Sojourn to the Berkshires Day 1

 Good morning from the Berkshires, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, particularly. I'm going a-walking this chill morning. I'll start a little travelogue here and update it to keep records of images I'll collect in my travels here. The entire Google album of my little sojourn will be archived here.

It's only a two day trip, as mentioned in my previous post, but one of my new goals in iPhotography is to collect images I may want to paint in the future. 

Tuesday I walked my best buddy Watson and tossed him into Casper the Friendly Kia to take him to K9 Logics, his home away from home, for fun on the farm. He initially wanted to drive.

No, Watson, you may not drive Casper the Friendly Kia

In the afternoon I met my dear bud Rocky at Tailgate Headquarters for a bite to eat and a beer, capped off with a cigar. After an early to-bed, Lee Ann and I were up by 4:30 so she could drop me off at BNA for the trip.

I made my away through the crowded airport through security and after grabbing a turkey tomato sandwich at the high tech Amazon islands (how cool to register your handprint to a credit card, get want you want, and leave without any further interaction with a cashier--bye-bye jobs) boarded a 7:07 AM American Airlines flight to Albany, NY, via Chicago, IL. The first flight was on a 737, so I crossed my fingers a lot. All good excepting the flight was around 40 minutes early arriving and we sat on the ORD tarmac for 45 of that awaiting permission to dock. I had around 30 minutes left to snag my flight to Albany. That turned out to be on a teenyplane, you know the ones with two seats on the right and one on the left and not enough headroom for 6-footers. I power-walked and they were just calling Groups 6 and 7 to board when I huffed up to the gate, which was about as distant from my landing gate as they could make it. That flight was fine, just cramped for leg room, and I made my way to the car rental tables only to find the Enterprise booth empty, with a sign on the plexi telling me to "Please proceed to the Alamo, National rental station in the parking lot." 

I did so and the nice attendant-of-many-rental-services, Sam, who gave me my options. There was a Dodge Charger, a Toyota Camry, and a Kia Forte. I asked Sam which one he would pick, just for fun. He unhesitatingly said, "I would personally take the Charger. It's sporty and a little ballsy, you know, a muscle car, and not too hard on mileage." I did. Little did I realize it would get even better. I walked the way Sam pointed and found the purple car:

Bruno the Charger

What hat a lovely drive down southeast to my motel. Here are two quick snaps I took whilst the car was resting:

Waiting for his master's voice! Nipper is patient.

One of those bridge-is-one-lane red lights

I made it to my motel around 3:00, after winding through blue highway small towns and enjoying the view at every turn. I plan to take my time up to the airport for my late afternoon flight on Friday and see what I can see in some of those towns. Though I see on the news that beaucoup holiday flights are being cancelled all over and I should give myself 3 hours at the airport. 

I got settled and drove out to explore a little and catch that late lunch I needed, landing at the picturesque and friendly Barrington Brewery and Restaurant only a couple long blocks away from the Fairfield Inn by Marriot where I am staying. I caught a beer at small but cozy bar

 

and after Jimmy called to say he was on the way I moved to a table where we could talk privately. We hadn't seen each other in 7 years--since my lovely daughter Miranda's wedding in Nashville--and I got a little weepy for a number of reasons when I got my long delinquent hug. We sat, talking for a bit. There have been some complications that I gather could have been much worse (thank you, universe, for it not being that) that have precluded Riad, Jimmy's beautiful wife, and Seamus, his son and my godson, from attending, which was the plan. I won't elaborate here, and though I am disappointed to lose those hug opportunities it is what it is, and everyone is predicted to be okay. These complications bring an oddly absurd level to the performance I will see tonight and which Jimmy will repeat for every night for the play's two week run. I am certain it will be powerful however it goes: One accomplished actor, around 2 hours, ~11,000 words, in the small Leibowitz Black Box Theater at Bard College, taking us into the present tense beginning 12 years ago in the family's hospital "home."

Jimmy had to leave to run lines with his director, Robert Egan, and to get some rest. I got a selfie, finished my delicious BBandR fish and chips, and headed back to the motel to get some rest myself. I slept pretty well. Got up this morning for the "free" breakfast, came here to blog. As you know, I'm committed to adopting that habit more consistently. Enjoy it or not, it's my "book."

Here:

Me and Jimmy, a few years later; see previous post

More later. It's 9:12 in the morning and I'm going Great Barrington exploring.

Alaska Photoarcheology

 There I am making up words again. But seriously, I had some fun over the weekend unearthing some ancient history. Back before the dawn of the computer, people used devices called "cameras" to record and share images. Sometime later, as we all know, cell phones put a camera in everyone's pocket. 

Well.

I am heading up to Massachusetts a week from tomorrow to attend opening night of my dear brother-from-another-mother's one man play, running two weeks at the Bard College Leibowitz Black Box Theatre in Great Barrington. I'll actually fly up to Albany, NY, where I'll pick up a rental car and drive down to Great Barrington, stay a night, explore what I've been told is a great (sorry) little town, see the play, take another motel sleep, then get up and drive back to Albany. I'll fly back and prepare for a sojourn with my life's love, who is coincidentally my much loved wife, to Missoula for a visit with our son, Colin and his lovely Kat (and their lovely two cats). 

