2009: Year of Water

December 2009
Big Canoe, GA

2009: The Year of Water.  This rainy day in late December in the mountains of north Georgia will keep the creek flowing with gusto for some time to come.  It thrills me to have the creek alive once again.  As we have gone through years of drought there was barely a trickle.  Now the flow is back to “house purchase stage”.  With a drop of at least 50’ where it runs by the house there is great energy with many mini falls and white water rapids.  Would that the weather was warm so I could savor the sounds inside.  My favorite trail walks here at Big Canoe are along streams that are vigorous as well with the Lower Falls at their mightiness.  The roar and the tumble of water there is conducive to prolonged meditation.  Kyoto life is also heavily flavored with rivers where I walk near my house there.  The mood of Takanogawa changes drastically with the arrival of storms.  The placid mirror-like surfaces are transformed into raging torrents that plunge over the barrages with a distinctive roar.  The much smaller and calmer stream (called a river) just north of the house seldom exhibits anything but calmness with the ultimate serenity occurring when the entire surface is covered with cherry blossom pedals in April.

2009: A Year of Travel.  Can I call it “wanderlust in retirement”?  Even I am amazed upon reflection. 

February: Tucson to visit the children of my dear late Jensik cousin, Gloria.  They were wonderful hosts and we had a perfect SW winter romp.  Savannah to see my dear Kaufman cousin, Mick, who was visiting her daughter and son-in-law, Lisa and John, there plus my former student Lee Heidel, Ginger and Camille.  While on the Savannah sojourn I missed a big snowstorm in Athens that knocked out power and brought down lines, limbs and trees — including a pine branch that pierced my roof. 

Late March – May:  Kyoto for my very first cherry blossom season in the 25+ years that I have been going there.  Subarashikata!  Wonderful!  A day after my arrival I hosted two delightful guests from Paris.  Elodie and Camille stayed with me and I led them on a non-stop tour of Kyoto in cold and early cherry blossom weather.  It was a perfect formula to get me back in the spirit of Japan’s Cultural Capital.  Cold weather meant that the blossoms lasted a very long time with complete enjoyment at this wonder of nature.  My time in Kyoto was spent continuing to settle into the new rental house, attending many exhibitions in museums and galleries, working out at the sports club, spending time with friends and enjoying a rather relaxed time there.  Excitement was injected in May with the arrival of 2 friends from Chicago, Jane and Jim, on a honeymoon visit to Kyoto.  I donned my tour guide cap and off we went — they renamed me Glen-ergy, an apt moniker.  I never tire of sharing my delightful, wonderful, incomparable Kyoto with appreciative guests.

Late May:  Hawaii was on my travel agenda again after 10+ years.  This was pure R&R with beach time, art in the museums and galleries, seeing friends — total relaxation.  A highlight was a tour of the Doris Duke home there, Shangri La, a treasure of Islamic Art on the coast near Diamond Head.  It was exciting to see upholstery and drapery in the house designed by Dorothy Liebes, my “American national treasure” employer in NYC in the early 1960s. 

June – July:  Athens   Yes, I do still spend time in my old home base.  I was working with 2 students on an internship preparing for an exhibition of suzani, Uzbekistan embroideries, that were donated to our Textile Study Collection at UGA a few years ago.  We were totally immersed in the motifs (lots of medallions), stitches, quality of the work and other details.  These textiles and student work inspired by them will be on exhibit next February at UGA.  Of course, I spent long weekends here in the mountains at Big Canoe enjoying nature to the fullest and late afternoons at the lake at the swim club here.

August:  Mid-West    I embarked on an extended auto excursion that I vowed I would never do again  — Illinois, flat from tip to top with corn, soybeans, soybeans, corn, corn, soybeans and endless semis is a real drag.  But I broke up the trip with stops to see former students, sights and friends.  I saw Louise and Steve in Owensboro KY; historic New Harmony IN; Barbara, Lance and Lincoln’s chair in Galesburg IL; and Jane and Jim in Evanston IL.  I had not been to Chicago for years and years so it was a wonderful chance to re-discover the charms of the city in summer with perfect hosts.  Millennium Park with architecture, sculpture, water features and crowds of people enjoying it all plus the new Renzo Piano wing of the Art Institute, people watching over wine on Michigan Avenue, dinner at Boston Blackies and late night jazz wrapped up a memorable weekend.  Wisconsin   Back home again!  First stop was my cousin Mick in Fort Atkinson getting reacquainted with the old home town:  extended cocktail hours, beach picnic, craft brewery, dining out (Highway Harry’s, Fireside), dining in, laughing, joking, mini apartment tasks.  Perfection.  Next I picked up niece Kari near Milwaukee and headed north to my nephew Kurk’s in Kohler, of toilet fame  — the company showroom in the company village is a total bath and kitchen fantasyland. You dream it, they have it.  We enjoyed a super weekend with the whole family and friends imbibing the perfect wines with the gourmet menu.

