Where in the hell did the year go? It will be 2020 in a little over a week.
It has been an eventful year. Last spring, Liz and I had a two-person show at Gallery 50 in Bridgeton, NJ.
It was great to be back in Millville for a weekend, to see old friends, and to sell some paintings. We both have gotten back into the studio. Liz has been accepted into several local exhibits and we are making friends in the local art community.
We went to San Diego over the Thanksgiving holiday, our tradition. I think Liz does it because it gets her out of cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I am not a big fan of turkey anyway, so I won’t complain. We had Thanksgiving dinner at a Russian restaurant. I had stag. That is the Siberian version of elk.
This year we visited Lights on the Farm, a local attraction. Vertuccio Farms hosts many public events throughout the year. For Lights on the Farm, they install over a million lights that are synchronized with Christmas music. It is a walk through festival of lights, and it is truly amazing.
I have two more days of work, and then a nice vacation from Christmas through New Year. The owner of place of employment shuts down and pays us for the week. That is a nice perk.
Liz was recently appointed to the Apache Junction Arts Council. AJ has a percentage for arts for new development, and a solid plan to promote public art. The council will approve all new projects. Me? I am doing my best to not volunteer for anything, and staying out of politics.
For Christmas Eve dinner, Liz is cooking Filet Mignon and snow crab legs, surf and turf. Christmas morning we will have our traditional Mimosas as we open gifts, and then head to Chompies in Tempe for a good Jewish breakfast of bagels and lox. We are having dinner with some artist friends, then relaxing for the rest of the week.
Well, relaxing may not be the proper word, as we are installing a backsplash of stone tile in the kitchen.
And soon it will be 2020. When I was in grade school I remember our teacher talking about the year 2000, and it seemed so far off. I couldn’t even imagine being there for the turn of a new century. 2000 is now a distant memory.
In 2000 I didn’t even have my own cellphone. I had a company issued flip phone, does anyone remember those? I still had a landline. Does anyone still have those? Now my cellphone is more capable than my PC was. Facebook had not even been thought of.
2019 had few surprises. My goals for 2020 are to spend more time in the studio, and hopefully get more time hiking the Superstitions and kayaking the Salt River. I also plan to put more time on my book, The Horrors of Holy House.
I am looking forward to a prosperous New Year. I wish the same for all… well all except for Nancy Pelosi. My wish fr her is that she gets what she deserves.