Nose Art and Paintings and Sculpture, Oh My!

The Husband enjoys the heck out of the Palm Springs Air Museum. I admit, usually I zip through a few exhibits and go read in the café. But since we hadn’t been there in quite a while, I was a little more engaged because the set up had changed a bit and there were some new things. We ended up together in the café for lunch. Aside from the 105 degrees we braved to see the planes outside, it was a good visit.

Here’s some of the fun nose art on display:







This is a painting on tiles that local school children contributed their skills to. It’s a beautiful piece and I saw the image on t-shirts in the gift shop.

Doesn’t this sculpture make you want to go outside and leap around barefoot in the grass??

And here is the Tuskegee Airmen mural by artist Stan Stokes. I didn’t think I’d be able to get it all in the photo!

Here’s his blog, detailing the unveiling of the mural, attended by 7 of the Airmen themselves: http://stanstokesredtails.blogspot.com/

 

You can see a passel of Stokes’ murals and painting at the Palm Springs Air Museum, as well as the Ronald Reagan Library and the George HW Bush Library. Military art is his specialty but he also paints sailing ships and cool cityscapes with cats.

Do What You Love!

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Palm Springs Reunion

A few weeks ago, The Husband and I took a trip to Palm Springs to see my cousin, Paul, visiting from Massachusetts. He and His Dean (since The Husband is also named Dean, this seemed a good way to differentiate The Dean’s…) had come out to Ventura for an anniversary party and drove over to Palm Springs (about a 2 ½ hour journey) on their own for some gambling and visiting. I hadn’t seen Paul in 28 years!! We had such a fun visit!

My Dean, Paul’s Dean, Paul and me

Here we all are at the buffet at the Spa Resort Casino. Four thumbs up for the buffet! Really good food and since it was mid-week, we were able to linger a couple hours at dinner and another couple of hours for breakfast the next day. We gabbed about everything under the sun and The Dean’s have music in common, so they spoke their own language for a while :-)

Did I mention it was over 106 degrees when we got there?! Nobody really wanted to spend a lot of time outdoors but I got The Husband up at 7:30 in the morning to take a walk before the triple digits took hold again. Here we are in silhouette. I’ve been inspired here by Angela Cartwright, who does a whole series of her shadow.

I’m happy to report that downtown Palm Springs seems to be reviving. When we were there last, about a year ago, so many storefronts were empty--so sad to see. This time, we noticed a lot of new stores and restaurants. Of course, I had to snap a pic of the French themed shop!

We caravanned to the Agua Caliente casino the next day and did a little gambling with Paul and His Dean, then said our goodbyes. I hope they come back again, maybe in the winter, when it’s a bit cooler! On our way home, we stopped at the Palm Springs Air Museum, one of The Husband’s favorite places on earth. Here he is, peeking through a plane engine.

And me, at the end of a miniature of Doolittle’s Raid.

That’s what I did on my summer vacation. How about you?

Do What You Love!

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