Off to Beulah today all by my tiny little self!

Well enjoy that little slide show up there. It shows the trip to Beulah, to the coffee shop, next door to Kris Allen's house , the book exchange/library, around back of John Clay's studio and then back home again. I will hit the high spots later.

See the two signs there! That is a really big event coming up July 16 and if any of you old Hippies want to go with me, just give me a holler. There are a few little tiny rules Jan said us rowdy old souls need to obey, but I already forgot what they were so they could not have been too important. I think this might be more fun than this old heart can take.

So, back to my trip up this morning. Since I had to go water plants on that side of town, I thought "What the Hey!" and I just headed on out the highway and up the road. I left the camera in the back seat since I was all alone and thought it best if I kept eyes forward. But silly me. This is the entrance to the Beulah Valley which is the whole reason for life in Colorado. I stopped on the way back and took this and it does not do it justice at all. You can not see the depth and vastness that always make my heart leap into my throat when I see this.
(Sorry that image is not there, but google is jacking with me today.Maybe later)
I had just come past an empty field and seen a lone antelope. How sad a sight is that to see one antelope in the middle of all this vastness. I know the herd was nearby, or at least I thought so. There is just something about this part of the drive that makes me feel so very small and insignificant. I guess it is just the majesty of the mighty Rockie Mountains. They have been here since time began, I think, and I am just passing through. It is always a humbling experience.

And I am always so happy to see the little Stompin' Grounds sign and to know that Jan will be very glad to see me. I do not remember when I was up there last, but it had been a while. And she did not disappoint me.

She fixed me an egg sandwich and a cup of coffee, both great. She showed me that she was about out of products that I sell up there so I made a solemn vow to do better. I told her the latest John Lennon jokes I knew and showed her snippets I had on the camera of an upcoming blog I am working on.

Then Tom came in and I was happy to see him! See in this small little world, Tom and I go back a very long ways. He was a sailor at Hutchinson Naval Air Station in Kansas when I was in high school in Nickerson. Now we are both pretty sure we never dated, but we do not know for sure, and have no idea who to ask so we just b....s... everytime we cross paths. Now I could pop his balloon, but I am not going to. See we are both free spirited liberals and those guys are hard to find, but the truth of the matter is I never dated anyone from the base when I was in high school. I never dated anyone period. The first man I dated I married and it was down hill from there. But Tom is happy thinking we are the same age so I am not going to tell him any different.
Then a lady named Janet came in and was all excited to meet me cause she was one of those needing lotion. I will get up there next week cause why take a chance on losing a devoted customer? I wandered outside and heard Kris Allen out on her porch with her mom and Scott, so I popped over for a short visit. I will see them again at the Nature Center on Sunday.

By this time I had received 2 phone calls reminding me of obligations I had at home, so I reluctantly left the coffee shop, but I had one more stop to make. John Clay's studio. You remember he is the wood carver who also carves stone. I had not warned him that I was coming so I was not surprised to find him gone. I did wander around the yard and see some things he was working on. I was especially happy to see that he has not given up on the Dragon's Nest. He will get it done someday, I am sure. (Sorry I missed you John!)

So home to Pueblo and stop at Grocery Warehouse for yeast for an order of gluten free bread. Life does go on and it does get tedious. But I did make a vow to myself that I will be sure that I make it up to Beulah at least twice a month this summer. Jan is such a lovely person and when you stop in there you damn well better tell her Lou sent you! She is going to paint me a purple flower around the light in the ceiling right before you go down the hall to that infamous refrigerator of hers! I love that girl!

John Clay, my friend in Beulah, is now a stone cutter !

See this little fellow here?  Remember all the beautiful wood carvings he did, like the tree stump he made into a beautiful dragon up on Pine Drive?  Well, guess what the little fellow is doing now?  Stone!  He is making some of the most beautiful pieces of art I have ever seen and he is doing it by chipping away at stone.  A regular Micheal Angelo if I ever saw one.

And do you see that big smile?  He is actually glad to see me!  This is taken at the Beulah Arts and Crafts Fair that I have been trying to get to for 30 years and never made it yet, but this was the day Val and I went up and just got lucky!  Serendipity, they call that!

(Sam, if you look real close on the right that is half of Melinda's face.)

So I went by his shop and checked out the Hawk he is working on.  In my usual haste I did not visit with John about what kind of stone this is.  I do recall a lady who had a gravel pit telling me that Beulah has some on the most beautiful marble in the world and that if I needed any she had access.  So from that conversation and the feel of this, I would say it is some kind of marble.  I do know Beulah has pink marble also.  I have seen some of John's stuff that is much lighter.  I am going to just publish a bunch of his work one of these days.

This is the back side of that Hawk.  I do not know how much more John has to do on this, but it is very smooth.  This just amazes me to no end!  I know rocks are very hard and I can not imagine how that man can shape something like that out of anything that hard, but you can rest assured I am going to visit that boy in the very near future and come away a much wiser woman!

