as well. Victoria can be spazzy but Michael is one of those very calm people.
Victoria has her spazziness under control. Kevin, a painter, is another person with that "inner calm". Josie and
Mark saw us entering Wallace Station near Midway yesterday and stopped to say hello. Very talented silver artists, people
who are spiritually aware and it shows in their art. So here were the 7 of us, hanging out, having supper, having good conversation
and I had good pictures. I can't show them to you because my camera walked off with its new owner. Lord, give me strength. June 12-13, 2011 Hinsdale, Il. Kotah went to Naperville last weekend without me. I was able to travel this weekend and will every weekend from now on! I have left my nursing position and plan to go fulltime with the art. I can keep books and market and advertise and network and schmooz. I might even learn how to make the SOS. Hinsdale was a decent show. Had lots of very talented artists and I didn't see any crap. Knew several of the artists there already and made some new friends. Had a very nice meal @ Pappadeaux's. It was so close to the hotel that Kotah actually drank alcohol!!! Will the corruption never end? Met a lovely couple who help run an all-volunteer vegan cafe-slash-gift shop to support Thanks Jordan Foundation for families of children with cancer . The foundation offers support services for families devastated by childhood cancer. The artist is asked to donate back any portion of the sale of their "commissioned" piece of art. Laurie Sloan, the woman who introduced us to this amazing charity, suggests 10% - like a tithe. Kotah told her that art galleries will take 35 - 40% commission out of the price of a piece of art. He said if the stuff they (Laurie and her husband) purchased this weekend sold, he would be glad to send up more art and let them keep 20%. I hope the art sells well. Kotah's work is so unique and has such a healing energy, I can't imagine being without it now. May 28 - 29, 2011. Schaumburg, IL. It rained. and rained and rained. This was the first time we left a show early. The best part of this weekend was dinner @ Buca de Beppos with Michael Terra. Great food and better conversation.
May 20,21,22, 2011 Lowertown Arts Festival. LOVE Paducah! Michael Terra and Stephanie Graves put on a lovely show. The weather was iffy. This was the weekend that Joplin MO got wiped off the map. Please give generously to tornado relief. I can't say it enough. Paducah is always good to us. I hope we get juried in again next year. What I like about Kentucky shows is the whole spectrum shows up from the rich businessman to the rich farmer to the poor trailer dwellers and even the homeless. A free art show is good for everyone!
May 14 - 15. 2011. Art in the Arbor. Rain. Lack luster "crowd." Rain. Grumpy cranky neighbor. CNC metal for
competition. Rain. We will NOT return. In fact, I think we've decided to eliminate all shows that have anything to do
with a town with the Louis in it. That means St. Louis AND Louisville. Great for a fun time, not for an art show. Done
now. More rain. May 7-8, 2011
Arts in New Harmony. Not the most lucrative show of the year but I do love it! We get to spend time with lots of good local artists - our peers and friends. New Harmony is such a special little town. Lots of great energy. We debuted our new 20 foot tent, Mom came out with two of my kids and she found a cute little bird house for her back yard. We made lots of great trades. There are a couple of great silver jewelers we do a lot of trading with. They are both named Sara! See our link page for links to their websites. Kotah doesn't want to do it again next year but I think we should do at least one local show per year and this should be it. We'll see what happens next year.
April 30 - May1, 2011
We left the soggy Midwest
for a show in Marietta, GA. It was right after that horrible tornado breakout that went through Tuscaloosa. It also
hit the small town of Ringgold, GA. It was very dark when we went through but the devastation was obvious. The tree line was
gone and the exit ramps were closed. Please give generously to tornado relief. The Sweet P's Festival was hosted
by the St. Peter and St. Paul Church. Wonderful hosts. Kotah took Best in Show. We think they had an angel crush. We ate @
Pappasito's Cantina - the only one outside of Texas. The food was outstanding. Salsas were very different from the norm,
Diablo Shrimp was crazy good - also, not like the typical diablo you find in Evansville. The shrimp were more like tiny lobsters.
yum! Highly recommend this restaurant.Oh, and I just love Super heros. I had to add them here! Cutie-patooties!
April 28, 2011 Things are getting a little scary around here. We live on the Ohio River and it's been a very wet Spring. Flooding surrounds us. I haven't seen the Ohio this high in a decade or better. And it's raining again. You can see it over in the distance. With every good storm comes a rainbow! God's covenant.
