the summer i turned busy

 I look forward to summer break with the innocence of a child.  I daydream of sleeping later, waking without an alarm, having long, luxuirous days of sunshine on a beach and having zero responsibilities.

I'm old enough to know better, but as the spring semester started to wind down and classes ended, I had these fantastic visions of a carefree summer.  Yeah, so here's what happened instead...

As is the case with many public art projects, approvals and schedules do not always work well with the school calendar.  MG and I had been working on a project that didn't get started before classes ended, so we just kept working in the studio after the semester ended.

I got the pleasure of helping Katherine deliver her solo exhibit to the Spartanburg County Public Library Headquarters in April.  It was such a great exhibit featuring all of her recent, amazing steel sculptures.  There was even a very cool 2D component she didn't quite have time to set up.  Looking forward to seeing that in the future.  So proud of her.

MG and I had to take a field trip to Highlands, NC to pick up our sculptures from the Emergence exhibit at The Bascom.  Always up for a fun adventure, we took a thrift tip from Zach and ended up trying on fur coats.

My on-campus Starbucks friends kept kidding with me about not having a summer break because I kept coming back after the semester ended.  Each time I vowed to not see them again until August.  They laughed each time and said "We'll see you tomorrow!".  Eventually I was right and now I miss them.  

But I wasn't right yet.  I walked into the Sculpture studio to grab something and was stopped in my tracks by the emptiness.  That's where Dae Dae and MG lived for a few years.  Absence is always stunning.  I missed them already.

But even though MG's stuff was gone, I still had MG for another day, working on the public sculpture project.

But then she cut out for a summer job in Georgia and left Blue and me to install these by ourselves.  This is the site of the old textile mill in Nintey Six, SC.  This is the old turnstile used by workers to enter the mill each day.  MG and I created two period costumed textile workers for the memorial site.  Once this was finished in late May, my trips to Greenwood were over for the summer.  

While I don't get the romantic version of summer break I dream of during the spring, summer does come with it's inevitable perks.  Waking without an alarm on most days, and spending quality time with my army of hummingbirds are two of my favorites.

I also prefer to run in daylight so I can see the wildlife around me and not trip over roots in the dark.  I really love my running time every day and summer usually allows me to run with things other than school on my mind.  It's nice.  Sure, it's hotter and sweatier, but I would still choose to run in daylight.

And when I thought I was done driving to school for summer, I did make one last trip to give a public art tour to the SC Arts Commission.  This was a fun morning of sharing my students' art and our vision for public art.  Lots of fun and well worth getting up early and running in the dark.  This was my last trip to Greenwood.  Ish.  (I did drive back for the BBQ Festival, but how could I not?)

Another thing I look forward to with romantic zeal is having more time to make art.  My dreams of making a whole new body of drawings and sculptures started out pretty strong because I had so many exhibits on the horizon for summer.  I felt the pressure to make a lot of new work and I did create a ton of new drawings.  So after sleeping until 7 or 8 am, I would run, have coffee and then sit at my drawing table for a few hours listening to music or podcasts.  Some days I did this until dinner time.  

I got into several exhibits for summer.  Some of these I had a few months to prepare for and some happened a bit more quickly.  One of these meant taking a day trip to Charleston to deliver a drawing.  Summer often means me taking some solo art trips.  This is more time listening to music or podcasts and sometimes some exploring.  I get to Charleston pretty often so it's not so much exploring as it is trying to decide which of my favorite places I have time to visit.

One of the biggest summer events is our family beach vacation.  This is probably my biggest personal reset of the year.  I get a week of waking up when I want, which for some reason, is usually around sunrise at the beach.  That's too early normally, but I don't complain about the running views.

In fact, I don't complain about much of anything on vacation.  If we get sunlight, I'm happy.  We spend our days on the sand and our afternoons and evenings looking for food and adventures.  

We got to kayak in the open ocean a couple of times, I got my warm, buttery lobster rolls and my balcony coffee.  We could have complained about our dogs getting really sick at home and G having to go back home in the middle of the week to take them to the vet and get medicines but we didn't.  We were just glad the dogs were ok and that the dogsitter didn't quit on us.  

Violet and I left vacation but didn't go home.  Instead, we drove really early to the Isle of Palms for a sand sculpture contest.  We met Cathryn and Elena and their parents there and spent a few hours working in the hot sun.  We won an award, got our prizes, ate some lunch, and then parted ways.  

The next day we realized we were all still hanging out in Charleston separately.  Cathryn and Elena got caught in the rain.