But still I go back to this!  This is the Dragon's Nest that he started last Spring.  This is made out of a tree root and still needs a lot of work to be the work of art that John saw the first time he touched this.  I am going to nag him into submission on finishing this thing if I have to buy it myself!

 

Now I know I have once more given you a report and raised more questions than I have given answers.  Bad Lou!  Some day I will remember to take the notebook with prepared questions, write down the answers legibly, remember where the notebook is at when I write......There is just so much to do and so little time!

But anyway, hats off to John Clay!!  A Beulah Artisan, Stone cutter, Wood Carver, friend, handyman and just all around great guy! This man is going to make his mark on the world and I will be here to say "I found him first!"

John Clay, I gotta get up there and see you again in beautiful Beulah!

This is a carved statue that was in John Clay's wood carving shop when I was up in Beulah, Colorado in the Spring.  I actually met John at that time and I think I did a blog on him.  If I didn't I sure should have because he is a very talented man.  I think he told me this one is Father Christmas.  If it isn't it sure should be!

 Then here we have a little Indian Chief almost ready to go to war.  I did not measure this and I should have.  There is a big one in the Beulah Inn that I know I did a piece on earlier.

 Here are some tulips that you can stand in your yard and people will drive by and say, "Damn!  Those are the biggest Tulips I have ever seen."  These are, of course a work of art, as is everything John Clay does.

 Now what is this?  This is a necessary item in the shop.  John assures me he goes through a lot of band aids on any project he does, and I do believe the man!  If anyone should know it John!

 Here we have some of the tools of the trade.  There are several different sized power/chain saws.  There you will see a hand and a foot.  Those belong to John and in my usual inept way, that is all you are going to get until I get back up there and catch the illusive little man.

 Here is a tangle of cords and more tools which are a bit smaller.  Looks like a mess to me, but the man turns out some very intricate work in this tiny shop.

But here is the part I want to tell you.  When I first went up there John showed me a tree root behind his shop.  He was working on it at the time and had called it "The Dragon's Nest."  This has a mother dragon, father and then lots of little babies.  I snuck by his shop when I did the Indian at the Beulah Inn and took more pictures.  It did not look like he had done much, so I need to get up there this week and find out what is going on. 

John is now working on stone carving and I hope this is not the end of the Dragon's Nest.  I don't think it will be cause that thing is going to be fabulous.  So John, you are on notice!  Lou Mercer is coming back to Beulah and you are going to get reported on again and this time I will get a picture of the whole John Clay!

John Clay does custom carving in and around Beulah, Colorado.  I am sure he ships orders elsewhere.  Call John for prices.  1-719-485-9605.  And be sure and tell him Lou sent you!  Won't get you any discounts, but makes me feel like I did something to help a Beulah Artisan!

John Clay's Proud Indian Chief who lives at the Beulah Inn.

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This majestic wooden Indian stands proud and tall in the Beulah Inn, which is located in the quaint little town of Beulah, Colorado. Now, this Indian is the work of the local Artisan, John Clay. You will remember he is the man who carved the Dragon Tree on Pine Drive for Catherine Halcomb. I had been meaning to get back up to Beulah and meet with him again, but procrastination reigns supreme in my life and I had not gotten around to it.  I did make it up there to take this picture and have a little supper while I was
there, sort of the killing of two birds with one stone sort of thing.

                                                                                  I do not remember exactly what I ate, but I do seem to remember that it was pretty good fare and there was a really lot of it.  Course Bret and Amanda were with me and Bret especially liked the "lot of it" part.  He is 18 and eating is a very big part of his life.  I would say eating is to him what breathing is to you and I.  So back to the Indian fellow here.  We measured him and he stands  5'5" tall.  I'm a thinking that the black mask he wears tends to make him look a little mean, but course if he is only 5'5" tall he needs to look mean!           

John Clay goes to a lot of work to make his creations look real and this Indian is no exception.  I do not remember what the hours are at the Beulah Inn, but I  will look them up and post them on her.  Hey ! I  could like call the place.

See when I took this picture I was in hopes that I could read the hours and days and would not have to actually take note.  To make a long story short, in these hot old days, a little spin up to Beulah is just the ticket for getting in a power vacation and killing a couple hour.  We need to kind of support our neighbors West of here so they will remain there so we can go see the.  i know some singer bought a house up them .  Michael Martin Murphy or John Michael Murphy.  Something like that.  Hey, I just report the parts I remember and you are probably figuring out that there is not a whole lot of facts in any of my reporting.  If I wanted to actually work at this and do it right, I would be working for the New York Time or somebody like that for a big wage and not setting up nights for nothing but the glory!

Ah, Once more I have digressed, but I have got something to hit the publish button for, and after all, that is the name of the game!