April 16-17, 2011 (happy
birthday to my sister!) Had a booth at the Gift of Light Expo in Cincinnati. It's actually more of a metaphysical expo, only 3 or 4 artists were there. We did very well. People were buying the "energy". Pretty cool. I told Kotah he had to make a big angel. This is what he came up with. She was amazing. I really liked her. She sold at this show. He also created a Disharmony (yin-yang) for the first time since I met him and he made a different version of First Day that he started before we found the farmer with the rotary hoes. Check out the pix. The last one depicts how we shove all of Kotah's sculpture in a 10 x 10 space. Not easy.
March 30, 2011 I am not by any stretch of the imagination a huge Bruce fan, in fact I couldn't stand him in the 70's and most of the 80's. However, when I came to Indiana from New Jersey for college I noticed a certain lack of sound on the radio. There was hardly any Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel being played. Lots of this new guy named Johnny Cougar though. Any way.... I am a true audiophile and have always had the largest record collection/ tape collection/CD collection of most if not all of my friends. My mp3 collection would astonish most of you (thanks Bill!). When Born in the USA came out, I started collecting the sounds of Jersey. I do have every Bruce album now and most of Billy's. Got some Sinatra and of course Bon Jovi. I have to delve into these gifts from Jersey every once in a while for grounding, for remembrance, for sanity. When I am most depressed or upset I'll get in the car where the satellite radio is and listen to the E Street channel and just boo-hoo. Tonight I was treated to the drumming of Max Weinberg - Bruce's long time drummer. He played with the University of Evansville's Jazz Ensemble. Great music but more poignant was the talk he gave afterwards. He described his life in Red Bank, how he got hired by Bruce and how his dreams came true and now he's watching his son take off on his career, also drumming, for the punk band Against Me! - also on my iPod. It truly brought a tear to my eye to listen to someone who makes up a huge part of the background of my life deliver a positive message, be a positive mentor and role model and continue to have great fun with his craft and talent. Gives even this old lady a feeling of hope and good will. Just wanted you all to know and catch him on his lecture circuit if you can. He won't disappoint.
March 21-25, 2011 Finally got a week to ourselves and took a honeymoon. Yes, we've been married almost two years now but you can only do what you can do. We went to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Lovely to get away and just relax and enjoy each other. Fell in love with the surrounding area, the Gulf, the wetlands, Mobile had great energy and we found a great cafe(of course!). We will return! Oh, and don't tell my mother but we got matching tattoos.
 Look what we found! Took a Saturday in mid-March and drove to the other side of Illinois where a farmer was  getting rid of some old rotary hoes. 12 teeth! Kotah prefers the 12-tooth rotary hoes for certain sculptures
as they represent the months of the calendar year. These were John Deeres - you can see a lot of green still on them. Kind
of crazy how these dirty pieces of farming equipment can be transformed into this: First Day. March 1, 2011 I broke a tooth today. A molar near the back. It's slicing my tongue to shreds. The dentist can't see me until tomorrow. Feels like a razor blade in there. Pft. I feel sorry for people with life long trouble with their teeth. My troubles are relatively new to me. I've started to lose large pieces of enamel exposing the dentin causing cold and heat sensitivity. This new-fangled filling stuff they have is cool though, same color as the tooth. No more of the expensive silver filings. These silver fillings I have seem to be the root of the problem as they do not contract and expand like the living tissue of the tooth and as 30 some years went by, they caused fissures in the enamel and with time and pressure - poof! Off falls a corner of my molar. Pft. Well, wish me luck at the dentist.
We'd like to send a big THANK YOU to Chris Wathen. A true patron of the arts!
February 11,2011
February 7, 2011
This past weekend was too cold to get out. The weekend before, we dumped out the truck and put up the booth and tried desperately to get some high quality shots of the Booth and the Art. It was a balmy 36 degrees and mostly sunny. We threw money at a fabric backdrop and neutral colored cloth for the metal stairs. Evidently the stately black we've been using is passe'. It did make the booth look more put together and lighter. Hopefully it made the sculpture stand out more. The cats looked beautiful against the neutrals. See?