Anyway, where was I. Oh. Right here.

I am SO excited to reconnect with James Morrison, known in my personal brain as Jimmy, and to see 

.

The play centers around my godson Seamus's cancer and recovery in his 10th year on the planet. It's around 11,000 words in its final state, and I am incredibly pumped to witness its delivery to the world on the 30th of June. just nine nights away. I understand that Riad and Seamus will also be there and I'm excited to see the both of them, too! I gather the playwright will be there, too, because he will be acting the role of himself, onstage. Win-win. Win.

I've been doing some reminiscing lately about our time in Alaska, and that led to some googling. I managed to move through several dead ends to the little treasure trove of the University of Alaska Archives online repository, where I discovered some things I hadn't ever seen. Here's one: 

Fantasy Factory improv group nominally entertains a group of little kids, somewhere in Anchorage, circa 1977-8

I don't see Jimmy in there, but look closely and you will see a tree that looks a lot like the 27 year old me. Let's see another:

Scene from Diamond Studs, 1978, Fairbanks, Alaska. Luan Schooler and I had the spotlight, but there are plenty more talents in the pic, including a 22ish year old James Paige Morrison (kneeling, red bandana). 

That denim vest was handmade for me by a dear friend as a parting gift upon leaving Knoxville for Anchorage in 1975. It's Don Ruddy behind the bar, and I see Susan Mendel behind the mic stand, Ernie Norris catching a bit of spotlight behind me, Warren Elkins playing bass, and I can almost recall the name of the fellow in the bottom right, but not quite. Another one?

Alaska Repertory Theater apprentices/stagehands for Four Poster, UofA Fairbanks, 1978. 

Top to bottom it's Chris Fairbanks, me, Jimmy, Susan, ?, and Luan Schooler. What the hell am I wearing on my head? Doesn't matter. I do recall that for the run of that play I ran the light board, and important and fun job. I also helped hang them, straddling 50 foot a-frame ladder to get that work done. If I were to try that today I would so end up a bag of broken bones at the ladder's foot.

I'll end this post with a pic I have in my own archives; from a visit to LA long ago, it's two young men with an abiding love for one another and everything out in front of them. So long Memory Lane, and I will see you next week, old friend, brother, hero.

Goodbye, Huey

 It's approaching seven o'clock in the morning on New York Avenue here in Nashville, Tennessee. Good morning. 

In around two hours, a tow truck will pull up to my house and a dear companion of 12 years and I will part ways. Goodbye, Huey. I hope you can bring some income to my favorite NPR radio station, 89.5 WMOT Roots Radio! You have aged well, though mechanical and cosmetic issues abound, and you have been a reliable friend. Bon Voyage.

Later:

...and a Google Photos album with pretty much every photo I have of Huey, may he RIP.

Later Later:

Watson and I took a very short walk before the truck arrived--it's right at 82 degrees and I wanted to get out there before the sun rose high enough to steam us edible in the near 100 percent humidity. Watson clearly agreed, since the duration of the walk was 12 minutes and we literally travelled one block. Back at home, I took a leap into the past.

I popped onto my laptop and visited Google Photos online, looking for pics of Huey. I found a bunch. I will now spend a bit of time curating some of these to celebrate a long relationship and its passing into memory. So.

In August 2010, we needed a new car. The old Mercury Villager van had outlived its usefulness and we could look down the road to a time when both grown kids would be out of the house. As we'd done before, we started at Carmax. I'm a fan, even if my last two cars were bought from dealerships. After assessing the condition of the Villager, they offered us $500 in trade. I thought I could do better than that selling it and began doing some research. That led me to the CARS Program, an Obama administration effort to stimulate economic growth by pulling new light car sales "...forward from a far more distant future, and thus represented an important increment to aggregate demand at just the time when such demand was sorely needed." Read more about CARS, commonly referred to as "Cash for Clunkers."

sI

I was zeroing in on a Smart Car. Why? I really don't remember, though its unique appearance and fuel economy were attractive. We drove out to Cool Springs to the Mercedes dealership and I test drove a red Smart ForTwo Passion Coupe. I LOVED it immediately. After discovering the CARS program would provide us a subsidy payment of 4500 dollars for the Villager, I signed all the dotted lines and drove away with Huey, whom, I recall, received his name on the way home. 

Why Huey? Easy. 

image from https://paramountcartoons.fandom.com/wiki/Baby_Huey 

Baby Huey

My Huey looked nothing like the 50s era cartoon giant baby duckling, but I remembered Baby Huey fondly and cheerfully, and I knew that I had chosen to name him appropriately the first time I drove him around Nashville. Seriously, people on the street would smile, often laugh, and sometimes point at us as we cruised through traffic. I thought of him as my "smile making machine." I quickly fell further in love with that aspect of my new buddy. Later on, as my son would ride with me, Colin would see pedestrians or bus stop folks and reach into the glove compartment were I stored two foam red clown noses, and ask, "Dad, should we nose 'em?" We often did. 

