January, Week Two

This afternoon we went to a local gallery opening and wine tasting. How fun! I didn't expect to see many people we knew (that's optimism, to be sure) but both that Spouse o' Mine and I were happy to go see some art and taste some wine.

The Poppyfield Gallery is in the little town of Wamego, Kansas. It is also home to the Vin Vivante Winery. Yes, Kansas has wineries, believe it or not. I did not believe it so much in terms of quality, until last year when Niece Amy blew into town and announced that we were going to a wine tasting in this same town: I objected, she persisted, I relented, and off we went to the local winery to experience our local wine tasting. I have to admit, several of the wines were quite nice.

And so this afternoon, at this second winery/art gallery, we enjoyed the two wines we tasted. We enjoyed the artist's work even more: Susan Rose. Hmmm...there were oils and acrylics and a few watercolors, some sort of textured-paper paintings. There were lots of landscapes, and several works that made me remark, "This must be a horseperson." We had spent about twenty minutes looking at paintings and I came upon the artist's biography. I read through it quickly, and the last paragraph mentioned that she lived in Wabaunsee County. Hey! that's MY county!

And suddenly, a lightbulb in my head. Years ago, when we had first moved to rural Kansas, we met a couple who lived down the road (seven miles is "down the road"). She was a dressage instructor. Our kids were English riders. We had a couple of chance meetings, that couple and us, but we never seemed to meet up more than that.

We went over and re-introduced ourselves to the artist and her husband, and we had an enjoyable conversation. I really enjoyed her work. Heck, I didn't even know she painted!

So, small town living. In this small community, we seem to have an abundance of artist-types.

More on that, later!