January 28, 2011 A picture from this week that I'd like to remember:
January 16, 2011. Well, you can certainly tell when I got a Job! I have been very neglectful here. Please forgive. My new job is all day, 5 days a week and I've been spending the weekends as booth goddess, getting through the Holidays, and now cleaning up and putting away the Holidays. I pray everyone of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas and continue to have a blessed New Year. Kotah and I spent our second Christmas at home and decorated the heck out of the house! He put up 7 Christmas trees - I'm slowly taking them down. I have an extensive Santa collection and snowman collection. They are slowly being packaged back up. My nativities are the last to go away. They mean the most to me. Maybe we'll go back to St. Meinrad's gift shop and pick up another nativity for next year. Last year started with a bang and ended with a sigh, as far as art shows went. Early in the season we were confused when fellow artists would tell us their season was less than fruitful. We were having a great season. Kotah introduced his Praise People followed by his Fire Angels. His Southwest inspired sculptures continued to sell well and after having his surgery last winter, he was able to return to hammering metal and revisited masks and turtles, which are always popular. The season started to fizzle in the fall and we even had a couple of negative income shows. That was disheartening. Kotah has regrouped and is planning some different kinds of sculpture and even some functional pieces. His focus is still of course spiritual and natural subject matter and anything functional will always reflect his artistic flair. Here's some pictures to show you what happened the 2nd half of 2010 and may you all have a wonderful 2011!
June 26, 2010
June 20, 2010 Our one year anniversary! It's been the best year of my life to date. We took the weekend off and Kotah took me to Paris! (TN) We had a nice little get away without breaking the budget. Had a relaxing time. Kotah was even able to pilfer some metal.          June 12, 2010
Another stormy weekend, it poured the day before we
got there. This always gives Kotah great pause. He has been stuck in the mud before. Now we have this dual axle box truck
and we carry heavier pieces than he's ever made before. Driving onto the lawn to unload was a little scary- but it was
the Great Lawn and we didn't sink! We had to set up quickly so we pulled it together and got out of there just before
dark. Then it stormed again all night and stopped just in time to open. Again - amateurs were in the mix and people's
tents were mangled messes!! It was terrible! I'm sure lots of people lost art to the rain. Glad Kotah works in metal and
people like a little rust! There was a wine festival on
June 5, 2010
It's been many Moons since I sat to write a few words about our adventures. I'm sorry. I was in the midst of finding a new job to further my own career as a nurse and fighting with the State government to win my unemployment benefits. That's all behind me now and I have a wonderful position as a Clinical Manager for a growing home health agency right here in Evansville. My commute is only 10 minutes and we're done for the day @ 4:30. Can't beat that! Back in May we stayed fairly close to home with the exception of a Georgia show. The weekend of the 22nd we spent in Paducah, Ky. What a great show! We were in a section of town called Lowertown. It's just north of the downtown area and full of relocated artists who have renovated older homes that needed a little love. http://www.paducahalliance.org/ http://www.lowertownartdistrict.com/index.php An old friend of Kotah's, Michael Terra was one of the directors this year which made it special for Kotah. Unfortunately (or really, fortunately) we were so busy we didn't have time for socializing. We went back about a month later to try to drop in on Mike and his wife but they had already bugged out to Washington State where they spend the hot summers in the cool Northwest. Can't say I blame them! This is Michael's place: Strange...
Here are some pictures from that weekend. Kotah got interviewed for a movie the city is doing about Paducah, there were some gorgeous animals, we could see church bells through a sliver between houses, I went western only because my scalp was sunburned and I didn't want to add to that, and the Paducah Police kept us all safe from the shifty pirates!
June 3, 2010 New this week: Actual Real (Recycled and Reusable) Bags! We will be using them in the booth for purchases over $100. The cartoon of Kotah was drawn by friend Mike Altman. Check them out
May 29, 2010
May 19, 2010
Update on kittens! The kittens are getting much bigger and should be ready for homes by the end of the month. One is short haired, light gray with white paws, tummy and a streak up the nose. Timmy named this one Aries God of War because he (she?) tends to be very frisky. The other 3 are going to be long haired and darker gray. They all have blue eyes. One of the long haired kittens has 4 white feet. Caroline named him (her?) Mittens. The runt has been renamed several times. He (she?) is all gray. My niece has named it Kiwi and I think that's going to stick. Kiwi, Mittens and Aries... all like to be held and will readily fall asleep on you. The last kitten is Bruno. He (she?) has a small patch of white on it's belly. Bruno is hilarious. He (she?) is the only one that tries to act like their mother. You get Socks (the mother) cornered in the garage - which is where we relocated the kittens - and she'll hiss at you. On the front porch - where her food is - she'll let you love on her. Bruno will awaken from a dead sleep when you enter the garage, leap out of the box, hide behind whatever's handy and hiss at you. It's the cutest thing ever! sss-sss-sss-sss! He forgets to run away so after he's done hissing, you can pick him up and cuddle with him too. Who needs a kitten?
