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(I wrote this up last night, with the intention of making it part of a massive post about all of last weekend: The Art Garden on Saturday, the Memeorial on Sunday, and going through the House on Monday... But I was exhausted (and my chair's battery was depleted, too) after the Art Garden bit was done... and in the cool light of midafternoon, I realize that the three bits of the weekend each really deserve their own posts. So here's the Art Garden one)
I really don't know why I've been putting this off, except that my brain kept throwing silly "do this first!" thoughts in my way... and it still is, because I'm now hungry, and want to eat, but can't decide what I want to eat, but I'm starting typing this up, anyway, because then I'll have to finish, even if it takes me hours and hours, and the time attatched to this post will probably be wrong, but anyway...
(goes to cobble a meal together... Thank goodness for instant mashed potatoes, for when in doubt...)
The Art Garden went well. Tried to get in touch with Cousin Toni Saturday morning and afternoon, to go over last minute details about the memorial, and just basically try to touch base, in case we wanted to go out to dinner together beforehand or something. But all she had told me was "we're staying at the Marriot"... and she didn't tell me which one. Called a couple of Marriots in the area, and tried to figure out which one was hers, but to no avail. I finally gave up, and figured we'd meet up at the theater.
Got to the theater early, and picniced in the van before hanging out on the bank of the Hudson River, and watched a really, really, really long freight train go by (Audrey and I are not very conversational with each other, btw). Finally, we got chilly, and when the box office opened, we went in; I bought Audrey's ticket, and we went in to sit down in my customary corner by the fire exit. ... The theme of the Art Garden was "Secrets" and the stage area was decorated with a giant question mark on the floor, formed out of silk flowers and a stone with a single silk flower for the punctuation point at the bottom. Audience members and fellow Art Garden writers filtered in, the latter giving me hugs and condolensces about Dad... Art Gardeners are great huggers -- geeky, artist/theater types often are. Toni and her "Dr. Bob" are nowhere to be seen. ... until it's nearly time to start... they come over, and she waves enthusiastically, and comes over to give me a quick peck on the lips, and I say hi to Bob... almost didn't recognize him; I haven't seen him in so long. Then, they went up to the top/back row of seats, and I didn't get to see them until it was over.*
I glance at the program, to see where I am, in the order of things, as usual, and find that I'm tenth out of fourteen... better than last, or next to last (that's a lot of pressure). Right before me is Cecile Lindstedt, and she does a piece called "my brain" -- describing her brain as a cluttered house, and all the stuff you'll find there. Right after me, Frank Ortega tells the story of how, when he was ten, he found his grandfather's rifle from WW1, and what happens when he decides that he wants to see what it feels like to pull the trigger... And after that, Steve Lindstedt tells a story about his secret hiding place, when he was a kid, and how he hid there the day his baby sister was born; his stories are a bit like Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegone stories, except they're set in California... During Steve's telling, I glance over at Audrey to see if she likes it, or gets it... but she's poker-faced thoughout, even while the rest of the audience is laughing. I'm not entirely sure why I care so much if she's impressed with my world or not, but I do.
Steve leads Audrey and I to the after-party at Irene O'Garden's house, and Cecile, Audrey and I spend much of the time talking... Cecile asks what I've been doing, and I tell her about![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
naarmamo, which she thinks is fabulous... I offer to email her a link to my LJ gallery, but she tells me they don't have a computer... (o_O ... there are still people without the 'Nets?). But I do get her phone number and mailing addy, and I ask if it would be okay if I call her to practice Art Garden pieces with, and such (something I used to do, first with my Mom, and then, Dad), and she says "Yes, of course." Irene gives me a compliment about my writing that just about floors me (or it would've, if I'd been standing, probably): that listening to me telling one of my stories is like watching someone expert working a keyboard -- that I know where all the minor and major chords should go, and the counterpoints, and such... (wow!).
We get back to the motel around midnight...
*(when all they did was came down, and Toni told me I did great, and that they were going back to the hotel to bed... I'd never seen Toni leave a scene so quickly, without chatting; I think Bob was a bit freaked out by the artist types...)
