2015: Fair Winds

May 2015
Big Canoe, GA

It’s been a busy time since my return to GA on May 11. It was a long and a bit tiring flight back to the US but we arrived 30 minutes early.  My young musician friend, Gershone, picked me up and he drove back to Ogawatei (小川亭 “Creak Cabin”) in the N GA Mountains.  My days after that were very busy with a trip back to the Athens house, packing for a week of family events in MD and  preparing many documents, letters, teaching materials, designs, exhibition stuff, newspaper articles and a lot of other materials related to my life in art over nearly 60 years.  I already have a collection of materials in the collection of the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC but this new material was in 4 heavy boxes not easy to ship.  Since I was going to my grandson Lee’s graduation at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland (near DC) it seemed like a good idea to drive my car to accomplish both goals.  Gershone agreed to help with the driving (about 12+ hours) from GA to MD and while I was with my family for Lee’s many events Gershone could spend time with his family members and friends in the area.

I took one day off when there were no important graduation events at the Academy and Gershone drove us to the Archives in DC where I delivered my boxes and met the person in charge of my materials and had a good exchange with him.  Now I know I can send other materials (boxes of old designs and sketches, etc.) and that the Archives will send boxes and pay for shipping!

There were many events at the Naval Academy for family members over the week.  Page rented a house and next-door loft (my space) for all of us to stay on the Chesapeake Bay, a huge body of water in Maryland going out to the Atlantic Ocean.  Many of Jeanne’s relatives joined us to stay or party.  Her sister came from CA and a cousin, wife and son arrived from Inchon.  Another cousin and family, who work in DC, also came on the last day for graduation.  Also my nephew and wife  (he graduated from USNA in 1983) flew in from Wisconsin. Lots of military events, receptions and parties kept us busy the whole week.  The final event was the graduation ceremony in the huge football stadium.  We were sitting in the hot sun for hours but enjoyed seeing Lee get his diploma.  He Graduated with Distinction and got his name called out rather early.  He was ranked 80^th from the top in a class of over 1000 men and women.  We were so proud of him.  See photo attached!  We waited a long time to see all the grads throw their hats in the air. Now I am back at Ogawatei with time to relaxing at home for a while and also enjoying hiking in Big Canoe and enjoying the swim club and beach.