Yesterday Mom and Aunt LaDene drove to a town called Weston, which is in Missouri, but just barely, because you can look across the Missouri River from there and see Kansas. Here's a picture of downtown Weston. Mostly, it's just a couple of blocks of old brick buildings with shops in them.
My brothers and I did not get to go to Weston. We had to stay home and guard the house. I wish I had got to go to Weston, though, and here's why: In Weston there is the studio of a famous artist who paints pictures of dogs. Her name is Marie Mason. Well, maybe she is not quite as famous as some other artists, like for instance, Claude Monet, but a lot of people around here who like dog pictures -- and who doesn't? -- know about her. Mom even knows Marie Mason personally because Mom used to work with Aunt Marie's partner, Kate. So anyway, the whole reason that Mom and Aunt LaDene went to Weston yesterday was because Aunt Marie was having an "Open Studio."
Aunt Marie has her very own company which is called Bella and Company. It is called that because she and Aunt Kate used to have a dog named Bella. You can learn more about Aunt Marie's company by going to this website:
http://www.bellacompany.com/ You can buy t-shirts and artwork and hats and all sorts of good things right online, and you won't even have to go to Weston! And by the way, I will just mention that I am not being paid or even given extra dog treats to talk about Aunt Marie Mason's artwork. I am just doing this because I think the artwork is nice, even when it doesn't have dogs in it or if it has cats instead of dogs.
Here's a picture of the inside of Aunt Marie's studio. As you can see, there were lots of paintings there, and they were all for sale. Many of the paintings were very big. The ones with dogs in them were mostly very big, but that makes them better, if you want my opinion.
Here's a painting that Aunt Marie made of a yellow dog:
And here's one of a bunch of dogs swimming and playing in the water, although why any dog would want to get all wet like that is beyond me!
There were a couple of paintings of a white dog that Mom said was probably Luna, the white German Shepherd that Aunt Kate and Aunt Marie used to have. Luna died not too long ago, and her moms are still very sad about that. But now they have a new puppy, and my mom got to meet the new puppy, who is very cute. I wish I had been there so I could meet the new puppy, but Mom made me stay home, like I told you before.
Oh, and here's a painting that does not have a dog in it, just so you can see how it improves a picture if it
does have a dog in it.
Anyway, Mom bought a painting from Aunt Marie, but can you believe it, the painting she bought has NO DOGS! And not only that, but the painting she bought doesn't have ANYTHING in it! It's just some lines and colors and stuff that looks like nothing to me. Mom says it is "abstract," but I can't figure out why anyone would buy a painting that doesn't have something in it that you can recognize, like a DOG, for instance. When I asked Mom why she didn't buy a DOG painting, she said they were too expensive, like $600 or more. The painting that she bought was $50 and already framed, so she liked that about it. I still think that if Mom really cared about dogs, she would have spent however much she had to spend to get a painting of a DOG. I am just feeling very disappointed in Mom right now.
Well, I guess I will also mention that Mom and Aunt LaDene ate lunch in Weston and then they shopped in some of the stores there. They especially like to shop in stores that sell antiques. Mom bought a little pig planter thing that is sort of cute, and she is going to put a plant in it, so that means it has a useful purpose. Then she also bought a cup with dragons on it. She has no idea what she will do with this cup, which means that she was being very impractical when she bought it.
I just don't understand why Mom acts the way she does sometimes! But I'm glad that Mom finally came home from Weston, and it was only a little bit past time for Supper of Dogs. And then she stayed home all evening and we got to watch "Robin Hood" on the BBC America channel, which is what we like to do on Saturday nights. So I am trying to forgive Mom for being so weird sometimes, and it's easier to forgive her if life is mostly normal again.