May 17, 2010 This past Saturday was a lot of fun. Newburgh (a small town just outside Evansville) hosted its annual Wine, Art and Jazz Festival.The show is still in the "toddler" stage. I think this was only the 2nd or 3rd year with art for sale. Most people were there for the wine and were unprepared to purchase art. We did get a lot of people into our booth area and some were astonished as to how affordable 3D art can be. Did you catch Kotah's creed on the Home page? "We strive to bring original and affordable art to persons of every walk of life. With imagination everything is possible..." Many people took our business card and one gentleman called Monday to make arrangements to purchase a goddess-tree-of-life drum lid for his anniversary. Excellent choice if I do say so myself. My mom and dad both came out for the festival so that was fun. Best of all I got to see two old friends that I didn't expect. Shout out to George and Becky! Kotah is interested in being on the planning board for next year's show. He has lots of good ideas to make it better. I think we'll do this one again too.
May 10, 2010 We have returned triumphant from Duluth, Georgia! A suburb of Atlanta, this mighty little town's art guild puts on one heck of a show! Artists got all kinds of special treatment including beer and food and soda and cold water and separate bathrooms with toilets that flushed! The local police were our security, not Joe Bloe's Security Shop. There were over 100 very good artists and no rides! Though kids did make up the majority of visitors, I think. Ringing the big bell, Dr. Suess hair and face painting were the biggest hits of the weekend. The children are nearly all I took pictures of!
Kotah won Best In Show and I was SO thrilled for him! He had been pouting because the judges didn't take a 3rd tour through our booth so he thought he had been crossed off the list. It was because they had made up their minds! Thank you very much to judges Linda Ray Lindeborg and Vanessa Boggs for thinking outside the box and recognizing the beauty that can be made with recycled materials. Thanks also to Mayor Nancy for giving us the "Official Seal of Approval!"
April 26, 2010
We have had several shows since my last entry. I've also been spending most of my time
trying to gain fruitful employment that I can balance with my life here. Wish me luck, it's proving to be difficult.
This has been the month of Tennessee. The weekend of the 10th we were in Nashville for Fusion 10. It is a mixed art celebration and fundraiser for the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation. It benefits cancer patients directly - like providing a social worker to coordinate benefits and resources. It was a very fun time. We sold a few items but more importantly got good exposure for the first time in Nashville. People had not seen anything like Kotah's work and we received many good comments and pictures were taken for newspapers and websites. They had a film festival, a fashion show and live music as well as the visual arts. In the past, several of Minnie Pearl's contemporaries had attended the fundraiser. I didn't see any of them this year and that was disappointing.
The weekend of the 17th we were in Clarksville for the Rivers and Spires Festival. We won't do that again. It has become evident that when we attend a festival where art is not the main event, we do poorly. Art was not the main event.
This past weekend we were in Knoxville at the Rossini Festival. The Rossini fest was good to us last year. It was GREAT this year! Focusing on the Operas by Rossini, this festival attracts a different crowd. These are art lovers. We took a big chance because the weather was very stormy. (Two states over there were deadly tornadoes.)Through the rain we had scores of customers and several repeat buyers from last year. We sold all the big pieces Kotah had produced since the Hanson Show, lots of drum lids and even Emergency Call (the big blue praise lady) was sold! Unbelievable. Thank you Knoxville! Kotah will be very busy this week getting ready for the New Harmony show. Come see us Saturday and Sunday on the Main Street in New Harmony.
