"All My Bags Are Packed.."

I woke up, this morning, humming the words of that Peter, Paul and Mary tune and thinking how corny it sounded. But part of it is true in a way. I suppose it could have just as easily been the words, " On The Road Again". In fact, the suitcase is packed. The racks, mats, framed pieces and every thing else I need to exhibit my work are in the truck which is pointed towards the driveway. Even the cooler is ready for travel. It would seem that everything is under control so why is it I have this nagging feeling that I've forgotten something important? Actually, this isn't a new feeling. I get it every time we travel. The feeling this morning is a good thing. It would be a bad sign for me to be completely confident that everything is ready and all is under control. Still, it makes me wonder. Have I done everything I can to be ready for this first show of the season? It's a long event; three days and it's a fair distance from the house; St. Albans,VT. I have a few hours to sit and obsess about it and perhaps I'll even think of a couple of minor things to toss into the bag before it's stowed in the back of the truck. When all is said and done, everything will turn out just fine. Nothing important will be left behind and in the event that I have forgotten something, there are stores to shop in where we are going. St. Albans is not the end of the world, after all, but you can see it from there.

This post had been completed when my husband called from his place by the dining room window to tell me of the two deer that were grazing just a few feet from the house. I went into stealth mode and headed for the camera. Unfortunately, we didn't see their three companion sentinels on the other side of the house and all five bolted when I opened the living room door. I do, however, have a plan in motion. The photo was not taken on my front lawn.

When The Lights Go Out

It's been a very long three days! I was working at my computer on Monday, the day of the April Nor'easter, when a tremendous roaring began outside. I brushed the curtains aside near my desk in time to see the evergreen trees behind my studio lay over as if a massive hand had pushed them aside. This happened over and over, each gust of wind seeming to be stronger than the previous one. I could hear limbs snapping and the rain was driven sideways into the windows of the house. As the intensity of the storm grew, so did the damage outside. The small broken trees of just an hour before were being quickly surpassed by trees of more substance. It was then that the lights went out. They didn't come back on until Thursday afternoon. It was three full days of burning candles, worrying about the meat in our freezer, wondering if the electric crew forgot us and pacing the floors because every time I remembered something I needed to do, it took electricity to make it happen. We have become so dependant upon the almighty wall socket, we become as disconnected as the wires do from our homes. That first night there was an unnatural quiet. No hum from the computer, refrigerator or florescent light bulbs. The three of us sat in silence until, out of boredom, I began to play solitaire, badly. My husband and grown son joined me and for two hours, we played rummy and laughed, but more importantly, we talked. Not the "did you take out the trash?" kind of dialog. It was more like three friends that haven't been together for a while. If you ask me, I say loosing the electricity did us a world of good.

The Fickle Finger

I'm posting this from a hotel room in MA. Our travel plans have been postponed for this weekend. The threat of a massive ice storm, airport delays, turbulence, then more bad weather, no cherry blooms left, drenching rains, a nor'easter and more airport delays and turbulence just was too much for us to chance. In our younger days, we would have thrown caution to the wind. In our younger days, we wouldn't have listened to that little voice inside. We are older and, it is hoped, wiser so we have rescheduled the trip for Memorial Day in hopes the weather will be kinder. It will be a different trip, a different experience at the Vietnam Memorial and it will provide for a totally different type of photo opportunity. Those elusive cherry blossoms will have to wait for another year. There has been one positive for this expedition. I'm posting this from the road due to technology called a wireless network interface. In other words, I'm able to use some one's Internet provider ( the hotel where we're staying ) without being plugged into their mainframe. I purchased a network interface card (NIC), plugged in and logged on. I don't know why I haven't done this on other trips because now, I can check and send e-mails, make blog entries and even upload "hot off the presses" photos, when I can actually take them, that is.

Forty Years Of Waiting

Next week, we are traveling to Washington,DC and I'm really thrilled. I've been to this city which is rich with history, culture and politics three times. During each of my visits, I was able to experience much of what makes this city so unique. When I was 13, our church group stayed in the basement of a host church, visited our state senator, sat in on a session of congress, absorbed the ceremonial and somber attitude of Arlington National Cemetery and marveled at the marble likenesses of Lincoln and Jefferson. At 16, my experience was centered around the many buildings of the Smithsonian and visiting friends in a nearby suburb. My best memory of that vacation had to be the landing on the moon. All of Washington paled after Armstrong and Aldrin gave that most memorable of performances from a quarter million miles away. And as a young mother of 20, we stayed at Quantico Marine Base where a high school friend and her husband were stationed, while visiting a frigid Washington Monument. This time it was a different experience at the Cemetery. That one brilliant flickering flame at the Kennedy graves has been burned into my mind ever since. Still, there is an air of excitement for this trip. This time, it's the cherry blossoms that will have my attention. These flowering trees were a gift from a Japanese city in 1912. We responded with flowering dogwoods in a splendid show of hospitality and to promote the idea of one world. This time, my husband and I will stand with others in hushed reverence at The Wall to commit to memory some of the 58,000 names that we'll find there. It will be a good trip.

Lists Can Make You Crazy

The list I mentioned was getting smaller. Items were getting scratched off each day, sometimes a couple of them. I began feeling really good about myself and then, just when I was about to see the bottom of the list, I had to start adding things once more. For instance, today I finished this season's spring and summer card selection for two of the five galleries that I exhibit in. And I delivered a CD with some images to the production team at WREN which stand for the Women's Rural Entrepreneurial Network. It's an organization that helps small cottage industries to thrive and grow with sound business practices and help from people who've been there. Anyway, they needed some photographs for an upcoming issue of their magazine and several of my images were just what they were looking for. Sorry, got sidetracked there for a minute. Now, I've been asked to exhibit some of my work in a storefront on Main Street in downtown Littleton. WOW! People pass this window by the hundreds every day and I get to have the space for three weeks. It's a great opportunity to get my work seen by loads of people, but I wasn't planning on the extra framing and production just now. I'll need to come up with around eight pieces in the next day or two. This charming little girl is my granddaughter, Stephanie who is trying to convince the little dog that she is the boss.