like most people, i have always had an urgency to depart my hometown, well not just town, but state, coast, maybe even country. i remember begging my mom to go to high school in vermont because the people seemed more down to earth to me than the kids i knew in my town. i was always on a search for something different. living in cities have always energized me + helped me start build the career i have wanted. suburban life kills that creative drive. sometimes it puts a dagger deep in my soul. i also know I am not and will never been one to conform. that is part of being an artist for me anyways. not like most people, I am easily amused + content observing. its energizing for me to be meeting new people. i have always considered myself a wanderer. and not all those who wander are lost!
whenever i am home (yes my parents still live in the house that I grew up in) i try to go through some memorabilia aka. crap. i swore I tossed this shadow box of sneakers i made from my sons collection as he grew. well it somehow ended up back in the basement. i suggest to mom to just bring it to savers. well, i get a call the other day about how she got ahold of david bieber after watching a tv program on david bieber archives. she tells me this museum collection is massive as they place the shadowbox in the room of shoes, we’re talking ceiling to floor filled. it really sounds quite impressive this collection which is rented out or sold to interested parties. rooms of tv, record, poster collections. david bieber collections has now adorned the rebuild of the verb hotel in fenway. if you haven’t stopped by this hotel you should! pretty cool stuff. oh and thanks mom!! my new agent ;)
** “don’t mistake my kindness for weakness” - Riri
if you gossip about others, share confidential conversations, judge other peoples life choices, compare your kids to others, use religion to convince yourself you're a good person, use social media to share only your good side, use money to manipulate: maybe don’t? one thing I can say rings true @ half a century old is:
continuetobe. kind. + clear out the bs
thx to my loves. who support me
my best friends who take the time. + always learning from each other. everyone’s struggles are real + grateful to those who understand the life of an artist. a life most don’t understand.
forever. the jaded optimist.xo
“when someone shows you who they are. believe them the first time” M.Angelou
as mentioned in my earlier posts, travel has been a highlight for us this year. most summers spent boating off boston harbor was a bittersweet goodbye upon our move out west and was traded in for passports. having lived in Italy for quatro medzi in 2004 I knew this trip would be much different than that. i booked a couple of eurorail trips within our weeks-long stay in paris. as we arrived the limestone surrounding the city was breathtaking, the Eiffel was way bigger than we imagined. the louve closed earlier than planned. d’orsay mesmerizing van gogh. tre manifique! cafes. who knew the arch was built for napoleon? london rain at parliament + abbey road. pleasant people. amsterdam canal ride. anne franks house. cafes + countryside. it all was smashing. standing where the most talented artists + poets roamed the streets, barefoot, carefree + uniquely mad in their own right, comforted my soul. thank you tu mi familia for dealing with my madness while en route.
since moving to the pnw everyone i met has given ideas of places to visit + the possibilities of outdoor activity are endless. we are not extreme patagonia people, more city-centric but honestly going to check out these places almost every weekend really is something I look forward to. my teenager would disagree but there are worse things than forced family fun day + know one day he will be experiencing an adventure on his own + hopefully will think of these times with us!
hiking the cascades, snowboarding stevens pass or snoqualmie, snowmobiling leavenworth, strolling gasworks park, boating on lake union, lounging on greenlake, experiencing taylor oyster farm, visiting the observatory, checking out fisherman village, being part of the edmonds art walk, I mean we really have experienced so much since our 1.5 years here.
looking forward to visiting victoria after much chatter, i embark on a three-ferry tour via car from the Mukilteo ferry right outside my door. first stop a couple favorite places double bluff beach hones sand dollar pods, flower house cafe for brunch + bayview garden shop. we make the Coupeville ferry to port townsend [where I swear I saw a fin.] early phew! wally’s new Zealand ice cream will not disappoint while you wait for blackball ferry to victoria. adamantly looking over the starburn bow we wished for a whale sighting + might have seen some blowholes in the very far distance. arriving at the last port of the day victoria was a lot larger than i imagined. a sunset stroll through town, bnb at abigails + tea @ the empress, morning walk through beacon hill has exceeded my expectations. looking forward to another visit for sure!
