Friday

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I'm so happy! I bought a Tord Boontje lamp today!! For my new gallery. It's made of Tyvek - you know, that tear-resistant stuff envelopes are made of. I looked at one of these 8 years ago when I was putting together my original studio. That was when we first moved into the house and I didn't want to spend more money. I guess I didn't mind spending $65 today. I love it. (Ask me if I still love it after I've spent time shaping it just so. It comes in a flat box.)

Can you imagine anything more perfect in a gallery filled with paper art?? I'll need more lighting of course, this is mostly for ambiance. I love ambiance!

But I'm ahead of myself. Today promised to be a scorcher so we opted to skip the beach. Which reminds me of a conversation I meant to share with you. This is from the other day, as I looked around at all the sweet young things lying on their colorful beach towels, (begging to get skin cancer, but I digress).

"You know, Steve, there was a time when my breasts stayed put, on top of my body. I'm sorry you missed that. I think it was a Thursday."

Ba-rum-bump.

So today. We opted to gather our favorite fast food breakfast items and eat at a local park. (We ate in the car with the windows rolled down, it was already hot.) I'm happy to report a Virginia strawberry banana smoothie tastes just as good as a New York strawberry banana smoothie. My friend Lynn says "chains are stains" because she much prefers independent restaurants but I say there's a lot to be said for consistency and fulfilled expectations.

Then we went to the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia which is very near our hotel. Because we passed it so many times, I had looked it up online and it seemed like a place I'd like. It was free, which was good, because it's not very big. I believe the woman working there meant the exhibition hall is closed while they prepare for the next exhibit - but I got to see the Liz Miller installation, which was pretty cool. And there was a room filled with area teachers art which was so-so. And I bought my lamp in the gift shop.

So that's 2 art museums we've visited this vacation. But we evened things up in Steve's direction by then going to an ultra violent movie, Wanted. I don't even really know if "ultra" is correct but it was very violent. Full of cool special effects and some humor and I enjoy Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie. Steve enjoyed it quite a bit. I didn't hate it. (Which is probably what he would say about the 2 art museums.)

What we both agreed on is that this was the best movie theater we've ever been to. The seats were sooo darn comfortable, lots of leg room, lots of elevation. (And I love a bathroom that sports self-flushing toilets and motion sensitive faucets. Never have to touch a thing.)

We got back to the room around 3:00 and have been just hanging out since. A thunder and lightning storm kicked up but we noticed a little too late to enjoy the scurry of the lifeguards getting the people out of the ocean and off the beach. But we sat on the balcony and watched the cabana boys run around locking up the chairs & umbrellas, etc. Then it poured, for a very short while. We saw another very brief storm come in a few days ago - and got to watch the lifeguards in action, whistles blowing, arms flailing. Kinda fun. (Cause we were comfy and dry.) Otherwise, it's been nice and dry this week.

Sharon - I don't know if you saw the questions I asked you in yesterday's comments section but as my resident Virginia expert, I have a few questions:

1. What's the purpose of the red & white striped crossing gates on the entrance and exit ramps of the highways? My guess is they have something to do with hurricane evacuation routes.

2. Why do I smell smoke outside all the time? I tried to Google the answer to that one but didn't find any definitive answers. Haven't read a paper all week. Are there raging forest fires nearby that I don't know about?

We're trying to decide if we want to walk to the hotel next door's restaurant or maybe order in subs from Papa John's or something. Then we plan to get to bed early and wake up early to get an early start towards Philadelphia so we have most of the day to spend wandering around there. Then we want to get an early start home Sunday morning since we both have to work Monday. Usually we build in a buffer day but guess we decided not to this time.

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