Art On The Rocks at The Art League

Art On the Rocks is an awesome fundraiser for the Art League in Alexandria, Virginia!

Three hundred tickets were sold for $35 each, winning the holder a vote for best cocktail and seven mini cocktails as well as hoes d'oervres. Yum!

Participating bars included Chadwick's, Red Rocks, Lighthorse, Virtue, Columbia Firehouse, Union Street Public House and the Bar at Bastille.

The drinks and snacks were generous and delish. If you missed it tonight, you can catch the next one in October. 

Your imaginary friend,

Patsie

Today's Effort, 8 x 10", oil, "My Survival Kit"

Oil, 8 x 10", My Survival Kit, by Patricia Uchello

Mack the Knife

Dear Girls and Boys,

if you have the chance to get to Arlington, Virginia, in the next two weeks, please visit Signature Theater and get tickets to see the Bertholdt Brecht classic "Three Penny Opera."

The first song will blow your hair back. Delivered by the sultry actress playing Jenny, the hapless, mistreated prostitute, the song "Mack the Knife" assumes a new slow and deep lovely pace.

The play features two absolutely fabulous performances: the afore-mentioned Jenny and Macheath, aka, Mack the Knife.

His frenetic movements bring dynamism to every scene, which provide counterpoint to Jenny's frozen expression of sorrow.

The contrast is considerable.

The stage set is amazing as well, with a hydraulic jail that comes and goes.

The singing chops of the cast cannot be topped, including those of Polly, Mack's wife.

The men in the audience enjoyed the provocative underwear--the prostitutes don't seem to ever put on anything new except for spike shoes.

Rated R+. :)

By the way, the action is set in the near future with Prince William's coronation in London, although the original was written in Germany in 1940.

Your theater enthusiast,

Patsie

ATHENS, GREECE

Dear Imaginary Friends,

If you have ever been to Greece, perhaps you have seen many blue painted window shutters and doors. They say that Greece has the bluest water in the world, and I am inclined to believe it, having cruised  through the Greek Isles last Fall.  What is Greece all about? Color and colorful people. This painting brings back happy memories of a slow pace of life and my enjoyment thereof.

"Athens, Greece", 8 x 8". Oil. For sale.

Your Imaginary Traveling Fool,

Patsie

Bucket of Apples

Dear Imaginary Friends,

What is a better signifier of Spring than yellow and light green in the landscape? I am a big fan of daffodils, which chase away the winter blues.

"Bucket of Apples". 8 x 10", Oil. For sale.

Your Imaginary Friend,

Patsie

Girasole

In The Plains,  there is a charming Italian restaurant named Girasole, Italian for sunflower. 

And if you are a fan of sweet and light moscato, this is the one for you!

Girasole is nested in a charming French countryside replica, despite serving Italian food. Try the chianti. Nice wine list!

The Plains is a charming mini-village, complete with two stores, no traffic lights, and two restaurants. It is not unusual to hear about Robert Duvall, known simply as Bobby, as having been through his home there recently.

The Plains has many farms, vineyards, and wealth, not in that order.
Rolls-Royces? Check.
Gold Cup races and polo? Check.
Huge properties? Check.

So check it out! It sits at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Rt 66 in Northern Virginia's exurb horse country.

Magnolia Gardens in Charleston

Dear Fellow Travelers,

Recently, Charleston, SC, was voted the best city in the world to visit, because of its broad appeal to foodies, nature lovers, architecture fans, et al. Make haste and see for yourself. 

But we went seeking the garden and home tour which runs every Spring from mid-March to mid-April. It is a fundraiser for the Historic Charleston Society. 

What a great balm for us-- to wash the gray and icy streets of Washington,DC from our normal reality and partake in actual Spring weather. It was a great taste of things to come. Magnolia Gardens has enough going for it that you can spend a whole day there. 

We took the tram ride and boat ride with naturalists who told us all about the local residents, ahem, gators, cormorants, ospreys, turtles called yellow gliders, great blue herons, egrets, hawks, vultures, anhingas, coots, mud hens, etc. 

Away from the swampy area, there were peacocks, a bobcat, goats, an albino raccoon, horses, etc. -- not to mention a bazillion chiggers living in the Spanish Moss, which is neither Spanish nor moss. It is an air plant epicyte. 

Magnolia has a beautiful glass conservatory with tropical plants from Barbados, where the Mr. Drayton and his family lived before acquiring Philadelphia's Ann Fox's dowry of 2000 or so acres of South Carolina's Ashley River wetlands. 

The plantation had rice fields, dams, and specially designed water gates to let the tidewater in when it was least brackish. 

I highly recommend Charleston for all its charms and its people. It reminds me strongly of home-- New Orleans. 

Your Imaginary Friend,

Patsie

Mr. Peacock Shows Off for the Ladies

Swamp Cypresses

The Drayton Home

Eight Foot Long Feller

The Former Rice Fields

Huge Trees and Tons of Spanish Moss

Spanish Moss Choking Azaleas

The View of the Ashley River from Four Stories Up

Patsie Dresses Appropriately for South Carolina