Folly Beach, Goodbye Holbein Knife, & The Silent Squeaky Chair

Furball must miss me and has decided to join me in spirit........

Folly Beach is beautiful and the sunrise was very nice.
Since we were there so early it wasn't crowded yet.

Daya joined us and walked on her own then did.... homework.  She has a paper due June 1 and this upcoming week is INSANE with tech rehearsals and 2 shows on 2 stages AT THE SAME TIME.

She's very stressed.

Anyhow the beach is gorgeous.

I am really happy with this painting.  8x10 oil 2 hours.

***********

MY HOLBEIN KNIFE BROKE.

It just suddenly....... broke... in the middle of the painting.

I'll have to re-order when I get home, I need another Holbein Knife, they are so perfect.

I break palette knives, I don't know why, that's why I have a Holbein.

They cost $50 (worth it) and are made of Japanese tempered steel.

I am very sad about it.

********
4 generations of people have been on this ancient and very ugly couch. (It's a pull-out bed.)

This horrific rocker is decades older than me, and it always made a VERY distinctive squeak.

It's a sound of my childhood.

It was squeaky in 2019 but now is....silent! I don't know why or how, but someone must have oiled it.....

although no one seems to know anything about it........

I'm a little freaked out that the squeaky chair is now silent.

Palmetto Painting & MTA Appreciation

Every morning, unless there is a truly exceptional circumstance, the first thing I do when I wake up is the Wordle with Furball.  Furball's job is to help me do the Wordle and she's good at it.

This morning, of course, Furball could not help me do the Wordle.

I got it anyhow but it was much harder without her.

The weather here is so crappy right now, but I am determined to paint.

We stayed up too late last night, and between that and the weather my aunt is in a lot of pain and needs to rest.

Daya is definitely not used to this environment or my aunt's personality so she wants to go to downtown Charleston and explore by herself and escape.  I think this is a great idea. I know it's hard for her to not have someone her age.... when I was younger my sister was that buffer and it truly made things a lot easier for both of us.

She found a bus that is a half hour walk, she purchased fare and looked at the schedule.

I told her be home by 5 or 6, have fun.

The bus never showed up............. so she waited an hour for the next one and finally got it.

This was when Daya decided she fiercely HATES the suburbs.  She said how can people live like this? It's TERRIBLE!

Daya did get to downtown Charleston and went exploring and did a bit of shopping.

While she was doing that, I went for a walk in the neighborhood and knocked out a painting.

Honestly, I needed to get away too.

A cardinal came to visit me while I was painting.

Maybe he is friends with my NYC Ramble cardinal...??

Here is the painting, 8x10 oil

Tomorrow morning we are leaving with my late Uncle Ernie's daughter (Margie's late husband) to go paint on Folly Beach.

Margaret is also a painter, but not really a plein air painter.  She takes her own photo reference and works in-studio.

I had leftover paint, so I reset the palette and packed, all ready to go at daybreak.

Daya had trouble with the bus again coming back..................

My kid is such a New Yorker.

I am too but since I wasn't raised in NYC I know what I'm in for outside the city.

(The uber back was 60, she got the bus at 5:15 and was fine.)

__PRESENT

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles & My Rain Lamp

I'm a pretty relaxed traveler in general.

My super stressy time is getting out the door and getting to the airport on-time.

Once we get past that, I'm fine.

We flew out of JFK.

I love the Air Train.

Daya and I always like to be on the end and look out the window over the tracks.

We also both like window seats.

So we didn't sit next to each other. 

This is ok.

We left NYC which was 72 and sunny.

Charleston was much colder and... RAINING.

What?? Just like when we went to LA! VERY unusual!!

I thought I would recognize my Aunt Carole, even though I haven't seen her for 16 years.

I did not recognize her and we had a good laugh about it.

We went out for sushi and I saw my cousin Michael, Carole's son.

I also have not seen him for 16 years.

His fiancée Brit joined, and they are both very cool.

2 aunts stayed in the car while Michael and Brit took us for a walk in the rain to a bridge park area, I forgot the name of the bridge but it is pretty cool.

I LEARNED A NEW THING......

Perhaps you have seen pineapples are popular.

There is a pineapple fountain in Charleston, and I guess they say it means hospitality.

But I learned the Pineapple is also a symbol for.... swingers!!!

Who knew!!

*****

Later that evening I stayed up talking with my Aunt Magie, we definitely stayed up too late- 1am- and felt it the next day.

She's 83 and is fine mentally but is quite fragile physically.

I got the rain lamp working- again.
The last time it was turned on was in 2019 when I got it working after over a decade of not being turned on.

This drawing hangs in my grandmother's old room.

It used to hang in the hall in her house in CT.

My sister did it in 1991.

I was always jealous because she had 2 artworks framed and hanging (my mother had the other, it was a cheetah), and no one ever framed and hung any of my stuff. Not even when I mentioned it. :(

Last-Minute Gala

So yesterday Nigel from Move NYC texted me saying they are inviting the senior parents to the gala TOMORROW, wanna come?

A last-minute gala, ok!

I said it's fancy dress right?

He said yes, festive!

I said see you tomorrow!

And then I started freaking out over whether my closet could handle a gala.

I have not been to anything dress-up since before covid.

Yes I have work dresses but that's not for a gala.

I have to wear heels, which also has not happened since before covid.

I'm a dusty mess!

After deliberations via text with Daya, we decided my old cocktail dress with gold nails would be fine, and I would wear my old Chinese Laundry shoes that Daya nicely broke in when she was in the 5th grade.

I even found both of them in my closet so was pretty proud of myself for that....

I ended up having a really great time!

As it turns out I should not have worried so much about the dress code, I was completely fine!

It felt good to be out to a party.

I felt a little dusted-off.

I didn't know most people there except for LaGuardia parents and a couple Juilliard students.

There were dance performances, auctions, and raffles...and speeches and awards.

Overall it was a really fun evening and we got home after midnight.

Dance Interference

I can't do anything or plan anything without dance coming in and saying "hi I'm here to mess it all up!"

ONE

This weekend we are visiting my aunts in South Carolina.

I booked this trip MONTHS ago, assuming no one in their right mind would call for MANDATORY rehearsals over Memorial Day weekend.

Last night when I was enjoying the Ramble, Daya texted me.

She has a MANDATORY rehearsal and costume fitting late Saturday afternoon, we have to change the flight.

I told her I am not changing the flight.

She absolutely insisted, I said NO.

She said she has to.

I said fine you take care of everything, including paying for any change difference.

As it turns out her teacher can't change his schedule, so nothing is changing and I don't want to anyhow.

Good.

TWO

We have to go to a wedding.

It is the day before graduation.

It is in Nowhere Rural PA, at least 2 1/2 hours away from the city by car in Bucks County.

We would have to arrive Sunday and stay overnight and leave Monday morning.

That alone is a tight time crunch on Monday, and the friend who would drive us back will not leave earlier than 9:15-8:30, getting us into the city maybe around 12.

Nope.

But to add to the mess, Daya is performing at graduation and we don't know the call time.

I suspect it will be 12.

I want to call off the whole thing, but Daya is insisting and it's a fight every time I mention it.

So I told her to figure it out.

Every single thing I do---- and we NEVER go away---- Dance just crashes into it.

__PRESENT