All Twisted Up!

All twisted up!
That's me, all twisted up! The day started out like any other day might, just okay. But once I heard Mom's voice on the phone my stomach twisted up into knots! Thanks heavens for Cell phones and a brother on the other end who I could send over to collect Mom and take to the ER.

I was in the middle of finally have a guy from The Dish install a new cable (to hopefully take care of a year-long problem!!) and I didn't want to him to stop. Once he did a check of the satellite dish I was out the door before he even drove off. Nothing like an emergency to get my adrenline going. I found Mom already in a cubicle trying to answer questions the doctor was asking her and my brother saying, "I think my sister might know that."

Three hours later my first guess was correct, Mom was having a major reaction to a medication and not a heart attack. I got her home and settled in and did a few errands. So much for having a nice quiet visit with brother and sister-in-law!

The Tuck Box

The Tuck Box restaurant in Carmel is about as quaint as you can get! It's rare that a car isn't parked in front of it blocking it from view and I would have missed the shot if I hadn't had my trusty camera in my hand! It wasn't long before a car dove into the spot.

You'd think that Carmel is hundreds of miles away rather than right over the hill from where I live, because it's been a couple of years since I wandered about the village! It took a week-long visit from my brother and his wife to get me out the house. Once we found a parking place on a side street we had a blast browsing through shops where they bought a lot of collectibles to add to their collections. A horse statue was added to my collection (www.trailofpaintedponies.com to see Earth, Wind and Fire. Click on Merchandise > native ponies.) I have no idea why I've always been so drawn to horses, but perhaps it's the freedom in which they run and part of me is always trying to escape/run from my life.

I had one request while we were in Carmel and it was granted. I had wanted to see Joan Miro's month-long exhibit in a gallery where I nearly had to leave a deposit on a lithograph just to be able to leave! My mistake was in telling the salesperson that I was in the gallery to see the exhibit and when I passed on purchasing the $5,000-35,000 art pieces she decided I had to have the $900 one. It nearly ruined my time in the gallery having to deal with her hunger to sell me something! My brother wandered off and for a few minutes and she followed, probably thinking that she was chasing the person with the money, wrong, he had no intentions of purchasing anything, but it gave me the opportunity to study Miro's work. I'm always amazed at how essential it is to see work up close and viewing his work left me with a sense of wanting to add some playfulness to my work. Thoughts about that has kept me awake for the last two nights, well that and a killer migraine! Good thing I had something fun to think about and not just the pain.

"The spectacle of the sky overwhelms me. I'm overwhelmed when I see, in an immense sky, the crescent of the moon, or the sun. There, in my pictures, tiny forms in huge empty spaces. Empty spaces, empty horizons, empty plains, everything which is bare has always impressed me."
Joan Miro, 1958 Twentieth-Century Artists on Art

Loss.

Following a phone call from my daughter about yet another loss I grabbed the camera and between gusts of wind captured a sentimental shot. The delicate pink buds bursting into plum colored leaves made me weep. Even on a grey day full of sadness the world carries on and there is something beautiful to be found.

On another note: No wonder I felt wary 4 days ago, the road continues to be rocky and my center is tilting.

San Juan Bautista

Proof that there is some sun without the nasty pine pollen somewhere in the world!

It's very gloomy, grey and cold so you'd think that the pine pollen would take a break and not shower us with the green stuff! Lunch, in San Juan Bautista, was suggested so off we went for a feast of bratwurst, sauerkraut and fried pototoes, not the usual fare when visiting a town known for its Mexican food. We had discovered the corner restuarant on our last visit when suddenly enchiladas didn't sound as good as they had. The restaurant is celebrating its 25th anniversary next month and is decorated in a combination of German and Mexican styles that somehow don't seem out of place. We can't figure it out but the more I studied it this time the more I realized that it's the color palette that allows two such diverse styles to blend. It doesn't matter whether a German beer stein sits next to a Mexican pinata or not as long as the colors are bland and faded.

After lunch when we stepped out the front door we discovered that the main street, that had been vacant of traffic and pedestrians, had become congested. The entire 3 blocks around the restaurant had been blocked off and people were gathering on the curb and a few older folks setting up folding chairs. For what? It seems that the local high school was having some sort of rally for their basketball team. You never know what you'll see in a very small town that might be spirit lifting especially when the news has been full of gang violence in nearby cities. San Juan Bautista "feels" like it's in a 50's time warp, even though I'm sure it has problems like any other town in 2005 does.

Unencumbered!

Rubber stamped words and watercolor on text from a physics book. This was a quick unplanned page for an Expedition Journal that hopefully will lighten the tone of the book. The work that I've done so far seems heavy and serious and could be a difficult-act-to-follow for the next artist working in the EJ. Much of my work is thought out and slowly executed when what I really want is to be able to not think so much! But I doubt I can change my way of working because it's most likely a part of who I am.

In my dreams I'm svelte and free from the heaviness of body and life. The word that comes to mind is unencumbered.