Hi there! We are still in Florida, at my folks house in Orlando, while we relax between shows. This saturday and sunday we will be set up at The Bead Mercantile show at the Maitland civic center. So we are hanging out, running around town and generally enjoying a break from our usual hectic schedule. Its nice. After the Ft. Lauderdale show, we took it slow and got some dinner at this local seafood place called Flanigans (note my surprise at the enormity of their nachos - easily 5 lbs., frightening actually) and drove back to Orlando, listening to Neil Gaimans new book of short stories that he reads on audio discs called Fragile Things. They were intriguing, disturbing and all around delightful. Thank goodness he writes! I always feel a sense of wonder after reading his work, I love it. So yesterday was spent getting thai food and remarking how different everything looked since I lived there. I kept getting lost and finding new malls and buildings where orange groves used to be. Surreal and sad. We drove past the house I grew up in and it looked haunted and strange - sort of the way it looked before my family moved in and fixed it up. I find that I feel like a teenager here, awkward and self concious, even though those days are more than 10 years past. Today I'm hoping to see the new Pirate movie and maybe work on a new painting. Till next time!
The nachos look great, but, yes, a little frightening ;-).
ReplyDeleteI have Fragile Things from the library, need to start reading it again. I read Stardust after you mentioned it, I really enjoyed it.
I know that feeling of going back home, as I just made that trip to Brooklyn myself. It's so true that going home can bring back all those feelings that we had in childhood. As though we leave them there and pick them up again when we come back! It's good to revisit those feelings and see how much we've changed in the meantime.
Enjoy your break between shows.
You should take a picture of the Old House. Just so that people really know where we came from. It was haunted and creepy before... there were just more trees. Remember the raintree that was struck by lightning and was burning when we ran outside to see what was going on?
ReplyDeleteOr the magnolia tree that I used climb up in? I remember that one time when I threw a rock up in the sky to see how far I could throw it. I thought if I threw it high enough, it would sort of keep going... forever. I still have that scar.
Or the sycamore tree... the one that we thought was the biggest tree ever. There are still rotting bits of it at Lake Bath. If you traverse the scary and semi-dangerous piles of junk by the banana trees, you can see it.
The best though was the tangerine grove. I remember spending countless hours running and hiding in those trees. I can almost smell them now. The sharp smell. Sharp like the torns. And that little concrete structure that used to house the old well-water pump, that I would draw pictures on with rocks.
Or just behind the house, was the old camphor tree. We used to play in that all the time. It had secret knotches and always smelled so good. So clean. I planted flowers there when I thought I got too big to play in it.
Remember the slow-growing oak in the back? With the tire-swing and the rough bark? It was covered with Spanish Moss.
Or the cherry laurel trees? Remember going out into the backyard and finding birds, little dead brightly colored birds when Dwayne went out with his b.b. gun? I remember that one cherry laurel tree in the back, the one with the BIG circle of red cedar-wood chips, the one with the fire-ants. It was right next to Mrs. Miller's yard. I bet the stump is still there. Worn down by the years.
That was fun to read, Andrew. You've got so many good memories to pull from...
ReplyDeleteYour rock throwing story reminds me of my brother doing the same with a lit cherry bomb ;-). Luckily my other brother yelled for everyone to RUN!
You should take pictures of the Old House before they tear it down! I have a feeling that the time is coming soon and by the time we're back in the neighborhood again, it'll most likely be GONE!
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way when I visit Florida - it's like I regress internally, and it doesn't help that practically everyone I knew in high school still lives there.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Green Girl Sighting! There's an ad in the most recent issue of Seattle Metropolitan for an art and jewelry shop in Seattle, and one of the featured pieces is made with what is either one of your sterling bird clasps or a rip off of your bird clasp. I'll scan it and email it, if you want. We miss you!
Yo, sister. You need to update your blog. At the very least post some pictures of Azalea.
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