Oh, and Tuesday, May 1, was the Art Garden's 20th Anniversary!!. So, the next one, the last Saturday in November, will be a double-length feature retrospective of the best pieces. My first Art Garden was in December of 1989!!
I really don't know why I've been putting this off, except that my brain kept throwing silly "do this first!" thoughts in my way... and it still is, because I'm now hungry, and want to eat, but can't decide what I want to eat, but I'm starting typing this up, anyway, because then I'll have to finish, even if it takes me hours and hours, and the time attatched to this post will probably be wrong, but anyway...
(goes to cobble a meal together... Thank goodness for instant mashed potatoes, for when in doubt...)
The Art Garden went well. Tried to get in touch with Cousin Toni Saturday morning and afternoon, to go over last minute details about the memorial, and just basically try to touch base, in case we wanted to go out to dinner together beforehand or something. But all she had told me was "we're staying at the Marriot"... and she didn't tell me which one. Called a couple of Marriots in the area, and tried to figure out which one was hers, but to no avail. I finally gave up, and figured we'd meet up at the theater.
Got to the theater early, and picniced in the van before hanging out on the bank of the Hudson River, and watched a really, really, really long freight train go by (Audrey and I are not very conversational with each other, btw). Finally, we got chilly, and when the box office opened, we went in; I bought Audrey's ticket, and we went in to sit down in my customary corner by the fire exit. ... The theme of the Art Garden was "Secrets" and the stage area was decorated with a giant question mark on the floor, formed out of silk flowers and a stone with a single silk flower for the punctuation point at the bottom. Audience members and fellow Art Garden writers filtered in, the latter giving me hugs and condolensces about Dad... Art Gardeners are great huggers -- geeky, artist/theater types often are. Toni and her "Dr. Bob" are nowhere to be seen. ... until it's nearly time to start... they come over, and she waves enthusiastically, and comes over to give me a quick peck on the lips, and I say hi to Bob... almost didn't recognize him; I haven't seen him in so long. Then, they went up to the top/back row of seats, and I didn't get to see them until it was over.*
I glance at the program, to see where I am, in the order of things, as usual, and find that I'm tenth out of fourteen... better than last, or next to last (that's a lot of pressure). Right before me is Cecile Lindstedt, and she does a piece called "my brain" -- describing her brain as a cluttered house, and all the stuff you'll find there. Right after me, Frank Ortega tells the story of how, when he was ten, he found his grandfather's rifle from WW1, and what happens when he decides that he wants to see what it feels like to pull the trigger... And after that, Steve Lindstedt tells a story about his secret hiding place, when he was a kid, and how he hid there the day his baby sister was born; his stories are a bit like Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegone stories, except they're set in California... During Steve's telling, I glance over at Audrey to see if she likes it, or gets it... but she's poker-faced thoughout, even while the rest of the audience is laughing. I'm not entirely sure why I care so much if she's impressed with my world or not, but I do.
Steve leads Audrey and I to the after-party at Irene O'Garden's house, and Cecile, Audrey and I spend much of the time talking... Cecile asks what I've been doing, and I tell her about
naarmamo, which she thinks is fabulous... I offer to email her a link to my LJ gallery, but she tells me they don't have a computer... (o_O ... there are still people without the 'Nets?). But I do get her phone number and mailing addy, and I ask if it would be okay if I call her to practice Art Garden pieces with, and such (something I used to do, first with my Mom, and then, Dad), and she says "Yes, of course." Irene gives me a compliment about my writing that just about floors me (or it would've, if I'd been standing, probably): that listening to me telling one of my stories is like watching someone expert working a keyboard -- that I know where all the minor and major chords should go, and the counterpoints, and such... (wow!).We get back to the motel around midnight...
*(when all they did was came down, and Toni told me I did great, and that they were going back to the hotel to bed... I'd never seen Toni leave a scene so quickly, without chatting; I think Bob was a bit freaked out by the artist types...)
Oh, and Tuesday, May 1, was the Art Garden's 20th Anniversary!!. So, the next one, the last Saturday in November, will be a double-length feature retrospective of the best pieces. My first Art Garden was in December of 1989!!
