12 Oakdale

Forty-eight hours after my alarm was set for 3:00 Monday morning, we were back in bed, exhausted. We had arisen (I always sleep badly before an early plane trip), flown to Las Vegas, driven to Alamo, Nevada, toured Michel Heizer’s City , and returned home on the red-eye, to collapse in bed exactly 48 hours later. To break it down, and process all that: the first part of the trip was our usual get out of bed at o’dark hundred, dress, maybe eat, drive to the Marriott to park our car, shuttle to MCO, fly to wherever. We usually do this because flights are cheaper before 9:00 AM and we get a full day at our destination, especially if we head west to new time zones.  Then it got weird, not just because we were about an hour’s drive east of Area 51, home of the famous UFOs. For someone like me used to subtropical foliage and now central Florida’s coverage of green, the starkness of the scrub north of Las Vegas seems so barren. Plus no cell service. I definitely felt I was in a twilight z...

After trying every single time one was offered, I finally nabbed a reservation at Michael Heizer’s land art work City. Sunrise, July 21, which means we will meet our transportation at 3:45 AM. Ouch. At least it will be cool. I immediately made flight, car rental, and motel bookings for a 2 day trip. We are crazy. This weekend, Patten took Brightline up, bringing 2 mangos (first crop ever) from his tree. He made us daiquiris to celebrate Father’s Day and Grant’s 83rd birthday. Stephanie joined us for lunch on Sunday, bringing a delicious chocolate cake.  Clara painted flowers on my rain barrel, and I channeled Dad, creating a stand for it from wood I already had and painting it with the purple paint left from our back door. Only expense was $8 for white spray paint, which Clara covered with brown, and the $20 tip I gave Rodrigo for installing the rain chain ($150 from Wayfair). In 2022, he had replaced the lanai gutter so it came out through the screen (Terry from Integrity Screens ...

Dang, GPT-Chat and I are getting good at planning trips. I give the basic info, and it organizes it. This time was a trip to New York to see Maya Rudolph in Oh Mary!  before her turn at lead ended July 2nd. We agreed end that a Costco vacation was the most economical, or at least what I wanted. First class Delta flight Wednesday morning at o’dark hundred to La Guardia, private car to Martinique Hotel, then reverse on Friday evening. Wednesday went off without a hitch. The flight was easy, breakfast good. I had a potato frittata, Grant the salmon plate and a Bloody Mary. A representative from My Sedan met us at the welcome desk at La Guardia and took us to our car. A long, slow drive in rush hour to the city and our hotel. We left our bags with the bellhop rather than paying $75 for early check in. First up was walking the High Line which has really changed since we visited in 2018. Bigger trees, much more seating, and lots and lots of people. Since the World Cup is happening, many ...

I had opted to stay in Williamstown because I wanted us to see Ground/work 2025, a site-specific set of 6 large sculptures, each made by a different artist using a craft from her or his culture. Woodworking, fabric dying, sculpture, basket weaving, mosaic tile, and ceramics. Marvelous, but I hadn’t considered that not all places are flat like Florida. As we trudged uphill, Grant struggled to catch his breath. However, with a rest at a picnic table, he was able to get to the top of the exhibit layout. Downhill is our friend. On to the New Haven, CT airport to turn in the truck and be picked up by Deb and Rob. Note on the truck which we should have inspected better before driving away: there were no dents on the outside, Grant had checked. However, once I began driving, I realized my boot heel stuck to the flood when I wanted to move from gas to brakes. As soon as I found a pull off, we stopped. No floor mat, and perhaps glue or sticky tape where one h...

Good grief. On our way north, I saw parts of Florida I hadn’t seen in years. Between construction on the turnpike and accidents (Kathy’s phone said 4), my GPS app Waze routed us along backroads hither and yon. A stop for a coke and to pee after one of the suggested side roads was closed, and we had to go even further afield. Finally, we got on I-75, slow but at least moving. Originally planned as a visit to my dearest friend, coincidentally it was Gainesville Fine Art Association’s annual showcase weekend. After our dinner at the Top (gnocchi with pesto sauce for me), we stopped at the opening reception, met some of the artists who are Sally’s friends, and perused the map to decide on which studios we wanted to visit the next day. Up at not o’dark hundred, followed by leisurely breakfast. First stop was a group of artists that rent studios at a Presbyterian church which no longer needs the rooms as Sunday school classes since the congregation doesn’t have any young people. The greying ...

Amazing how difficult it was to find empty time on all of our calendars to be able to schedule a visit to see Jamey and April. I decided short was better than none, so we flew up Sunday morning and returned Tuesday afternoon. As an experiment, I bought Main Cabin tickets rather than Comfort + for our 2 hour Delta flight. Yes, we do need those extra 3”.  The theme of the trip turned out to be Art and Exercise. Jamey and April met us at the airport. They live .3 miles from a Metro station. I had brought our refillable cards I’d stashed after our last visit, so we added money at the airport, rode 2 stops and walked to their Alexandria townhouse.Their 4-story townhouse. We left our suitcase*, then walked to lunch at a wine bar in Georgetown, then a walk through the colonial section, admiring all the wonderfully maintained old homes. It’s spring in Washington. The azaleas, clematis, and other flowers are at their peak. We rested back at the townhouse (stairs), then a short walk to dinne...

We flew the red eye home Thursday morning, landing just a few hours after Spaulding and Molly arrived with Teddy. They were in town for the weekend to celebrate Randy’s wedding. Stephanie picked them up at the airport, and they were all asleep when we got home. With our colds, we were reluctant to hug when they woke up and had to avoid cuddling with Teddy, just admiring the cutie from afar. Grant took Spaulding to pick up a rental car while I slept, then Molly shopped for food to cook. Teddy’s gut is extremely sensitive. Since he is only breastfed, she is on a non-dairy, non-gluten, non- processed foods, non-some other stuff diet to help soothe his tummy. Brava Molly, and it seemed like the regime would be a good one for most all of us to follow. Very healthy. However, it means she really cannot eat out, hence she cooked all her meals for the weekend at our house before they moved to the B&B in Howey in the Hills with the rest of the wedding party. She planned to carry little conta...

Pride does indeed goeth before a fall. I was very proud that I’d gotten all of our tax information together to send to our preparer Dennis. After mailing it at the Gotha post office, and cleverly buying both regular and international stamps so I’ll have them when needed, I somehow stepped wrong as I was leaving and managed, somewhat gracefully, to end up sitting on the ground, right next to the curb. I must have folded my right foot under me because the top of my foot and end of my pinkie toe were scraped. I hoisted myself up to sit on the curb, retrieved my purse, and assessed my condition. Nothing seemed hurt other than my pride. I said as much to the kind man who yelled over from the mailbox to ask if I were okay. Second tumble because I wasn’t paying attention.  Last Saturday was the Art Room’s Adult Student Show, in which I showed two pieces, the holly leaves and the little boy’s bust. I’d had Denise at Windermere Art and Framing mat and mount them in frames I’d bought at a ne...

If only I could afford it, I’ve found my new art for our big dining room wall: a piece by Mark Messersmith. I had dragged Grant to the Orlando Museum of Art to see the exhibit of forged Jean-Michelle Basquiat pieces. Of course, OMA and the guys that found these pieces in a storage shed swear that these are all originals and worth gazillions. (In 1982, Basquiat became the highest priced American artist, when a piece of his sold for $110 million.) The FBI is looking into their claim. Anywho, as my father’s friend Jack used to say, we went to OMA and just outside the Basquiat exhibit were two Messeesmith pieces. My kind of Florida art.  We were over on the east side so I could tell my tale of aches and pains once again to my ortho guy and his current resident. After much poking and “does this hurt” “yes, it does”, he’s decided I have a high hamstring strain which takes 3+ months to heal, so no surprise I still hurt. Plus I’m old, which means it likely will take even longer. My hands, ...