Comments (0)

By doriluthy, January 9, 2008 9:10 pm

Already the 9th of January, I can hardly believe how the holiday season passed by so quietly. Without much festivities to mark the occasion, I feel like it just slipped by unrecognized. And for the first time in many years I did not go to Oregon for Christmas. I am pretty sad about that, it is one of the very few traditions I have- visiting with gram, getting my quiet time with Barbara, decorating or making a little something, the warm smell of the fireplace, her solid generous love… I missed it very much. I will have to get down there very soon to make up for the lost time.

My post-Christmas time instead was spent in Southern California visiting family and friends. The main focus of the trip was to spend a few days with my older brother, his partner, and their 6 children. Boy, after a few days with them- if I thought my life was difficult, it sure put it into perspective… I won’t talk much about time with them other than to say that it was so very complex and very hard on me.

I got in a lovely, but too short visit with Gram June- it involved a fun day trip to Oceanside with Uncle Roy- he’s lived in that area since the 50’s and had so many interesting stories to tell- that was definitely a highlight!

The other time in SoCal was spent with new friends- Erica, Richard (Erica’s 9yr old boy) and Jill (Erica’s best friend). We hooted and hollered our way from LA to Phoenix and back, eating well, goofing around, sharing stories and getting to know each other. I spent New Years Eve with Jill and her large noisy Italian extended family and ended up winning the top place and big pot at their family annual Poker game. I guess Jill’s Uncle Chuck couldn’t stop talking about me the next day, he was sure he’d been swindled by some professional Canadian poker player. haha! Other highlights of my California time: I had an exquisite dinner at the Melting Pot- a 4 course fondue dinner of heavenly yumminess! We also spent a night of entertainment at MEDIEVAL TIMES!!! I wasn’t so sure I’d enjoy it that much, but I have to admit that it was one of the most awesome things I’ve been to in a long time. I also took my brother’s oldest three kids to the Wild Animal Park, a very cool Safari park that many people have said is better than the San Diego Zoo- loved the tram ride through the safari- the Rhino’s were very cool.

But now I’m pretty tired. I got sick on my trip and I have so much to do at home with work for the Crawl and the arts community… and of course my art business which I am feeling a bit slow about right now. I have a show coming up in March that I am preparing for, but I have to get my excitement back up to keep working. I’m in a weird waffling non-committal dreamy space right now… I guess I just need to get my butt back into the studio and work for a few days.

A long quiet walk sounds good right now.