April 12, 2010 Socks is pregnant. Due any day. Anybody want any kittens?? April 4, 2010 Happy Easter to all our patrons and friends! Christ is risen indeed! I count my blessings every day, believe me, i do. My kids are generally happy and healthy, my parents are independent and generally healthy, my husband is a wonderful man with a huge heart and generous soul. We'll be gathering this evening at my Mom's for dinner. We'll miss absent family members and friends. We'll eat too much. We'll feel the blessings God has bestowed on us. I'd like everyone to count their blessings and remember those who might be alone or who are sick or homebound. Those who are freshly divorced or widowed, those who are battling cancer, new and overwhelmed mothers, those who are estranged from their children; all who need extra support and caring and love. The Easter message is more for them than it is for those who are comfortable. Those who are comfortable need to become uncomfortable. We need to open our hearts and doors to those who are hurting, whatever the reason, and share the love and caring that was demonstrated by God through Jesus. What's the Great Commission? Something about making disciples of all nations and baptizing all in the name of the Father? Not all of us can afford to be world traveling missionaries, but we all know someone who needs a hand. Reach out. March 29, 2010 Woot! Woot! Hanson, Kentucky! This tiny community held a nice little show. The weather was a little
cool
March 22, 2010 I've waited a couple days to blog about the weekend because I didn't want
to sound too nasty. We were in Erin, Tennessee; a small rural community southwest of Clarksville and at the base of the Tennessee
Ridge. When we accepted the invitation to the annual Irish Festival, we thought it was close enough to Clarksville to attract
a more cosmopolitan population and we were assured that this was one of the largest festivals in the area. "We
had 15,000 people last year!" Well, there were plenty of Fort
Campbell (101st Airborne Assault) is nearby. They
were there with their own booth trying to There was one family that came through who lost everything but each other in a house fire last year. They "got"
the art and purchased a Tree of Life and a stainless steel Goddess with Moon hanging. I gave them a discount. I have family
members who have been through the same thing. It was terrible.
Oh, I forgot to mention the trash. This had to be the dirtiest festival I have ever attended.
I won't even tell you about the port-a-potties. YUCK!
Needless to say,
we got out of there as fast as we could. On March 17, 2010
March 15, 2010
March 2, 2010 Time to catch up. Last week was unbelievably busy. On Wednesday we went up to Indianapolis for my 2-day consult with a neuropsychologist as ordered by my Worker's Comp. It was an interesting process including a verbal interview, questionnaires, and a myriad of tests administered by a psychometrist. I had never heard of that specialty before. She had about 6 different diplomas on her wall. I was impressed and I hope she gets compensated well. She spent almost the entire second day quizzing me on all kinds of subjects from verbal to mathematical skills. There were some puzzles and drawings and word problems and memory games. It was getting brutal by the end of the day but I have been declared mentally fit for work! If this is all she does - I think she also interprets the data she gathers - she deserves a medal. I'm sure she has to sit with some unpleasant characters. Blech. We did take advantage of the better restaurants that are available on the north end of Indy and ate @ McAlister's Deli one day - very similar to Panera Bread. Yummy soup and sandwich. The next day we ate @ Kona Jack's. Evansville NEEDS one of these down on the riverfront - in "The District". We have some good sushi places here (thank you Toyota) but none of them that I've been to offer a decent alternative that still includes seafood if you don't like sushi. Kona Jack's does. I got 2 rolls and Kotah got a very nice pasta dish that included big shrimp and scallops and I think some crab. They were both yummy. Wouldn't that be terrific downtown?
Thursday night we had our first show of the season @
the Geist Toast the Arts Event in the Lawrence area of Indianapolis. http://www.atgeist.net/profile/PartnershipForLawrence There was a fundraiser for the Fall Creek Food Bank, Kotah was the featured artist, there was
wine and beer and awesome food from Chef Suzanne. There was dancing and singing and an actual Toast to the Arts.
The members were very generous with their resources and we had an excellent show. Very special thanks
go to Judy Byron, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Britt and the Sterrett family. There were several people there I wouldn't mind partying
with again! You know who you are! The highlight of the evening for us was a 9
Friday was spent getting ready for the next show which was close to home. There was an
arts and crafts fair on Saturday @ Castle High School in Newburgh. From 9am to 4 pm we were in the cafeteria - where I guess
the thermostat is broken 'cause we were all sweating like the proverbial pigs! We had a smaller than normal space so that
was a real challenge. We usually set up our tent in a 10 x 10 space. This time it was an 8 x 10 space so we left the tent
home and improvised. Behind us a craft person put up a bright green cloth which we used to our advantage as it became the
background for Kotah's drum lids. We did put out all 5 tables and put out everything we could fit. It was an overall disappointing
show. Monday I tried to go to work. I was very disappointed when Corporate wouldn't let me stay because
of my physical restrictions. I can certainly help file and answer phones! So here I am at home for another month, beefing
up the blog and my Facebook. See ya next time! Suzy* February 21, 2010
February 16, 2010 Wanna put up a couple of shout outs for some local restaurants. Kotah took me to Fujiyama on Valentine's Day. He had never had Japanese food before. I love sushi and sashimi. Haven't had any since I met Kotah because he was adverse to the idea. He decided to try it and off we went! I think they have the best rolls in the area. They fly their fish in fresh from the west coast every Friday so if you go on the weekend and ask the wait staff "what's fresh" they either know or can find out in a hurry. The salmon sashimi was mouth watering! They also have a salad that's not on the menu - called Treasure Salad. It's spicy crab and seaweed and tempura crunchies and fish on the bottom. The combination of flavors in this dish is superb. I think it was Kotah's favorite thing. He tried the Thai roll and the East roll. The East roll consisted of all cooked materials and surprisingly, he didn't care for it. He ate the entire Thai roll. I had the eel roll (yummy!) and the Jimmy roll (Super yummy!).Best of all they serve green tea - not Lipton orange pekoe! They are located in North Park next to Pie Pan.
