From now through the end of August, paintings by Cuban-born artist Viredo (just “Viredo”) are on display at John Wayne Airport (SNA) in the Thomas F. Riley Terminal.

Viredo’s paintings are inspired by the complex Afro-Cuban culture of his childhood in Regla, Cuba. Here’s a sample:

(Carmen 1998 - Courtesy Viredo and John Wayne Airport)

In the 1950’s, Viredo was one of the influential Cuban artists that became known as “The Group of Eleven” (Grupo de Los Once). He left Cuba for the United States in 1969 and is now an Orange County-based artist.

A colorful selection of Viredo’s paintings are on display on the departure (upper) level near the security screening areas and on the arrival (lower) level near baggage carousels 1 and 4.

Amelia Earhart, one of the world’s most famous aviators, was born on this day in Atchison, Kansas in 1898.

You can learn all about “the Golden Girl of Aviation,” or “Lady Lindy,” and see statues of her in various spots around the country, including the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum in Atchison and at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, where Earhart honed her skills before heading out to set and smash records:

In 1928, Earhart – flying as a passenger - was the first woman on a transatlantic flight

In 1932 she was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic;

In 1935 Earhart was the first pilot to fly from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland and;

In 1937, sadly and mysteriously, she and navigator Bill Noonan disappeared somewhere in the Pacific during an attempt to fly around the world.

Bonus: Here’s a link to a search that turned up a great photo of Ms. Earhart standing in front of her plane Lockheed Electra at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, back when it was called Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport.

Well, gang, we’ve made it to the mid-point of the summer travel season. For folks who’ve had to scale back or cancel summer plans due to rising gas prices, airline fare hikes, or the deeply dipping dollar, it’s already a miserable summer.

I’ve been there and it stinks. Rising gas prices, and comments such as “Let’s check your temperature, Missy,” have put my planned road trip to the nation’s airports on hold.

But for you glass-half-full folks eyeing the August calendar and still holding out hope for some sort of summer vacation, there’s still time to have fun. You may just need to be more flexible and a bit more creative than usual.

So get out that “souvenir” pen you took home from that last hotel stay. In my Well-Mannered Traveler column today on MSNBC.com – part of the “My Miserable Summer” series – there are some tips for salvaging a summer vacation.

(Column illustration by the very talented Duane Hoffman. Thanks!)

If you’re passing through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) anytime before October 1, take a few moments to check out the new exhibit installed in the pylon display cases between gates 7 and 12. They’re filled with treasures relating to writers, photographers and musicians, all on loan from The Wittliff Collections, which focuses on the cultural legacy of the Southwest’s literary and photographic arts.

Some cool items here, including:

Lonesome Dove set designs and memorabilia;

Manuscript pages from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel, No Country for Old Men and from his 2006 novel, The Road, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

A rare 1555 edition of Cabeza de Vaca’s La relación y comentarios, the first written account of travels in the region that is now Texas and northern Mexico.

A vintage camera used by Great Depression documentarian Russell Lee;

And pages from a songbook made by Willie Nelson when he was eleven years old.

(Photo: Pages from Willie Nelson’s first handwritten song book circa 1944, he was eleven years old. Also one of his first vinyl LPs with the hit, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. )

(Photos courtesy Wittliffs Collection and ABIA)

On Monday, at Big 12 media days in Kansas City, Mo, Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach told reporters that he thought DFW airport was “a confusing mess.” Connecting to Lubbock through the smaller Love Field, he said, was a better option for those hoping to interview his team’s two Heisman Trophy candidates.

As you might imagine, that comment didn’t sit too well with the folks at DFW. So airport officials sent out an open letter inviting Leach to stop by for a visit. The letter said “Your comments hit home because we’re very proud of DFW — and most of us are big time college football fans!” and went on to offer the coach and his family a complimentary flight to DFW on American Airlines, a tour of the facilities, and a steak dinner.

Coach Leach called the invitation a “thoughtful gesture” and said he might have time to stop by next December.

The Dallas News has all the details.

Hooray!

The summer 2008 edition of the MOOM - the Museum of Online Museums - has been posted.

Pretty much everything on the list, from the Virtual Typewriter Museum to the Museum of Corporate Neckties (yes, there are airline ties in there) is pretty special.

But since this is a blog about (mostly…) airports and air travel, let me point out two online museums of special interest: The Stewardess Uniform Collection (746 different uniforms from 330 airlines) and the Online Paper Airplane Museum (800 free designs, plus some books and contests)

(Doll wearing Air France uniform. From the Air France e-shopping site)

Have fun!

I’m not sure how Terry Maxon and the folks at the Airline Biz blog do it. But long before the Tonight Show airs out west, they’ve got the (very funny) text of Jay Leno’s take on the American Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing because a guy took off all his clothes and went running up and down the aisle.

On behalf of those of us who have to get up early in the morning, thanks!

After a lovely week touring Spokane, Washington, I spent a few hours hanging around Spokane International Airport.

While disappointed at having to pay to use wireless Internet at the airport (I was spoiled: all downtown Spokane is a free Wi-Fi zone) I was delighted to find the Simply Northwest shop filled with a surprising selection of local and regionally-made items.

I learned that Spokane is the home of those still-somewhat-hard-to-find Bumble Bars (organic, gluten-free, vegan), and had fun choosing a few Papa Ray’s muffin and scone mixes that come packed in cute carrot and apple-shaped fabric containers.

And when I couldn’t quite decide which bottle of local wine to buy (the shop is post-security) the sales clerk suggested I go next door and taste a few of them at Vintage Washington.

Last week I wrote in Portfolio.com about the unusual ways some airports have found to earn income - such as growing and selling hay planted on airport acreage to signing contracts to allow outside companies to drill for oil and gas underneath airport ground.

That article also noted that, for some time now, Reno-Tahoe International Airport and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas have been raking in the bucks from slot machines scattered about inside the airport terminals.

According to a report in the Arizona Republic, the mayor in Phoenix, Arizona thinks putting slot machines at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a great idea. But Phoenix isn’t Nevada, where gambling is legal pretty much everywhere. So to make this idea work, the city would have to create a profit-sharing agreement with a Native American tribe.

It’s do-able, but not yet a done-deal. The paper reports that the slot-machine scheme is just one of the ideas a revenue-enhancement team is exploring to help solve budget shortfalls for the entire city of Phoenix.

Got some other ideas? Casey Newton at the Arizona Republic (casey.newton@arizonarepublic.com) has offered to gather them up and forward them on to the mayor who, he says, “will give you - at his own expense - a weekend at the downtown Sheraton, complete with tickets to a sporting event or other cultural experience” if the city uses your idea.

Earlier this month, Wendy Slaughter, her four young kids and her pregnant sister were scheduled to fly on Southwest Airlines from Detroit to Seattle via Phoenix.

They got as far as Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. That’s where airport police met the flight and informed Slaughter that Southwest had deemed her family’s onboard behavior too disruptive to fly. Citing concern for the children, other passengers and the flight crew, the airline refused to let the family board their connecting flight.

Find out why they got booted and get tips on how to avoid getting booted in my Well-Mannered Traveler column posted this week on MSNBC.com.

(Column illustration by the very talented Duane Hoffman, MSNBC.com)