No Destination

The Last Blog

Sun, 9 Jan 2011 14:04:53 -0500

Ohio welcomed us back with all its favorite Winter tricks. Snow, black ice on the roads, traffic jams and wrecks galore. But why begin this tale with the ordinary....

Let’s relive earlier, sunnier days this week. We left Fort Myers Beach on January 2, and headed for Gainesville to visit friends at the University of Florida. Anna and Roy put us up for the night and the next morning toured us around the ceramics department in style. It’s a world-class department with outstanding faculty (Anna, Linda, Nan, and Ray), enviable facilities, technology and equipment. Here’s what we saw even though it was between terms:

Photo-silkscreened images, fired on clay slabs.

A diversity of student work.

Large glaze room with spray booths, wet and dry materials.

Nicely organized classrooms.

Lots of computerized Skutt electric kilns

as well as many fuel-burning kilns (including wood and soda).

A typical graduate student studio.

In all, a fine department with three faculty and a tech, all personable and professional, doing diverse and growing-edge work of their own.

Leaving Gainesville, we headed south to the Crystal River area to dive with the Manatees, but learned that they allow only snorkeling around them, so we redirected North to Ginnie Springs for a dive. It was absolutely clear water and a beautiful, pristine spring:

Afterward, we watched Ohio State win its bowl game as we overnighted in the quaint town of Alachua, and in the morning headed north through Atlanta. There, an uninsured driver crashed into us on the freeway! Luckily, nobody was hurt and the damage to our truck wasn’t enough to keep us from continuing on. But the crash did bang up our right front bumper, fender and door. So on we traveled undaunted through frosty mountains,

watching the temperature drop mile by mile. We made a rest stop in the craft town of Berea, Kentucky where we found another of the succession of public art projects like those we’ve shown you many times before. In this case it was artist-painted fiberglass hands:

After leaving Berea, we thought surely we could make it all the way home without another stop, but Mother Nature had other plans. With darkness, snow, bumper-to-bumper traffic, wrecks and black ice on Interstate 70, we decided to pull off the road for the night at Springfield, Ohio, before another vehicle drifted into us.

But in the morning, we were met by a flat tire. Apparently, one of the many wrecks we passed the previous evening had thrown a sizable bolt out into the road, and our tire hit it square on the point. So it leaked air all night long. After a visit from the AAA repair truck:

we finally drove home after a final tally of 18,922 miles.

So now, sadly, the blog has come to an end. I want to thank all of you who have followed us these last 8 months. We are grateful for your interest and friendship, and hope you’ll stay in touch. We are changed by these experiences you shared with us, and we can’t wait to see how they will affect our art and lives together.

All the best to you,

Bill & Liz

Packing Up

Sun, 2 Jan 2011 18:09:11 -0500

Photo of the day: Above, the Safari has been emptied of all our earthly goods, cleaned up and is ready for storage in Fort Myers Beach:

We’ll miss this home away from home where we spent a little more than two months. What was in the trailer is now packed away in our truck:

Let’s just say it’s a little full. But with weather in the North a bit uncertain, pulling the Airstream back to Ohio right now would be more of a risk than we want to take. Plus, it’s a good excuse to come back in May to pick it up.

Some high-points of the week:

Final results of Lizzy’s two-month garden. Man, things grow fast here. We already ate a half-dozen fresh cherry tomatoes from this one plant (on the right). The garden is in the trailer due to an unseasonable cold snap overnight.

Lizzy made a fine pie with Michigan cherries and a cut-out of the state of Ohio in the middle. Our niece, Kris, sent that cookie cutter as one of her Christmas presents. Nice.

Down at Fort Myers Beach, each year, this poinsettia Christmas tree appears. And nearby, small children are still trying to dig to China as all generations before them:

In an antique shop across the street from our RV resort, we spied some pretty arty items, including:

It amazes me that you can buy a ship’s wooden figurehead for $299.

After storing the trailer, we headed over to Sanibel for two days at an old family haunt, Island Inn, a place my family has come since about 1953. It is the oldest inn on the island, filled with history:

And it’s right on the beach facing the Gulf of Mexico. It’s also a prime shelling paradise as Liz’s latest collection testifies:

Back on the beach, the wildlife spends a relaxed afternoon looking for washed-ashore treats:

The sunsets here are almost always amazing:

Today, we’re starting our trip back north with an overnight stop in Gainesville to visit some friends at the University of Florida ceramics department. It should be lots of fun.