I never took Huey on a road trip, though he never put me in a position to use roadside service. He had no spare tire, you see; and because the tires were two unusual sizes and not readily available on the road, I never roamed past, say, Ashland City or Marrowbone Lake, or to my former job down off Nolensville Road. In the just under 12 years we were together, he and I racked up only 106,773 miles. Okay, that's still a lot of miles together. 

I used to talk to him, sometimes petting the little hump over the radio/CD player console as I did. It's okay. I talk to my dead brother and to both parents, though both of them are in the ground (on opposite sides of Thompson Lane in Woodmont Cemetery). With these last, it's a good way to work stuff out without paying a therapist. With Huey, it was just companionship, aided and abetted by a stiff dose of anthropomorphism. 

I want to thank Chet and Mike at EurWerks garage, and the lovely Melis, for being my go-to Huey maintenance team for nearly a decade. I want to thank Huey, with the hope that he will bring supporting income to WMOT either by resale or sale for parts. I want to thank you for reading this foolishness.

Now to take a ride in Casper, my 2022 Kia Soul. I think we have a long ride in front of us!

Friday ramblings

Hi. My goal is to be mostly scheduliberated. I can do this.

Let's see. Today is Friday and as of 5:36 this morning I have no appointments, just a loose commitment to Rocky for breakfast in Ashland City. There is no time set for that but it'll likely be early, in the 7 to 8 o'clock range. According to my iWatch it's only 61 degrees out there so an early walk with Watson, my "Australian Healer," is also likely. I primed a few rescued pieces of scrap lumber for painting yeseterday, and I have the image of the eerie cinder block wall mystery exterior door up on both monitors for reference, just waiting for a paintbrush to touch the wood for the first time. One "canvas", 10 1/2" by 5 1/2",  awaits on the tabletop easel I treated myself to last week. I will continue my online mandolin class with Sierra and that's at least an hour, maybe two. I doctored the hot tub chemical balances yesterday but I will check with a test strip today and do that again if needed today, though that's improbable. I may need to go get new kitchen flowers today since the yellow roses I bought and set out three days ago seem to be choking already. None of them has necked but it's in the near future according to their sad look. If the wind remains still out, I plan to finally pull out my drone and get it airborne again. Lots to do.

That's my report for the morning. I will check back here and assess my day in late afternoon. My plan is to make sure I am living healthy, practicing self care, making/creating, and doing just fine without a schedule. My goal is to be mostly scheduliberated. I can do this.

Good? Good.

LATER

Hi again. Immediately after typing the above I went down a rabbit hole at about.me, revising my info to reflect my new status as retired. Contacted Rocky and verified 9am at Cody's. Now I'm off to walk with my best canine friend.

MUCH LATER

Saturday morning. Up late, like right around 7:30, and spent some time at my desk cruising Instagram and posted a pic from the work finished to date on a new painting. I fleshed it out yesterday and added to it today, Just pencil on primed pine 2x6 lumber around 10 or 11 inches wide. Here's the pic:

I'll wash and sponge paint and who knows what all with this one. I love that the lumber piece is flawed/scraped along the top. And I will likely carry the image along the sides and bottom like I did for the goingdown Rocky's driveway painting. I think I'm on to something. At any rate, it's fun, and it's a new body of creative work for me. Ya.

I met Rocky's at Cody's right at  did not do 9. We had eggs over easy, bacon, grits, and biscuits and gravy. A heavy breakfast but it served as lunch as well. I did not do my mandolin class. Instead, I decided to change my strings on my damaged A-5 Gibson mandolin and my father-in-law's Framus classical guitar. That took, friends and neighbors, around 2 1/2 hours to do right. Then it took maybe 45 minutes to play it into keeping a tuning, as strings kept sliding and thankfully finally tightened up. I had to google how to tie classical guitar strings at the bridge. I don't think the beautiful guitar had been restrung in 3 decades or more--my father-in-law had it hanging on his wall and to my knowledge never played it. It all worked, and I then noodled on the thing, improvisationally, for another 45 minutes. Time flies when you're having fun. 

I did treat the hot tub. I did not go buy flowers, though I did toss the old ones out and get the dishwasher run and the kitchen parred up to neatness. Nor did I drone. But look at how many good things I have to choose from tomorrow, and the next day! Today, Lee Ann's home and we're planning a Saturday together. That, I love. 

So, that's a one-shot window into my retirement plan. I will not be doing this sort of blog post often. My retirement plan is: do something creative every day, spend good time walking my old pup, fish when I can, exercise and eat well, be with friends or enjoy my own company as often as I can, and spend time with my lovely love whenever I can. Music. Art. Writing. Gardening. Being. Exploring.

More later.