Thursday February 11, 2010.
Being off work
is starting to get me down. Thank goodness the art shows will be starting soon. We got Kotah a kerosene blaster furnace
for the unheated garage and the sun is out today. I think he's going to the garage and start work again. He takes off
during the winter months for the most part, and besides, he's been healing from his shoulder surgery. It'll be good
for both of us. When the shows start there will be more activity; loading and unloading the truck, hauling pieces around.
I feel like a sloth, despite having phyiscal therapy 5 tim Please check the Upcoming Shows page and try to make it out to see us. Our first 3 shows are coming up next week. We are concentrating more around the Evansville area and south this year. I think we'll go north a few times but Kotah wants to try a different strategy. Looking forward to seeing everyone this year. And I'll keep you updated on Socks. Bad kitty!
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A couple weeks ago, Kotah stopped by a working farm here in Evansville.
One can see the farm from the interstate and look down upon the large piles of scrap metal. This guy has farming and automobile
scrap. Kotah was able to talk him out of quite a bit of old farming stuff like disc blades, fan covers, gas tanks (not necessarily
petroleum), etc. He was willing to pay better than scrap prices but Chris (that was his name) gave him the metal in the name
of art. He ended up filling a back hoe bucket full of recyclable material. We're on the look out for 12-tooth rotary hoe
wheels. There's tons of 16's and he even found some 10's. 12's are hard to come by. He needs them for his
First Day sculpture. The 12 teeth are representative of the 12 months/one year - an intricate part of the symbolism. We may
wind up traveling one of these weekends to get the 12's. We'll see! 
I have a life long friend that lives in Minnesota. We grew up together in NJ and truth be told, he gave me my "first
kiss." I think we were 4. John has lived and lived again. He's had a couple of wives, a couple of kids and a couple
careers. He's family to me. I'm not sure if Kotah completely understands but too bad. John is in a place in his life
where he has some time on his hands. Now, when you have time on your hands in February in Minnesota, what do you do?? You
make ice sculptures. He has a whole bunch of pics on his Facebook page of the different sculptures he's put together but
I'm including a pic of my favorite one right here. I couldn't figure out what it was when he first posted it,
being green and blue, I thought it might have been a terrarium gone bad. Or a fish bowl gone really bad! Now that
I know it's colored ice, I think it's really pretty and I'm kinda sad that it'll probably melt this weekend.
Kotah's thinking about applying to some shows further north this summer. Maybe I'll get to hang with John a while.
It's been since 2002 that I've seen him. I hope so. I could use one of his hugs. - a Mullihug!
My middle child turned 19 earlier this week. His 18th year was very tumultuous. He's lucky to be here. Why is it
the child with the biggest heart ends up breaking your heart? Here's to the end of your second decade, Timothy. May you
see at least 5 more. Oh, what is this you might ask? It's a fork and an ice cube. Really. It was his girlfriend's "talent" for the evening. Yeah.
Midway, Ky. 
The show was very nice. There was a lot of interesting art. There was also some crap. We've noticed that the competition
is often mass produced or computer generated. Kotah makes all of his art by hand. He draws it out and cuts it out by hand
using a plasma cutter. There's a video on this website showing him making a tree of life out of a cookie sheet. There
were 3 metal workers there that mass produced their product. Kotah let that settle on his brain for the weekend. He was upset
but 
we were doing well enough that he didn't really care. (But wait till the next weekend!!) There were lots of interesting
people, including the model for Dr. Alphonse Mephisto from South Park! 
Georgetown was lovely. Lots of interesting architecture, rolling hills and horse farms. One of our patrons went home and hung
up her tribe drum lid immediately! We got a snapshot of it. We'll do this show again next year and hopefully the
weather will be about 15 degrees cooler. 10 would be good too. It was so hot I was sticking my feet in the water cooler and
melting the ice! No joke.
