At Last...

I can hear Etta James belting the song out in my head...not only because it was what my sister Barbette and her newlywed husband Nathan chose as their first married dance at their wedding, but because it has become my theme song for hope. Please tell me we are hitting the outside edge of the repercussions of the October Surprise snowstorm! Each time I began to put together a newsletter or blog piece about upcoming art events and such I was set back by technical problems. After a 3rd visit in as many weeks by technicians for Cox our internet and phones both seem to be working better and I was able TODAY to finally make some updates to my ArtFire Studio. Our network is finally working so I can print again. All of this AFTER "Black Friday" and "Small Business Saturday". Broad Brook Art missed both of those boats....in port due to storm.

I rely on my computer and other technology objects even more than my art tools, and when I look at the big picture they cost more than my canvas and pencils and such~ although you might be surprised at how often art materials are "updated" or "upgraded" for the better...meaning the old stuff just might not do anymore. That new set of intense pigments I have my eye on? Exorbitant! CUH-razy! We have stayed away from relying on a second car and smart phones for now, but we have found the thrifty choices are not always worth the money OR the time. And ooooh those paints are soooo cool.

For now we will continue our economic insecurity...give me a mild winter and we might yet join the ranks of consumers. First I need to rejoin the ranks of operational business owners. Horse then cart.

Settle in to Monday

Galileo's moon phases

And of course the name is derived from "Moon Day" and countless other references, but considering my penchant lately for the moon and night landscapes I think I will tag this day as my MoonDay.

I haven't sketched a single night landscape since the end of August, when storm Irene robbed us of both daylight and night light...closely followed by storm Lee with torrents of rain. Somewhere in there we headed to a new berth on Cape Cod and found that portion of the Cape was not dog-friendly until October...so we had less night moon on sand, water and beach grasses to look at. I suppose we could have snuck Rosie onto the night beach, but these same places were pretty strict about staying away after sunset as well. I will figure it out~ I must have my dose of moonlit beaches every year.

For years Donna and dog and I have headed off to North Truro for Halloween. This year we knew we couldn't renew the rental. When it was time to place our deposit Donna was still unemployed and we are both grateful she is working now, but common sense told us our lives had changed more than "same time NEXT year". We made a new plan and lo and behold when we would have been moonlighting on national seashore we were digging out from under the storm of the century here at home. 

from THIS October 30, 2011

To THIS November 20, 2011

What is typical for the month between these two photos is my father mowing the back acres one field at a time and the autumn colors creeping into the grasses and glowing gorgeously in the moonlight on my night walks with Rosie. This year relentless weather literally flattened the grasses and the fall colors just greyed out as the snow melted away and the green grasses kept staying spring-like.

And, spring like, there was and still is water water everywhere. Donna and I wondered when we went into as kind of storm coma. After a tense few days we finally figured out Saturday that we had been collectively holding our breath all of November. I had to admit that I had frightened Donna and my folks pretty badly by having the stupid seizure when they had no phone service and couldn't reach 911. Not only did I not want to hear about their experience, I had no interest in discussing the ramifications for me. I was supposed to have the busiest show season EVER. I had a big fat old 50th birthday coming. I also was not interested in a new neurologist and his demands and a new medication and its side effects. Hence my storm coma. I just grayed it all out and moved forward.

During Open Studio we heard some other storm-related traumas. Everyone has at least one story and it is surprising how many of them include explosions. Really. Explosions! As we packed up to head home last Sunday night the block of ice around our experience began rapidly melting into a new edginess. Other people began to speak their continued fears. Did we have any?

Refusing to be inconvenienced is one thing...denial of the facts is quite another. Somewhere my graying field grasses demarcated the line between  staying positive and staying delusional. And delusion is not to be nurtured. So here is my Moonday morning. Reality is shaping up pretty well~ into a new normal. Still here, but a little more real.

What is your Moon Day reality?

Banned from city hall....doesn't stop the art!

Things have been just plain crazy. Part of the reason I haven't written sooner is the world is simply puzzling at the moment, but one thing is straight-forward as can be: if you want to see good art for a good cause you will head over to Manchester Memorial Hospital between 6 and 8 pm tonight and have a gander at the male and female torsos transformed into art to raise breast cancer awareness. Yes, this is the show that was banned from city hall and city hall has realized it is art...not gratuitous nudity. This was a fun thing to do but who knew it would have the power to dissolve an art organization! The real power this "Celebration of the Ta-Tas" show has had is it did EXACTLY what it was supposed to do extremely well~ remind both men and women that regular screenings for breast cancer are essential to the defeat of this disease! And we will have some fun in the meantime...

Full Storm Ahead!

