NLTSculptor

We have had a very mild winter - so far.  It has been lovely, and I have not even had a case of cabin fever!  Daffodils are out full force by my front steps.
   We did have my car rear-ended at a stop light, by car car that was pushed into us by a big rig.  The rig's fault - the driver said he wasn't paying attention!  After much fighting - ahem! - discussion - with both insurance companies, I should get a check and be able to get my car fixed this coming week.  Ray was not hurt.  I had some squeaks in my neck and low back, and have been getting treated for them.  I'm about back to normal, whatever that is, about now.  The gal in the middle car was in much worse case.  
   My daughter Eden has found a permanent teaching job.  My daughter Teddie has prospects, and continues to substitute meanwhile.  Ray's son, Mike, found a much better job, and started it last Monday.  So far, my son Lee and his wife, Betty, are keeping their heads above water, in the NYC area, with music.  I think they'll have to get day jobs soon, though!  My daughter Necia is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery, and looking forward to walking with less pain.
   i have done a little sculpture - a carved relief of a fish, which I sent to my friend Arrik, to thank him for sending me the wood to make it, and several other carvings beside.  Now, to get back to the work bench! And make a lot of chips, and learn more about carving!
  Meanwhile, Ray has started to build a 15 foot catboat, which is a rarity in this area, but fairly common in New England.  But it's a sturdy, steady boat, which the two of us can handle, (and I've never been in a sailboat in my life!) so it will be a good project, both in the building and in the using, later.
  So, since our health remains good, and we can be active and involved, and we continue to bask in each other's company, life is good.

Since we got back from our trip, I have discovered and had an abcessed tooth removed.  Remarkably little pain, thank goodness!  I have enjoyed Ray's company, and that of my friends, here on DA and elsewhere.  Have not done any artwork, per se, but have knit, and collaborated with Ray on the design of a small cart for Penny, my daughter Necia's big dog, to pull.  The cart grows apace.  Life is good.

Tuesday, Ray and I got back from a road trip of almost 4,000.  We went from Arkansas as far north and east as Salem, Mass.  From the Ohio line on, we used the two lane roads as much as possible.  We have no GPS, and did a lot of getting sort of lost and wandering around, and we saw a lot of the country. It was very heartening, in that this is such a big, diverse, beautiful country, which is easy to forget when watching the TV news.  "Happily ever after" isn't news.  Death, destruction, mayhem, and murder are news.  There is nothing truly missing from this country that was there in 2006, or 2001, except a certain amount of confidence in ourselves - and certain freedoms that fear has curtailed.
  The weather was, in the main, glorious, and we saw people everywhere, especially on the weekends, out enjoying the days and each others' company.  All kinds of autumn fests, old car shows, picnics, motorcycle riding, and just plain relaxation were going on.
  We did some of the usual tourist things I had never had a chance to do - went up in the Arch in St. Louis, visited the American side of Niagara Falls, went to Malabar Farm State Park in Ohio, which was the home of the author, Louis Bromfield, until his death.  We also went through the area of Central New York where I grew up, and visited friends.  We saw my old friend Arthur Fullerton, in the Hudson Valley, and my newer friend, the sculptor Arrik Kim, in Connecticut.  We thoroughly toured Mystic Seaport - in the rain! - and went to a benefit concert in Phoencia, NY, for the people in the Woodstock/Hudson Valley area of New York State who were so badly affected by the same flooding that devastated  much of Vermont.  (My son, Lee, we playing there, and this gave us our one chance to see him, too.)  At that benefit, we met three home-raised gold-and-blue macaws, and the lady they live with.
  In Salem, Mass, where people celebrate Halloween for the entire month of October (on account of the Salem witch trials, etc) I ended up in the hospital for two days and a much-disturbed night - I was in a four-bed ward - to have my heart checked out, due to left arm pain.  Turns out my heart is fine - I somehow had strained my arm and chest muscles, probably while having a fine time hiking through Arrik Kim's 34 acres of beautiful woodland.
  The two Corgis went with us, and were fine troopers.  While I was in hospital, though, Gwen dodged between Ray's feet, and led him a merry chase for the length of ten blocks or more, around the seven huge hospital buildings, before he caught her and carried her back to our small RV.
  Once I was out of there, and we'd seen Lee, we got on the interstates and boogied for home.  This country has a great deal to be grateful to Dwight Eisenhower for, as he was the one who envisioned, and then insisted upon, the Interstate system.  When he was a young soldier, he accompanied an army convoy across this country, and it took a month to get from coast to coast.  Now, semis routinely do it in about three  days.
  We have some pix that I plan to post here...but am still "redding up" after the trip!  (That means putting things away, doing laundry, and all that kind of stuff.)

Yesterday Ray and I got in my RV and set off for White Rock Mountain.  It looked to be maybe 30-35 miles away, as the crow flies.  But we are not crows, and the RV does not fly!  40+ blacktop miles and 20+ miles of one lane gravel Forest Service roads later, we got there!  You park, walk down to the cliff edge, and find a CCC-built parapet and gazebo, from which to enjoy the view.  There are also hiking trails, and places for picnicing and tent-camping, but we saw only three other people, a couple with a year-old baby.  The views are glorious, and we concluded that it was well worth the drive.  
  We set off for home by the only other route out, and found the dirt roads were even worse! Finally got back to civilization.  Our afternoon jaunt stretched to six hours, but we came home very happy.

Teddie rephotographed and reposted my Bonneted Scot for me.  

We've been out in the canoe twice now.  I do enjoy the exercise, the quiet, seeing the birds - three blue herons, so far, and a bunch of ducks.

It is almost time for me to be able to register for class.  (We senior, non-paying students have to waituntil everyone else has registered.)