I am back home and, after four days on the couch to recuperate, back to painting.  The Lubbock Art Festival brought huge crowds and I made many new friends.  God is so good.  He placed the only artist I knew in the entire place right across the aisle from me.  Suzanne Maxwell is an incredibly talented jewelry designer and I was so pleased to see her. 
Lubbock is a unique city with a home town feel that has been lost to those communities in and around Houston where I live.  It's citizens take great pride in their home town, in the education system, Texas Tech and the great musical heritage that Lubbock shares with the rest of the world.  A huge part of this art festival was devoted to the children of Lubbock as they are introduced to visual and performing arts at early ages.  I commend the school district, the arts community and the supporters who keep these activities funded and active.
As I was leaving Lubbock early Monday morning, I was reminded of the uniqueness of Texas.  The sun wasn't fully up yet and there was a slight mist on the fields.  To the left of the highway I was driving lay flat fields of farmland and all over the fields were horse head pumps pulling oil out of the ground to supply us with gas and electricity.  To the right of the highway, the flat fields turned into hills and mountains with evenly spaced wind turbines slowly turning to generate electricity from the wind.  How absolutely "Texas" is that?!  Still relying on oil while taking a lead in the production of a new clean energy.
I don't know if I'll make the long trip back to Lubbock next year or not but I can say that it is now one of my favorite big little towns.