Granville, Ohio. About 45 minutes outside Columbus, it's an 
affluent community with roots
almost as old as the Colonial eastern seaboard. Very very cute town. This could have been and should have been an excellent
show. I think we barely made expenses, if I remember correctly. I think we did better than most though. The show was on "The
Great Lawn" of the Bryn Du Mansion. And it WAS a great lawn! It was so large the art show only took up 1/4 of it and
there was a polo match on the other side of the lawn on Sunday! I couldn't tell you how many acres it was.
Saturday which brought in quite a few people but the wine tent
Hyde Park Community Art Fair, Chicago IL. It was basically a continuation of the 57th Street Art Fair, which has been in existence
for decades. There was an art guild backing the show so we applied and were accepted. It was a glorious stormy weekend
and people came out in the rain to buy art! Some of the participants were amateurs to the ways of outdoor art shows, needing
sturdy tents, weights, a sturdy display table... And they learned their lessons, I hope! As for the rest of us, we enjoyed
good crowds, good sales, old friends, extraordinary food, and some sight seeing.
The absolute best part 
about Chicago is the diversity of people. Kotah's art is very tribal and
worldly at the same time.Those who "get" the energy can find something
in his booth they can relate to. It's just so much fun to watch people's faces relax when they let themselves feel
it. Again, the kids just love his stuff. The bells are always fun and the fantasy and whimsical figures on the drum lids are
eye catchers too. Doug Dymacek and his lovely wife Amy came to see us! I've
been friends with Doug since 7th grade! Planning on 
getting a dinner with them before the end of the summer. Kotah took the time to show me a little part of Chicago I hadn't
seen before. Ernest Hemingway had spent some of his formative years in Chicago and there was a museum, hotel and restaurant (too swankie for me) dedicated to him. Since the restaurant was a little too much,
he took he to Papaspiros for the most outstanding Greek dinner I've had to date. On the way to the restaurant, I saw a
banner on a bridge commemorating 9/11. Coming from NJ originally, the 
events of 9/11 hit me a little harder, I think, than the average Midwesterner. I was very gratified to see the memory of that
day being honored in such a way in Chicago. Thank you to them! And to wrap up an almost perfect weekend, we got a flat tire on the way home! Luckily we were
in the town of Kentland and were able to pull over instead of in the middle of a cornfield! Kotah had just purchased a back-up battery doo-hickey that can fill up your tire with air! He patched the hole, filled us up enough to get to the next
Pilot and we made it home in one piece. Kotah's the BEST!!!! He can fix anything!
Graduation weekend for our Timmy! Hope he does well in the 
future. He sailed through high school, I'm afraid he's in for a surprise! 
but nice and sunny. People who came through were looking for art. My mom's friend Grace showed up with her neighbors.The
volunteers at the fire house were kind enough to vacate their 
building so we could have shelter. It was cold in the shade so we spent a lot of time outside in the sun. The train tracks
close by offered the excitement of bells and horns. The local community service clubs (Lions, Chamber of Commerce...)made
lunch for everyone so they could make a little profit. And it was good too! Ham and beans and corn bread for me and pork chop
sandwich for Kotah. Several people came from as far away as Louisville, and of course Evansville. It was a very good day for
us. After doing several little shows over the past year, one has a certain expectation of what your profit margin is going
to be. We tripled Kotah's expectations and doubled mine! Now we can get the big box truck on the road legally and the
poor retired ambulance can be cut up for art. Good thing we have that too! All our big pieces sold that day. Kotah has to
get busy. He has stuff on display for the next 4 weeks @ ONB downtown, he has a male artist's exhibition @ the Art Guild
starting Thursday and Fusion in Nashville in 12 days - where we won't 
have a booth but will have only a few select pieces for sale. He needs to replenish what was sold. This is the first time
I wished I could help him out. The massive amount of electricity that's used with the plasma cutter scares me. That's
a picture of Kotah chillin with his native flute. He's pretty good at playing it. Very soothing. 
people. It seemed like we saw the same 2 or 3 thousand people all day long. There was one man who 
We set up our tent with extra color, hoping to catch 
recruit young men and women. I don't know... Somehow I just don't think this guy's agile enough to be a good soldier.
Would this make you want to
our way through Clarksville, we stopped for supper. We tried to go to Jersey Mike's Subs (again, hoping for the real deal
in vain) but they were closed. So it was the old reliable Mexican! We stopped @ Pancho Villa near Gate
4 in Clarksville. It looked like a hole, but when we walked in, it was Margaritas for $1.99 night and there was entertainment!
