Howie in the Hills Christmas Festival

Posted on by Thor

I went to Howie in the Hills to sketch a small town Christmas Festival. I fell on love with a home in Howie in the Hills which looked like a 1920s Hollywood hacienda. The home was on the main road where traffic is supposed to travel at 35 miles per hour, but the huge 18 wheelers seem to roar by at 55 miles per hour. The studio would have faced out on that main road.  I returned to the home a second time to see if the noise was an issue. The first time the real estate brokers had been talking constantly. This time I wanted a moment of peace to stop and reflect. There was a tall grouping of bamboo between what would have been the studio windows and the road. I considered planting more bamboo to further muffle the roar of traffic.

On the second floor the real estate broker confided for the first time that there was termite damage to a door frame. The termites had infested the home starting in the kitchen and then migrated through the walls upstairs. The door frame was so hollow that the door higes had nothing to hold onto. The door was resting 0n the floor. I hadn’t tried closing the door on my first walk through of the home. I abandoned the idea of buying that home. It was also too far from the events that I love to sketch each day. I like being able to walk to coffee shops and arts venues to sketch at a moments notice. Howie in the Hills is about an hour and a half drive from any Orlando events.

I am 0n a staycation at an AirBnB in Thornon Park, Orlando Florida. Since staying here, I have been doing several sketches every day. After I teach a virtual class tonight, I will be walking down the street to City Arts Factory to sketch Story Club. If I was still out in the country the hour and a half drive would have made the sketch opportunity a no go. The AirBnB is in a great location, but it has no WiFi, so I have to move again in a couple of days.

I parked across the street from the Howie in the Hills home I had decided was all wrong for me and I walked to the Christmas Festival. There was a stage for performers and I leaned against it to sketch the inflatable bounce houses. One of the staff who were supervising the bounce houses and slides set up beside me to eat lunch. He explained that he had to ask one kid to leave because the kid was bullying other children. By refusing the bully admission, the other kids could play without the harassment. If only politics were so easy.

I enoyed watching the kids trying to scale the rock climbing tower. One boy kept trying and failing at reaching the top. I admired that he never gave up. An older girl managed to get to the top on her second try. She raised her hands in victory and was lowered to the ground swaying on her safety rope. The little boy looked on in wonder and then attempted his climb with renewed determination. He failed again. He was dropped to the ground swinging on his safety rope with his arms dangling. I don’t know if the little boy ever made it to the top of the tower. As I packed up my sketchbook he was in the midst of another attempt.

I walked down the street filled with tents where vendors offered their Christmas knick knacks. I wasn’t tempted to purchases anything. To be honest I kind of skipped Christmas this year. My Christmas highlight this year was a Christmas market in Plettenberg Germany and sipping mulled wine while overlooking Wiesbaden Germany from a mountain top. This small Howie in the Hills estival felt overly commercial and shallow in comparison. There wasn’t much history behind the festivities. Being single and completely unattached, the holidays have less meaning. I might just treat myself to a new sketchbook or some new tubes of paint. I can’t order them online, since I don’t know where my next address will be.

Howie in the Hills Mission Style Studio

Posted on by Thor

I am searching for my next studio and or forever home. On Zillow, I saw this home in Howie in the Hills and decided for the first time that I had to go and take a tour in person.

The place was built in 1925. Caved up above the entry is “Anno Domini 1926” which means, “In the year of our lord 1926.” The original home owners had their busts carved in triangular motives around the entry. What appealed to me the most was a sun room off to the right which is where I would put my Disney Desk. Each ground floor room has built in bookcases which is awesome. The living room with a working fireplace could also act as the studio space. The dining room had a doorway to a back yard lanai. The back yard was small but had the original iron work fence. Unfortunately the iron is starting to rust out and would need work. There was also a quirky fountain in the yard. Upstairs were two bedrooms and a tiny bathroom with a tiny tub that had doors to both bedrooms. In the back was a shed with a window AC that could be plumbed with a toilet if I wanted. The home was formerly owned by a police officer and the front door had more dead bolts in it than a bank safe.

I fell in love with the place immediately. The kitchen was gorgeous having been converted into a gourmet chef’s dream. Since I am not a gourmet chef it might be wasted on me. There had been termites in the kitchen but I was assured that they had been taken care of. The septic was out to the west of the shed.The place could be made into a perfect working studio. Since I now work digitally I wouldn’t need tons of space. The home is on a corner lot at the intersection of West Myrtle and highway 19.

After the tour, I sat across the street to sketch. Over the course of two hours, I noticed the road noise from 19 more and more. 18 wheelers roared down the road constantly and every car seemed to be in a mad rush. There was one mass of bamboo planted between the road noise and the home. I started to reason that expanding the bamboo patch might cut the noise down. With cars and trucks rushing by at night, I would probably loose sleep.

The home is 1 block from Little Lake Harris which is a part of a chain of lakes. I had to run across 19 to avoid getting run over. The lake is gorgeous and there is a dock at the end of the block. I could easily set out on a kayak any time I wanted. If I could just move the home away from the highway noise and closer to the lake it wold be perfect. Having lived for the past 6 months on the flight path for planes landing at Orlando International Airport, I know how grating such constant noise can be.

As much as I am madly in love with the place, I will probably have to pass, though I change my mind every few hours.