Happy New Year to all our blog readers!

Christmas and Friends from Near and Far

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 12:59:15 -0500

Photo of the day: Our miniature Christmas on the Safari’s dining table. A Merry Christmas to all our readers.

This week was a lot of fun, sharing with friends. For example, last Sunday, after I wrote the blog we accepted an invitation from Trisha Fay, to come for dinner with some of her artist friends at her home/studio:

Everyone brought something amazing and all chowed down with comfort and joy.

Trisha, on the right, can chef with the best of them. Plus her house has some of the best “stuff” that an artist can collect. As an example, she gave me two large shark’s teeth from a jar of them in her living room. She had picked them up diving off Venice, Florida.

I sent my brother, a paleontologist, a photo of this tooth and here is what he told me, “This is a tooth of an ancestor of the Great White Shark.... They range in age from Miocene (23 million) to Pleistocene (Ice age). Most I know of are of Miocene age and a restoration of the jaws of one of these sharks is on display in the Smithsonian as I remember, with all teeth in place. The tooth is not actually ‘petrified‘ — the enamel, dentine,and root (bone) are the real thing, but during the time the teeth are buried in sediment, minerals like iron and manganese infiltrate the spaces that remain in the tooth, giving it the gray to brown tone.”

Tricia has a cool studio in a restructured garage by her home:

and here are some of the pots in her studio:

We also had a visit from our friends Keith and Marilyn, whom we toured around the area. Across the street from our RV resort is a auto restoration business and Keith fell in love with a ‘60s era Cobra:

He wasn’t alone in that. They also had a “John Deere” motorcycle, custom made for a dealer in tractor style:

Marilyn liked the baby blue Chevy Apache truck:

This is a dangerous business to walk around. They’d be happy to ship to Ohio for an additional $500!

At Sanibel Island, beach art continues with abandon:

And at Jacoranda, a restaurant there, I spied probably the best use of an old tire I’ve ever seen:

Plus, it doubles as a planter. From the back you can see the tread:

Last night, we had a fantastic dinner with our local friends Jack and Tabi, their children and parents. Their daughter, Mackenzie, took our photo in front of the Christmas tree:

Our adventure has exceeded 17,000 miles and still has around two weeks remaining. Stay tuned and best wishes for a Happy New Year.

The Florida Keys, Artists and More

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 14:51:23 -0500

Photo of the day: One of about a dozen alligators we saw in Everglades National Park at Shark Valley. It was a cold day and the gators were sunning to get revved up for a fast bite. We were told, “When they have their mouths open, give them extra room. They’re a lot faster than you think.”

The blog left off last week on Key Largo with a glass bottom boat ride. We had intended to dive there too, but weather didn’t permit, so we headed out looking for art and artists. There is an immediate feeling for me of “old Florida” in the Keys. The pace is slower, the people very friendly, and high rise building is disallowed. Nice.

Heading north from Key Largo, we happened upon “a village of artists” called the Rain Barrel at Mile Marker 86.7. (That’s the way they identify locations on the one road through the Keys.) Dwayne and Cindy King are a couple of quality self-supporting artists with a diverse studio production and gallery. Dwayne says he’s the technical guy, and Cindy is the sculptor, yet Dwayne throws pots, does ceramic shell casting of Cindy’s sculptures, fires the kiln and the bronze furnace. It’s a nice marriage of talents. Here’s what their operation looks like:

Nice car kiln.

Large bell Cindy is modeling in plasticine which Dwayne will cast in bronze when finished.

Their gallery with works by other artists for sale along with their own.

Cindy specializes in caricatures of people’s pets. Send her a good photo and she memorializes them for all time in clay. (rbsculpture@aol.com)

Some of their bronzes are really exquisite.

Heading home through the Everglades, we took some amazing gator photos. “Why Grandma, what big teeth you have.”

Right now, this fellow would just as soon eat you as take a swim in the glades.

On a gentler note, birds were everywhere:

There’s one handsome fellow we failed to see, probably because he is so endangered. It’s the Florida Panther:

This one is stuffed, and on display at park headquarters. In all, the Everglades are full of beautiful and inspiring creatures.

Bonus Blog

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:10:02 -0500

We had so much going on this week I had to do this blog in two parts. Read part one first, then go on with this one.