And Violet and I ducked into the Visitors Center and had a guy draw our portraits while we waited for the rain to clear.  Then we walked to our favorite Cafecito for Cuban coffee and empanadas.  When we realized C and E were still around, we invited them to the art reception we were staying for that afternoon.  

Elena and her mom had just left to go home but Cathryn and her parents were staying another night so they all met us there.  We got to make fun photos with the art.  

Then Violet and I got to return home and we had what was probably the "intermission" of my summer.  The first act was over and we had about three weeks to prepare for the next really busy time of being gone and doing things.  So while I worked to finish drawings and begin planning for exhibits, we also got to meet Donovan and his family for coffee.  Donovan is now a PUBLISHED poet with his book coming out soon.  His family is adorable.  They're based in Nashville, so it's a treat to get to coffee with him.

The dogs always provide a smile in my day.  Walter is a happy menace and Timmy loves to hate him.  This was a rare moment of both dogs coexisting on top of some freshly dried running socks.  They love laundry.

Being at home around sunset is also a nice summer thing.  We often have dinner after cross country practice and then we're mostly done for the evening.  The sky gets a little weird some nights while we eat and we all head outside to see if the sky is pretty.  Much of June and July, it was pretty and worth the trip outside.

One of those intermission days, I got to help Katherine uninstall her solo exhibit and transport her work back home.  It was nice to catch up on what had already been a busy summer for us both.  

I also got two drawings into the "Everything But The Kitchen Sink" exhibit in Los Angeles.  This is one of my favorite exhibits in such a cool gallery.  This year, Molly, who lives down the street from the gallery, was able to go to the reception and she sent me some photos.  

This was the sunset she saw on her walk back home.  

I also got to spend some time with my blooms this summer.  I love flowers and really love the ones that grow without a lot of help or input from me.  I just get to enjoy them.  

The summer drawing schedule doesn't require me to work late into the night.  This freed me up to watch some TV.  Most nights after dinner, you can find the kids and me watching at least one show together.  G will stay if it's not something completely silly.  Some nights Violet and I play music together.  Then, after everyone disperses to their own areas for the night, Timmy and I will find something to watch.  Nevaeh had me watching some horror movies this summer but between those, I got to watch The Righteous Gemstones and Vice Principals.  That's when I caught the briefest glimpse of one of my outdoor sculptures in a scene with Walter Goggins at Riverfront Park.

The craziest of crazy things happened.  My friend Creighton is in a band and when I saw they were coming to the Peace Center in Greenville, about 30 minutes from my house, I marked the calendar.  When Violet and I went to the will-call both, the lady handed us tickets and two stickers that gave us backstage access after the show.  We were stunned.  We enjoyed the concert (where I saw a couple of Lander colleagues nearby and at least three former students) and we sat beside a lady who befriended Violet and started showing her photos of her boyfriend who was also the lead singer.  After the show, we got to hang out with the band backstage where it was painfully obvious that we were not cool enough to be having this experience.  Creighton is an amazing person and friend.  Such a cool night.

I also got into another exciting exhibit in Atlanta at Kai Lin Gallery.  I was really happy about this one too.  

In addition to running, I also do weekly PiYo, a combination of Pilates and Yoga.  This really helps my back flexibility and strength and I also think it makes me faster as a runner.  I know it's a weird zen diagram to be a fitness person who is also a creative, but when your creative process involves a lot of strength and movement, I think it's crucial to good health and longevity.  And since this summer was so busy, that leads us out of intermission and into the second act.

As I've detailed here recently, I left in the middle of July for a week long stay in Summerville, SC to install three exhibits at Public Works Art Center.  This included a string of very long days going up and down a ladder, carrying art around, crawling around on the concrete floors and engaging my brain almost every hour I was awake and some of the hours I was supposed to be sleeping.  

You can find details about that trip over there in the margin or by scrolling down to earlier entries.  But the end result was wonderful.  I'm very happy with all three exhibits and I hope you get to experience them in person.  Shows end September 6.  

As soon as I got home from Summerville, it was time to put all my energy into the Summer Studio Sale.  

That week was a blur, but apparently I got it all done with some help and the sale went great.  I got up the nerve to do my first temporary tattoos with the cool pens.

This was a huge step for me.  I've had these pens for years (literally) without getting up the courage to open them and draw on anyone.  Thinking about my current body of drawings and interests, I joke with myself that eventually I'll just be drawing on humans instead of wood, I'm just not sure if that's a joke anymore.  

Anyway, so that was crazy and busy and fun, but then in just a few more days, I had to load up for my next trip.  Once the car was loaded, I went to see Ryan Adams in Greenville.  It was great.  Loved it.  

Then I got up early the next morning to run and then drive to Chapel Hill, NC to install "Phoebe" for the UPROAR! Festival of Public Art.  

I had to be around for a few days and you can read all about that in an earlier post as well, but I got to see some art.

I got to be in a puppet parade that I didn't design.

And I got to see Kathe and Tom, two of my living heroes.  

Our end of summer family vacation turned into G just going to Charleston alone and allowing me to drive down after my stay in Chapel Hill.  In my head it was just a little drive down I-95.  On my map it was more like a 5 hour drive down I-95, mostly in the rain.  

But who doesn't love Charleston?  Even in the rain.  The weather kept it cooler than it's ever been in Charleston in August and I won't complain about not being immediately drenched in sweat 5 seconds after walking outside.  I will complain about my shoes and socks getting wet, but that was just one day so it was fine.  We had a nice trip and ate so much good food.  I had to run a lot extra to make up for that eating, but all worth it.  

On my Summerville trip, I was inspired by two friends who spent every evening outside on their front porch.  To a Southerner, that sounds romantic until you factor in humidity, heat, sweat and mosquitos.  These friends seemed to have found the cheat code and that was a big fan.  I decided to give it a try and I ended up finding my new favorite summer thing.  Porch sitting.  Some of my summer days and nights were so busy that this happened at 11:30pm with a hot tea.  Other times it was just after dinner with a refreshing drink.  Some nights I chose the porch over TV.  I did get some mosquito bites, but with the weird weather lately, I also spent some of those nights in front of the fan wearing a hoodie.  And when I could keep the phone out of my hand during this sacred time, it was all the more relaxing.

These are the Superfriends according to the group chat name in my phone and based on my experiences with them over the last 15 years.  We've trauma bonded together as first year Lander-ites, traveled the world together as pals, and been through all sorts of adulting decisions, twists and turns.  Our latest obsession is watching Sean turn his historic home into a Disney-level experience and talking for hours in his kitchen and dining room.  I love them so much.  We got to all hang out at the end of summer and it was such a great way to end act two.  

Let me be clear, it is NOT cool to talk to a teacher about "being ready for school to start back" while it is still summer.  As a rule, we are not ready, nor do we want to talk or think about school until the day we are forced to by a contract or teaching schedule.  I say that as a teacher who LOVES to teach and absolutely ADORES his students.  Still, I NEED my summer.  At the end (or honestly, the middle) of the spring semester, my batteries were depleted.  I finished the semester on fumes and desperately needed some time to recharge and become a human again.  

One side of my brain says it would have been nice to rest more and not have such a full schedule all summer.  The other side says, "Dude, don't be stupid, you had so many wonderful opportunities and experiences this summer."  And yeah, that side is correct.  I'm so grateful for all of the opportunities to show art, make art and travel this summer.  Sometimes I have a moment of realizing that I'm experiencing a thing that some artists go their whole lives/careers without experiencing.  Not only that, but I get to do that in an interesting calendar balance while also getting to teach art to the coolest students.  So here I am on August 12, knowing that my contract officially starts on August 15 and I'm kinda, sorta, missing my students and my classes and feeling like it's about time to get back to the fall semester.  I'm not "ready to go back" but I'm getting there fast.  

a cool summer vacation

Do you remember when people used to go on trips and come back with a ton of slides they'd force you to watch?  For those of you not as old as me...remember when people used to go on trips and come back with a ton of digital photos they'd force you to scroll through?  

Well, this is sort of that.  If it's not your thing, you're not nosey, or you're not me in 10 years, feel free to close the window and go do something else.

For the rest of us, here's a quick recap of the family vacation to the beach...

I'm pretty sure we've finally broken the planet.  Our beach trip is always the first week of June and this is the first time we've ever been actually cold on the trip.  I'm not talking about cool breezy beach nights.  I'm talking about wearing a hoodie during the day and running the heater in the car.  The weather was crazy.  

We drove to the coast mostly in rain and the temperatures dropped as we drove.  We arrived a little early and were lucky enough to have our room ready for check in.  Violet and I walked right out to the beach and we were greeted with the beginnings of a Nor'easter.  The gale force wind was whipping the sand down the beach and it was hard to tell if it was raining or of the wind was blowing the ocean mist.  Either way, it was not a day for being outside.  