UP Michigan  Folks there are called yoopers and thus are my sister Karol and her husband John.  Kari was with me as a guide to the northlands and my ideological compatriot  — she has been steeped in the facts and lore of the UP.  Laid back is what we were, enjoying the cool weather of the Northwoods, hanging out in Escanaba at the 8th Street Coffee House for Wi-Fi access with what appeared to be senior homeless (??) types, shopping all the thrift shops (jeans for my next show in Kyoto) and discount stores (Australian licorice, Japanese hon dashi  fish broth base, coffees from around the world, etc).  My other niece, Kris, husband Rick and live-wired daughter, Maya, joined us for a weekend of fun, dominos, endless meals and the UP Michigan State Fair.  There we met all the animals, but especially the sheep, ate Croatian roasted chicken, lost at games of chance, watched demos of various crafts, attended the grandstand country music performance and retreated home rather beat.  We also lost cash at the casino on the nearby reservation.  Oh, the magic of those spinning grapes, bells and numbers that never seem to come up in the winning combination.  The trip home to GA:  I dropped off Kari, goodbye to Mick and plunged into the boredom of Illinois — green, green, green.  But I, quite by accident, exited I-whatever at Metropolis IL home of Superman!   Overnight accommodations at a Super 8 and a chance to view the super Superman (4 x Kaufman high) in the town center and also a big Big John at the local supermarket of that name, where I shopped for a simple repast.  One whole day for Illinois and then KY and TN and home at Big Canoe by mid-afternoon on day two.  Total miles: 3,018.

September:  Two weddings by car.  One in Charlottesville VA and one in Birmingham AL.  Dear friends from Michigan days in the former and former MFA students from UGA in the latter.  Both were unique, both were enjoyable, both were not to be missed.   The last wedding was on Saturday, off to Japan on Monday. 

October:  Kyoto  Back home again.  This time a direct flight from Atlanta on DL/NW to Narita/Tokyo with connecting flight to Osaka.  Convenient with little lost time.   My first days were filled with visits to museum openings and gallery shows.  The Kobe Biennale was an interesting combination of 15 container installations, a boat ride in the harbor where sculptures were installed on piers in the water and finally the Hyogo Prefectural Museum where additional works were shown  —  paintings, sculpture, photographs and installations.  A few days later I attended an exhibition at the Museum of Kyoto tracing the history of ikebana (flower arrangement) in prints, paintings, documents and 3-D models.  Gallery shows included a wide range of art media.  The opportunity to see many exhibitions in Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe makes living in Kyoto a very special experience.  I have 3 or 4 friends who keep me posted on the art scene or take me on gallery tours that I probably would not do easily on my own.  Yoshi and Seiki are my young artist friends who do the tour guiding and provide a sounding board for discussions on art.  Stimulating!  At the beginning of week three I moved my sleeping futon to my 2^nd story room kept empty for a house share that had not materialized and converted my small “bedroom” to a convenient studio with great daylight and convenient workspace.  I kept very busy there until the week before leaving in November.  My efforts were concentrated on work for an installation next April, “Jeans Matsuri” (festival) in which I will fill the gallery with jeans: A Great Wall of Jeans, darts and bean bag toss with a jeans focus, jeans accessories (embellished vests, jackets and bags made of jeans shorts from the UP MI) and jeans “artifacts”.  I am working with the butoh dancer who has collaborated with me previously for a performance in the space.  Intense studio work is what I needed and thrived on.  By mid-November I had convinced my young artist friend, Seiki, to move in and share the house.  We are both very pleased with the arrangement and he is excited to move from his small room to the larger house and is looking forward to working in the 3 gardens that are part of the property.  And I am pleased to have someone in the house while I am away and while I am there.

December:  I am staying put in GA.  No more adventures this year beyond the borders of this state.  I am spending as much time here in the mountains as possible with short trips back to Athens as needed.  I will celebrate the holidays here, with former student Ben and his family a couple of hours away, Christmas Day in Atlanta with Page, Jeanne, Lee and other family members and with them here a few days later.

Page’s internet book business is thriving and he is constantly upgrading  all the systems and the space that the business occupies at home to accommodate his 3 employees.  Jeanne is busy with her piano lessons in the living room studio and Lee, a junior, is doing very well in school with a heavy load of AP courses and earning his 2009 letters in high school cross country and track.

I want to wish you the best of good health and happiness in the New Year of the Tiger.  Grrrr.