A nice end to an otherwise wasted trip. (I needed that Margarita. I really did!)
I love St. Patrick's Day. I love going to the local Irish Pub and 
raising a little hell. I love Harp's lager and traditional Irish food. I love Irish punk. Forget U2. Give me Flogging
Molly and Dropkick Murphy's! This year my oldest son was home and we treated him to a nice meal and a Guinness. Mom came
with us too. Saw a couple friends. It was VERY loud. Not Kotah's scene at all but he was a good sport and put up with
me. On the way out, the Shriner's pipe and drum core came to entertain us. They sounded terrific! Love me some Ri Ra's!!!!!!!!
We were at a psychic/ natural healing convention this past weekend in Columbus, Ohio. I am a total skeptic when it comes to
alternative medicine – having practiced traditional medicine the last 25 years. I take antiinflammatories every day
religiously for arthritis I have all over my body. Been doing so for over 10 years. About 5 years ago my achilles tendons
decided to become severely inflamed. I have been living with swollen painful achilles tendons – the left worse than
the right – for a very long time. I’ve shown my physician several times and he shrugs and says, “I don’t
know.” I have shown friends who are physical therapists and they recommended stretching exercises – which I did
for a little while, but stopped because it was ineffective.
I was totally freaked out.
year old patron of the arts. She had been saving her Christmas money for something very special and when she saw Kotah's
sculpture she knew that was it. Her father took her home to get her money and she came back and bought one of Kotah's
wolves. She was very proud. Tom arranged for us to stay at the Cambrius Suites. Very very nice. Wish we weren't
so EXHAUSTED after all the work that's involved with putting up and tearing down the booth and displays. We also had to
leave earlier than we normally would because I had to get back to Evansville for therapy. I hope we can go back again. These
are good people. 
We did make back our booth fee and driving expenses and maybe another $100 but that was about it. Did meet some nice people
and other local artists. Also had many people take our business card for future commission work (fingers crossed!). But being
off work since December, I was really hoping for some financial relief. My friend Vanessa did "take one for the team"
and purchased an altered satellite dish and a gecko made from a Carrier furnace. She has a new house and needed some porch
decorations. I hope she enjoys them.
Just got back from a short trip to Indianapolis with Kotah. He's a fan of "World Music"
especially if it sounds tribal in any way. He's also a fan of Bela Fleck, the renowned banjo maestro. Bela Fleck is currently
touring with an African contingency from both east and west Africa. We saw the show at Clowes Hall at Butler University. The
instruments the Africans used were so primitive! Did you know the banjo comes from west Africa? There was a band with 4 members
playing the "African banjo" made from either a gourd or thin wood, animal skin and raggedy horse hair for string.
Could've been camel, I don't know. There were 4 different sizes to get the full range. The album is called: 
Today we went to Los Toribio
on the 41 strip in Henderson for lunch on the way to therapy. OMG. Every thing was super tasty! It's a bright happy setting, a cute bar, quick accurate service and yummy food. I got the lunch special which
was a choice of either shrimp or chicken soup. I chose the shrimp. There were 10 medium sized shrimp in my bowl! That
was a nice surprise. Spicy broth, lots of scallions and sweet red bell peppers, brown rice, etc. With the complimentary chips
and salsa (2 cups - one hot, one mild), it was a perfect lunch. Kotah got the taco salad with chicken. He was very pleased
with his selection as the chicken was fajita style and not just shredded and seasoned. It was a simple salad with tomato and
cheese and sour cream on it and the different flavors were layered. By the time the sour cream melted with the fajita seasoning
and juices, it made a wonderful slurry for the salad. The bowl for the salad was hand made and crispy and fresh. This might
be a plus for some: the soda products are from the Royal Crown line. I'm a Coke girl myself, but RC's a damn sight
better than Pepsi! Heading to Bone Fish tonight to commemorate 365 days of knowing each other. One year ago today we
met at this same restaurant. He drove all the way from Arizona to meet me. 
Today we were supposed to get the kitten spayed. Her name is Socks. She came to us this winter. Don't know from where,
Caroline named her. All 4 feet are white. Socks was having nothing to do with the cat carrier. She is ferrel and went in and
out of the carrier a dozen times last night but would run from it this morning. Our
local Humane Society has a spay and neuter clinic and since I'm off work, I thought I'd take advantage of the lower
prices there over our vet. I feel bad when I don't keep appointments.
I also have a compulsive thing about being on time. She's the most fickle thing and the males are starting to pile up
outside. I guess we'll try again next week.
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