Despite the obstacles we are moving forward. For two days we have had no need to go to a shelter to charge computer or phones and our power has been on consistently and long enough to have caught up on laundry and dishes. The ambulance company tracked us down for billing and my parents now know for sure their oven, coffee maker, surge controls, phones and various lights are blown by the surge that happened when power returned. This time we unplugged our refrigerator (new due to the last big storm) and other expensive appliances and seem to have emerged minus additional power complications. I can still see crews working to restore power down the street and when we drive toward the center of our town the devastation is still too real. School is still not back in session and this is day 6 of 180. With Irene school didn't start on time so most north central schools have already used their allotted snow days and then some...and we are nowhere near the end of winter.

Legislators have been wandering through the public spaces (shelters) and I have received some e-mails that attempt to demonstrate intervention on our behalf. Each local community is allowed to do their own thing, which has left many of us without essential services. Thursday Don and I passed through our municipal buildings and found MREs (meals ready to eat) provided by the National Guard or someone and no plans to distribute those resources to people stranded. I was horrified to pass a house with a grill set up INSIDE the house...sure, the door and windows were open but there have been so many carbon monoxide poisonings (including deaths) that it was hard to believe people would take the risk.

Bottom line? We need some serious distribution of disaster preparedness info...and our communities should be better prepared to inform people of what is going on. I would have gladly gone house to house as a volunteer...I am sure others would have also been willing.

Now the worst is over what was most distressing? The fact that my parents, who happen to live next door, were not willing to leave their home even for a short time. We kept our fireplace going and the temperature near the fireplace was well above 60 degrees...far warmer than the rest of the house and surely far warmer than theirs. Our neighbor with a generator, Justin, was generous and shared his shower facilities as well as electrician information. The electrician is practically a member of the family at this point. He hooked up the old generator to my folks' furnace and pronounced their power and appliances unsafe. I could have done the same thing even as a layperson, but my elderly parents wanted that expert opinion and we were grateful to have it.


Each time we say "lesson learned" but this time...two devastating storms in two months...perhaps we actually have.

Butterflies

I hate self promotion I hate self promotion I hate self promotion! I just sent out an e-mail telling people about Jan Warren's November world and it is making me VERY anxious. Of course the only other option is to not tell anyone and be miserable when there is a poor turn out at my exhibit opening November 3. This show is extremely important to me and I have been running on a very disciplined schedule to be sure it all comes together well.

The butterflies in my belly take me right back to elementary school stage fright. I loved singing with the chorus under Miss Harding's kind tutelage and I remember a concert assembly like it was yesterday. My friend Pam stood up next to me on one of those metal cafeteria chairs so everyone could hear and see her perform a solo. The song still can stick in my head from time to time. I thought she was wonderful but I had butterflies just being next to her! As much as I loved music I did figure out early on that if I had art up on the wall at school I could watch people look at it and hear what they said and never even be seen.

Well, the butterflies in my stomach mean this all is very important to me. Add in turning 50, which I am thrilled to be celebrating. I have always been a little obsessed with the Adirondack Trail and thought I would like to spend my 50th year hiking the entire thing. I committed to artwork instead and of course saw a little snippet in the paper today about a 50 year old woman who had to be rescued from the trail in New Hampshire after breaking her leg. I could just picture that rocky section of the trail and how cold it must be up there right now~ there is a possibility of snow here! Without a doubt I would rather have butterflies and art work than broken bones.

This past weekend I also had a great reminder about how quickly plans can change ~ like shifting winds or breaking a leg ~ so instead of marching in the Hooker Day parade or going to yoga class I got to spend time with Donna and Dad and fix the tractor exhaust to boot. The reminder? Family first. And be prepared. Any procrastination at this point in the game leaves me too vulnerable. If things are done ahead than I can absorb the occasional last minute detour. I am such a procrastinator by habit, staggering between perfectionism and worm tall self assessments. I really have to work to stay in middle ground.

The butterfly here shows every stage from caterpillar to chrysalis to spectacularly winged creature and sometimes I feel like I have to do those stages over and over again...but less now. At 50 it is a little easier to keep my wings intact. So, where are you going to be November 3rd? Did I mention I am having an art show...or three?

Flap flap flap FLAP goes the butterfly.

Damage control

After storm Irene blew through all six of us here on the farm cleaned up what we could of the storm. The days and days of power outage finally exhausted our cooler's abilities to preserve much from the refrigerator. Dad loaded up his generator on the trailer and drove it from Barb's house to their house then on to mine over and over and over. Barb and I each chose one appliance to run and we tried to be sure things were split up accordingly. I still have the top of their wedding cake in my freezer...the one appliance I tried to keep at a workable temperature. I haven't dared look.

