I went to my writer's group meeting last night and was disappointed that only three other people besides myself, were in attendance. I have joined the Virginia Writers in order to network, that activity that puts one in contact with others with the same interests. I will also join the James River Writers after the first of the year. Adding these two organizations to my bio for when I contact agents and publishers will not hurt. And, who knows, I may actually find a publisher for my book(s) thru the contacts I meet.
On the art front, my wife sold a small painting. It was the first one since July at her gallery. We will be looking to find more places where she can display her work after the first of next year. Buyers are out there, they just don't seem to be coming to ArtWorks anymore. Why, we can't say, as we don't know. The Friday openings where they used to have good crowds have not been sustained, with the last several openings having very few people showing up. It hasn't been the weather, that much we do know. As for her paintings, last year she sold a lot of paintings, and had the quality not been there, she wouldn't have sold those. It's discouraging for her, and understandably so. I keep telling her it isn't her paintings, which it isn't, it's the lack of traffic there. To show that there are still buyers out there, we went into a different gallery in a different part of town, and the main show artist had sold over $50,000 worth in less than a month, and another one, who did basically the same, strange, subject matter over and over, using the same colours, has sold over $20,000. So we know the $ out there. We'll keep plugging away and see what happens. We're in for the long haul.
It's supposed to snow here tomorrow. I'll believe it when I see it. It's almost cold enough during the day, and is at night. I did see where it is snowing in Paris right now. What a beautiful sight that must be. It's about 9pm there right now, a great night to walk to the Eiffel and watch the different lights while enjoying the snow.
Thinking of that reminds me of one night when we were in Vienna. It was late October, and we had read that the temperatures at that time of year were normally in the fifties. Well, not the year we were there. We took clothes for the fifties and ended up having to buy hats and gloves to keep warm.
When we went out for dinner this particular night, we only wanted something light. So, the person working at the hotel told us there was a little place around the corner where we should be able to have some soup, which was about all we wanted. So, in we went. The waiter was very nice, and told us they had one table that was reserved, but we might have time to eat before the other party showed up. I assured him that we would eat quickly.
The place was small, and old. The tables were a mix of anything and everything, along with an assortment of chairs. Seeing all the reserved signs on the tables led me to believe they must have pretty good food there. So, I made reservations for Saturday night, our last night in Vienna, on the off chance they did.
However, for tonight, we dined on a bowl of broth with some pieces of sausage in it, some hard crusted bread, and a nice glass of Riesling. Perfect! We enjoyed it without eating fast, and still finished ahead of the next occupiers of the table.
When we left the restaurant it was starting to snow. It was dark out, and the lights were on. We decided to walk over to Stephansplatz, and enjoy the beautiful scenery and the falling snow. After walking around for a while window shopping in the cold, we realized we were getting hungry. We found a vendor stand selling brats, and so ordered 2 brats with mustard and a hard crust roll. We found a place by the fountain and sat there eating those hot brats with a dab of mustard, and a bite of the roll. Absolutely heavenly! I cannot remember a time when everything came together like that; the snow; the cold; the beauty of our surroundings; the fragrance of warm food in the cold air, the taste of the warm brat mixed with the mustard and roll... makes my mouth water now just thinking about it!
The next morning when we awoke, there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground. The roads, however were clear, as were the sidewalks. The sun was out, and melted most of the snow that day, but not before we were able to take some pictures.
As for Saturday night? We went and had a fantastic dinner of schnitzel and veggies, desert, and of course, a bottle of excellent Riesling.