More rain the next morning meant a rainy and windy run through huge puddles and hard longshore winds, but it also meant we had time to go out for breakfast.  We tried a new place and I highly recommend "The King" with peanut butter, banana and bacon.  So good.

I couldn't stay inside on vacation so when the rain let up in the afternoon, I ventured out and was greeted by one of our fox friends.  The foxes have dens in the sand all along this stretch of beach and one of the perks of staying in this building is being able to watch them from the balconies.  This guy was chilling at the edge of the dunes waiting for an opportunity to steal some food.  He saw me.

...and then he came toward me.

...like, really close to me.  At one point, I had to step back away from him.  When wild animals approach humans, it's rarely a good thing.  This guy wasn't foaming at the mouth and attacking people, he was just a little too comfortable with people who have apparently been feeding him.  I get it, it's cool to see the fox and if you know he's out looking for food, it's probably tempting to toss him some or to see how close he'll get to you for a photo, but I also know how bad this is for the fox and his little fox family.  There were two smaller foxes who were much more timid who stayed far away from humans and ran at the slightest sound.  

I know he probably only approached me because he wanted food but, as a friend pointed out, I was raised by wolves, so maybe he just smelled a relative and felt comfortable.  He did seem to seek me out every time I went out in the afternoons and evenings.  We all kept our distance and discouraged him from getting close to people.  

So yeah, the weather was weird.  This guy was not having it either.  He looked angry and cold.

Another perk of this building is the sunset views over the marsh.  When the rain stopped, the kids and I tried to make it outside for the sunsets.

Cross Country training always begins while we're on vacation.  Violet took a month off after track and now it was time to get back to it.  She ran with me and we got a few miles together during the week.

I usually come back pretty tired from vacation.  People always ask why.  I tend to move a lot of sand with a little shovel during our week on the beach.  I know I don't have to do this, but how could I not?  There's so much sand just sitting there and no one is really doing anything with it.  I made a giant pelican on the first good beach day.

And I made a fox for the next one.  I felt it was appropriate.

Blue had a list of things we needed to do and he was a good sport about having his photo taken.  Here's Blue and Violet surfing at Broadway.

Blue and I normally go to one of his favorite restaurants at Broadway and often the ladies go to a different one.  While we were eating, the balloon lady offered to make him a sea turtle bracelet which he immediately gave to me.  I was proud to wear it.  I walked around looking for a good opportunity to give it to a child but I never found an opportunity where it wouldn't seem creepy.  In the meantime, the family was jealous of my swag.

They're trying yet another approach to that one part of Broadway that never seems to take off.  I couldn't care less, but this was a nice view.  They had ridiculous music and a weird rainbow structure that bled foam out all over kids.  I can't imagine anyone thinking that was a good idea, but there were suds-covered kids all over the place.  

One of my new favorite things is checking all the photo booth machines for stray photos strips.  I accidentally found two last year and this year I was more intentional about it.  We found these two in one night.  Jackpot!

Breakfast out has its benefits, but my favorite beach breakfast is balcony coffee and a banana.

Seriously, the first half of the week was much cooler than we are used to at the beach.  By mid-week, the afternoons got in the 70s but the breeze still made that feel cool.  On the warmest day, Violet and I got out in the kayak to explore.  We had no plan other than paddling around the inlet.

But we had all day and after we paddled for a couple of miles, we realized it was probably possible to paddle all the way out to the end of the peninsula.  We normally walk there several times during the week, but because of some bad storms last year and some heavy beach erosion, we were not able to walk there this year without a big swim.  So we kept paddling.  I should say that I kept paddling since my first mate didn't really want to paddle.  We beached the boat and then did some exploring on foot.

The exploring was worthwhile.  We found a lot of sharks teeth and enjoyed the natural beauty around us.  It was so nice.  But the paddle back wasn't so nice.  Luckily, Violet decided she wanted to make it to shore before dark, so she started being a good helper with the other paddle.  With both of us going, we made it back in half the time.  

As we approached the boat ramp, we saw the pirate ship in action.  A wild group of young pirates passed us singing clean versions of pirate songs.  Then we noticed a small boat anchored in the middle of the channel.  The pirate ship turned back and we knew something was about to go down so we paddled closer.  The kids on the pirate ship started chanting and then an old pirate in costume stood up on the little boat with a sword.  Just as he did, the kids on one side of the boat hosed him down with water cannons.  The pirate ship turned and the kids on the other side got a turn with the water cannons.  The poor lone pirate was soaked and the kids sailed off singing pirate songs again.  And yes, that's my finger near the lens.  Sorry, I'm old.