I had bushels of garden stuff because I needed to strip the plants before the storm~ the biggest single day harvest of the year. Donna and I drove down to the grocery store to get what was needed to preserve all this fresh-picked bounty. As we got to the parking lot a torrential rain beat down on us. Irene was still 12-16 hours away from impacting us at all and we were already seeing flooding. Slowly the gravity of our situation dawned as we sat there in the car, knowing the already saturated ground would partner with the coming wind to create a disaster on a level we had never seen. Donna started up the engine and we slowly drove home without ever having entered the grocery store. I have to admit to stopping by the liquor store.

 I can't remember when exactly my Aunt Barbara came to my rescue. If she hadn't taken my harvest off my hands completely it would have all rotted along with the contents of the refrigerator. And she is such a love...Barbara has the same passion we do for the fresh picked. I knew nothing would go to waste. It wasn't much considering the disappointing growing season, but it was all we had and I couldn't bear to see it wasted.

24 hours before Irene made landfall

24 hours after

It took a while for the full extent of the damage to reveal itself. You could look into a stand of trees and  leaves from broken branches and fallen trees blended right in, as long as they were green. As days went by all the broken started to reveal itself. Nathan bought himself a chainsaw and all of us worked to clear the paths. As more and more limbs were piled to the sides we realized the log splitter needed to be revved up...but no luck getting it going. The heavy heavy snow brought rodents into engines and air filters to take shelter. It was impossible to get into the shed or under tarps to check on things with a 36 inch snowpack. The tropical storms came on the heels of our earthquake. I am not sure I was joking when I said to people locusts would be next.

I haven't written about it or posted photos because so many people were hurt worse than us. Agriculture in our area took a double hit as record snow reduced sheds, garages and barns to jumbled piles of tinder. It is still hard to look at the twisted carcasses of our neighbors greenhouses. One family we know simply packed it in: put their retail location up for sale and left the ruined greenhouses as testimony to powerlessness. And all of that was months before record September flooding wiped out millions in crops along the CT river and deeply inland.

A month and a half later and we can't get equipment across the bridge over the brook without becoming completely mired. We had 3 1/2" more rain here last week and expect another inch or so today. Like I said, so many people suffered losses that the insult to our household shouldn't be whined about. We slipped away to South Dennis on Cape Cod and had a fabulous week...then came home to a post-storm newly restocked refrigerator with an internal temperature of 80 degrees! Two days of research and comparison pricing led us to Lowe's and a solid price on fridges with newer features. Next day delivery was exactly as promised although I did not account for the baseboard trim or the cabinet being just 1/8" off plumb. For the first few days it hung out into the kitchen while I DARED it to fail. It took about a week to really feel we could invest in cold food again. For a while I tried to wrap my brain around the idea that the loss of the refrigerator guaranteed it would be a while before we purchase that second car.

2011 has been quite a ride for this family so far...unemployed, snowed in, Dad ill, married, dug out, re-employed, Dad better, sister married, rained out then to ice it soon I will be turning 50. Not bad. Not bad at all. I really am happier than I have ever been!

Time Travel?

I wonder more and more how time can pass so quickly. I seems like we just finished dealing with storms Irene and Lee from late August and early September and it is past mid October now! The morning glories are giving us one last big show until a hard frost does them in. The garden was almost hopeless this year because wet weather spread more kinds of plant fungus than I have ever seen and I certainly have come across mushrooms I am sure I haven't encountered before. Time did crawl to a stop at one point...all those days the power was out.

Garden nightmare: tomato fungus everywhere

 The fall garden wasn't worth photographing. It is just a big patch of dirt with a sprout or two of red lettuce and a sorrowful row of radishes that simply won't fill out. Once we pulled out the tomato plants the marigolds revealed their glory. My one good idea was to put those between the tomatoes. It kept it from looking completely like death.

It still does seem like the sky looks like this more often than not...and the one-two punch of Irene and Lee added a few permanent fixtures to our lives.

Sand bags and pick up sticks! Oh and we can't forget the must-have fashion item for October! Donna and I drove up to Tolland, MA to help my uncle out with his internet connection. I was going crazy trying to figure out what smelled so offensive in the car...then in the house...the scent was following me around. I was horrified to narrow the nauseating reak down to me, the only common denominator. Before I was revealed as the source of the odor  I tiptoed outside, double-bagged the shoes I was wearing and stashed them in the van to throw out when I got home. My shoes had simply not dried completely in several weeks and finally they were going to rot right at the end of my leg. L.L. Bean here we come. These wellies have been used EVERY SINGLE DAY since their purchase. I feel like I am going fishing instead of walking the dog...but at least my feet are finally dry!