Photo of the day: Big surf crashes on the shore of Cozumel, Mexico. Our first travel objective was to dive the amazingly blue waters above the world-famous reef off of this island, but rough seas and high wind made that impossible.

Both Honduras and Mexico were part of the great Mayan empire, destroyed by the Conquistadors with the weapons and diseases they brought. In both ports, you commonly see those Mayan faces so well described in their historical art:

Even a stone shard tells the story (these from the Museum of Cozumel). Other Mayan works in the museum include this ceramic figure which once was the front of a container, now broken away:

Also at the museum is this reproduction of a Mayan house:

We found it quite functional and comfortable with doors on either side for the passage of air, and a woven structure which is both strong and open to ventillation.

It is the arts and architecture of ancient peoples that informs us about their culture. In that light, here are some contemporary arts we found in the shops of the town:

A variety of “Day of the Dead” figures.

Burnished carbonized pottery from Oxaca advertised and marked as by the famed potter Doña Rosa; but since she died in 1980, probably made by her family members or others in Oxaca.

Decorative ceramic roof tile with iguana, made to look old but decidedly contemporary.

Highly decorated glazed Talavera majolica with designs that go back to Moorish influences in Spain and other majolica traditions such as the Italian Renaissance.

And some funky pieces based on American ceramics like this miniature Art Deco couch:

Back on the ship as we were getting ready to leave, we were serenaded by Mariachis near the ship’s pool:

After a night at sea, we headed for the Keys. A glass bottom boat gave us a fish’s eye view in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park:

Finally, tonight we learned we are officially great aunts and great uncles, and here’s the little cutie on day one! Congratulations Bart and Suz.

Cruising to Honduras & Cozumel, Mexico

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 10:36:46 -0500

The last time I was on a cruise ship, I was 14 years old, a newspaper boy for the Fort Lauderdale News and had won the trip for selling 25 new subscriptions. I gambled all my $40 travel money away in the ship’s casino before we hit Nassau and was left without even admission fees for the various sites and sights on the island. On the way home, the chicken ala king was tainted and half the passengers were at the rail most of the evening. My love of roast beef saved me from their fate.

This was Lizzy’s first cruise and was it ever different from my previous experiences. The Century Celebrity is what they call a “small” cruise ship, meaning that it had about 1800 aboard. As many of our friends had told us previously, they just treat you like friends and feed you night and day. It feels decadent to start with but soon you succumb to the lulling effects of pampering.

The ship is remarkably well designed for relaxation day or night.

They even have an art gallery on board where you can buy a Mirò:

or someone lesser known:

At the dock in Roatan, Honduras, we were met by some colorful greeters:

and in the local shops, we ran across some remarkable contemporary burnished pottery:

Traditionally, all the Americas lacked both the technologies of glaze and the potter’s wheel. They made up for that with burnishing and handbuilding skill.

And we found some other local art of interest:

And there was some great music, too:

But most of our one day in Honduras was spent diving the reef around Roatan, as in the photo of the day (top) and below.

The coral and fish were amazing! End of Part 1 of this week’s blog. A bonus Part 2 will follow later today.

Getting Ready for Some Excitement

Mon, 6 Dec 2010 14:49:07 -0500

Apologies to those who looked for this blog on Sunday night or this morning. We got a bit behind in our duties and in the end failed to get this out as scheduled.

It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegone... Woops, wrong blog.

We’ve had a number of high points this week. Fly fishing from the shore on Sanibel Island was one (as in the photo of the day, above).

Another was a visit to Florida Gulf Coast University’s Empty Bowls event and pottery sale. I had met Tricia Fay, who teaches there on a previous trip to this state, so we were warmly welcomed by her and others involved in the event. Here’s what we saw:

A really fine ceramics facility, nice and clean at the end of the term.

Students hanging around outside the facility in an open air courtyard.

Some fine crystal-glazed pots.

Along with some other nicely thrown forms.

You gotta have mugs at a pot sale! We bought the light colored one from Tricia.

There also were some hand-woven baskets.

And some wall art.

Around town this week we spied some other curiosities:

Changing the subject: Being in Florida, we decided to see if we could book a last-minute cruise anywhere; just another variation on “no destination.” At AAA, we scored a good one from Miami to Honduras to Cozumel and back to Miami. Booking a cruise last minute is a great way to travel inexpensively. While we had to take whatever stateroom they wanted to put us in, we didn’t expect to spend much time there anyway. I’m writing this blog from the ship just before we set sail: