Back From Cape Cod

I am back after a lovely relaxing vacation (mostly-the kids did spend most of the week honing their debating, arguing and whining skills, which may have been fun for them but it was irritating to us) all ready to dive back into the studio. I have to be ready because on the long drive home I starting obsessing about how many pieces I have to complete in the next few weeks or so and the list is long. We got back on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday I spent much of the day cleaning out my studio and desk, not to mention doing all of the laundry in the world.

Doug and I drove down to the Cape on Monday, in separate cars because one of us had to deliver the paintings and there wasn't room for them, the kids and our belongings in one car. And by some freak of nature, naturally coinciding with last week's heat wave, neither of our car's air conditioning was functional. So the drive was pretty uncomfortable in both cars to say the least, and in my car there was a close call involving a heat induced, exacerbated by motion, vomiting episode. When we arrived at the last minute house rental, we were very happy to find that it had central air. It was a beautiful house, not really walking distance to the beach, but close enough and the Kennedys down the street didn't give us any trouble. However, we did find out that if you walk too close to the entrance, security guys in cars start to slowly circle around until you get nervous and go away even if you aren't doing anything but having a nice walk around the beautiful neighborhood.

We slept late everyday which was heavenly and for some reason I was able to sleep through the night there, which was pretty exciting since I literally have not gone one single night without waking up for one reason or another since 1995. We spent two afternoons at the beach which everyone but me LOVED. Spending time on a beach is problematic for me. Again, my princessy side doesn't handle outdoor discomfort very well including sand that gets everywhere, if you know what I mean, various bugs, icky green things stuck to my skin, not to mention the hot sun and heat wave. I was also completely and totally self conscious about wearing a swimsuit in public. However, I did ok and managed to get just enough sun to take the edge off my usually fluorescent white skin, which was my own little personal goal for the week. We drove up to Provincetown one day which would have been fun and I was really looking forward to looking through the galleries there, however, that day the temperature there was over 100 degrees. We basically had a lobster lunch, went into a store, walked a block, turned into limp rags and so decided to go to the beach where it was slightly cooler. After that we stopped at the Cape Cod Lighthouse in Truro and climbed 69 (vertical) steps to the top, which was awesome. The light house was depicted in a painting (sorry, I couldn't find an image of it on the internet, though there are a quite a few versions of a lighthouse in Maine) by one of my very favorite artists, Edward Hopper who spent much time painting in Truro and in Cape Cod. On another day, we drove up to Plymouth to see Plymouth Rock. We also toured a replica of the Mayflower and then we went to Plimouth Plantation which was really cool. It was a historical recreation of the pilgrims settlement and there were people dressed and talking as if they were really living there, in that time, and after a bit it seemed as if we were talking to people who possibly had a few mental issues, they were so sincere. The kids enjoyed talking and listening to them but were a bit puzzled.

I was really inspired by the scenery and took many photos to use as reference for future work. I also look forward to going back, maybe in September, without kids, to get some more imagery. I did take my drawing box and sketch paper and we dragged that around everywhere we went but I never even opened the box. Guess I really needed a break from art, plus it was just too damn hot to be doing anything. It would also be nice to be there off season to avoid the traffic and what the heck is with those stupid roundabouts! I almost got killed the first time I entered one and now I get totally stressed every time I see one coming up.

Anyway, the opening at Salt Meadow on Friday evening was excellent, but I think I will describe it in tomorrow's post. I have to get back to the laundry....

PS. While we were in Hyannis, we took my car in and got the air fixed. So the girls and I drove home in cool comfort, while the boys sweated it out again in Doug's car. Bummer. heh.