July Travels

Hello Reader

This last week has been a traveling week (again) for Jewel and me. We took the opportunity to visit our dear friend Beth Rentz who had moved to Thomasville Georgia last year. Although we've known Beth for over 20 years, we hadn't seen her in about 16 years. We've kept in touch with telephone calls, cards and letters. Beth is a traveling soul who had worked with me when I had been the advertising manager at Wellington Leisure Products in the 80's. After I had left to pursue a new career path, Beth left also and went to work in such places as the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, Alaska where she stayed 2 years and took care of physically challenged children, The University of Michigan and in Wisconsin where she grew up. We were exceedingly happy when we learned that she would be moving to Georgia where it would be relatively easy to visit her.

Beth's enthusiasm for what she does and where she settles is unmatched. Thomasville is no exception. When we first arrived it wasn't long before she spirited us on a tour of the city and it was immediately evident that she was very knowledgeable about all the area had to offer. From houses and mansions that graced the area to museums, farmers market (the second largest in Georgia), walking trails, flower gardens, cultural center and more, Beth knew them all. Since she had only moved there less than a year ago and worked in Tallahassee Florida, 30 some miles away, she was obviously excited about her new community and it was infectious.

While there, Jewel and I visited the market, saw many of the landmarks in the city, traveled to close communities where I took photos for future Vanishing Rural Georgia art pieces, the fantastic Pebble Hill plantation which was a sporting center in the 1900's and which housed a great collection of artworks representing the shooting sports as well as Audubon's great bird paintings, Jewel and Beth went to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Florida, and finally where I traveled to the Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf coast to take photos of wildlife and do some walking. All-in-all our visit with Beth was not only a great personal reunion, it was a 3 day excursion into another world. Hopefully it won't be too long before Beth will pay Madison a visit and we can show her the changes that have occurred since she was last here.

I've included some photos that I took representing some old Georgia structures that I plan to paint and draw, some shots of Thomasville including its downtown street, some of Pebble Hill Plantation, and a few of Saint Marks. I hope you enjoy the.

Pete