Speaking of old, I've been frequenting the Grand Strand of South Carolina since my childhood in the late 1970s and the 1980s.  With my family or with my friend David's family, we've stayed all up and down the Dirty Myrtle area in everything from crappy one-room hotels from a B-grade movie, to really nice condominiums.  David and I have walked every mile of Ocean Boulevard as well as every mile of the beach.  Many of our nights were spent at the Pavillion or in the stretch my kids now refer to as "Crazy Town".  This is an area I know well.  

As we drove to a restaurant one afternoon, Blue asked if I knew that there was a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard.  I laughed and told him there wasn't.  He said that TikTok said there was and that there was even a song about it.  I was very skeptical but who can argue with TikTok?  Within seconds, Blue had the general location narrowed down and we were off on an adventure.  

We passed what looked like a stairwell by the road and I made a U-turn and the three of us hopped out.  There was no parking without a permit so G took the car and circled around.  It seems she had no interest in a dirty tunnel in this part of town.  

Down we went and dang if there wasn't a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard.  How many times had I walked by as a kid and not even noticed it?  Blue and Violet were thrilled.  Truly, it was just a dirty walking tunnel in a questionable part of town, but there was at least the attempt to make it cooler with an aquatic mural on the ceiling, working lights and a few cameras.  The three of us laughed our butts off.  This is not an adventure you could ever plan, but curiosity gifted us a fun time.  So Lana Del Rey is right.  There really is a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard.

After meeting up with the kids' former elementary principal for ice cream, we raced back to the upper balcony to try to catch the sunset.  We had to ditch the car again and run up the stairs to make it just in time.  

Curiosity provided another cool experience, even if it was a solo adventure this time.  On my first few miles running the next morning, I noticed the turtle people gathered in a group near our building.  When they appeared to be digging, I decided to go check it out.  It was not a new turtle nest, which I often see on my early runs on the lower part of the beach.  This time it was a nest relocation happening.  For reasons only the turtle people understand, some nests need to be relocated to give the little dudes the best chance for survival.  The lady in charge was very kind and offered lots of information to me and another nosey civilian.  She carefully dug a hole about shoulder deep and then allowed a newer member of the turtle squad to place the eggs in the hole.  Then they covered it with sand, placed a protective barrier over it and around it and their work was done.  Hopefully in a few months these guys will dig out and scurry to the water.

I think with the weather and the kayaking plans, I only made three sand sculptures.  This was the last one and it was a big one.  The teeth are about 12 inches long if that helps with scale.  It's a pirate.  

Friday was our last day but Violet and I wanted to make the most of our last day.  We had so much fun kayaking the first time, we decided to go again while Blue and G went out to the beach.  It was a beautiful morning and still not too hot.  

We got a little more brave this time and paddled across the bigger water to the big rock jetty.  Violet was a toddler on my shoulders the last time we walked to the end of it.  This time she carried someone with her...a hermit crab she found at the edge of the water.  We walked all the way out and watched schools of fish jumping out of the water.  After our jetty walk, we set the hermit crab free in his own backyard and then paddled back across to our sharks teeth hunting ground.

We had another good hunt and this time we remembered to bring snacks.  

Of course, we ate the snacks too soon and after all that paddling we were starving.  When we were ready to head back we noticed a bit of a dark cloud moving our way.  It got darker and larger as we paddled.  Our arms were just like cooked noodles at this point but we kept pushing as we could see the rain coming.  We rolled up, or floated up, at the boat ramp just as it started drizzling.  Luckily, we got the kayak loaded before the real rain started.  

We had talked about getting lobster rolls earlier in the week and never got around to it.  We started thinking about lobster rolls after our snacks disappeared and soon it was all we could think about.  We were very close to a place that sold them so we ordered two and eagerly awaited our meal.  When they came out, they looked and smelled wonderful.  I thought about taking a photo but they were gone so fast.  Best meal of the trip for me.  I may have eaten half of Violet's.

It poured rain while we ate and just as we left the restaurant, there was a break in the clouds.  Violet loves mini golf and since we were the only ones left in town, we decided to chance it with the weather and try to get a game in before hitting the road. We were having a lucky day and just as we sunk our shots on the 18th hole, it started raining again.  We made a quick stop at a bookstore to get coffee and a book for Violet before heading inland.  

It's not the weather I would have picked out for the week, but it turned out to be kind of perfect.