Wednesday, October 31, 2012

comin out of the dark

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I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that its not the first time I've made that gloria estefan reference in a blog post title.

So many of you have gotten in touch to check in on us as - those of you who don't know Saipua is based in red hook, one of the neighborhoods hit hardest by the hurricane. Eric, Nea and I fled to the farm Sunday night, Deanna and Asheley are both out of harms way. Sadly our studio has taken a serious hit. The girls went out to investigate today and found a watery oil slick, flower buckets and detritus everywhere, our giant dumpster overturned inside. It's a truly devastating mess, but all in all rather minor compared to the businesses I know that have lost thousands of dollars in inventory, equipment, etc.

At the farm we sustained high winds. Yesterday morning everything was intact for the most part, even our streamer poles. We spent the day shoveling horse shit onto the garden.

Hope all of you and yours are safe. Thank you for all your calls and emails - it makes me feel really good to know your thinking about us.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

melancholia strikes

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Part I. THE DIAGNOSIS
I am having a hard time adjusting. I did it to myself.

At the farm, each day unfolds as a massive unstructured expanse in front of me. I watch from the window, it's probably 7:30 am. I have so much to do and nothing to do. I've created this time and space for myself to be better and now I sit in the middle of our unfinished house waiting for something to happen. But there are few external forces here. Telephones don't ring, and people don't stop by. There are no meetings where I'm nodding and saying yes. Yes, yes yes! Oh the bobble head I used to be! The days of hustling. Do I miss them? It doesn't matter because we can't go back.

The quiet in my mind becomes wildly uncomfortable. I call my astrologer. She tells me to confront the dragons in the basement.

Part II. AVOIDING CONFRONTING THE DRAGONS IN THE BASEMENT
In an effort to distract myself I ordered a small box of roses last week and had Fallon ship them to the farm. This would be the external force! A catalyst to propel me into a mode of productivity where I could face the mounting list of farm tasks that hover around me. Where I could escape Enya on repeat.

One time when I was really struggling with depression and anxiety I saw a homeopathist. She asked me a number of questions about what moments made me feel the happiest. It was a difficult question for me because at the time I was working in the art world and nothing was happy for me there. But now it is simple to answer - I am happiest when I am alone with flowers.

The activity of making flowers just for my own enjoyment is very critical to my work, I don't know if I've ever talked about it here. In my brain it feels like I am making a symphony. I am myself and I feel close to freedom. It feels like a ringing or striking a chord. A surge: it is sharp and clear and focused.

I felt a little better, and then I got to escape to the city.


Part III. THE OTHER SIDE
Another box of roses are due to arrive any minute, the last box of the year. I'm back in the city now, sitting up in my office, thinking about Worlds End....how tenuous it feels; my suspended reality. Last night I forgot how to hail a cab and experienced another wallop of anxiety on 3rd Avenue. Obviously what I am trying to tell you is that I'm stuck between two worlds. I am smiling when I am writing now. There must be an appropriate 80's anthem for this moment.

Anyway, the roses. The rains came to Petaluma Sunday or Monday and we are to receive what was snipped right before they blew in. I like to imagine these roses somewhere dark in their wax tissuey shrouds...stacked on the back of a fed ex truck, bouncing through the streets of Brooklyn. Sealed in their box, neither dead nor alive.

It's 11:53am now. Where is fedex anyway?


Friday, October 19, 2012

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roses and my lost holster, found

I almost lost my lucky holster in Virginia.

More to come...

Thursday, October 11, 2012

report from the field.

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I've been on the road forever. Virginia and North Carolina. Been eating lots of pb&j's out of my rental's trunk, hopping from flower farm to flower farm.
Poor nea couldn't come with me, although she tried to by imitating one of my suitcases...I miss her.

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I'm staying at an inn outside Charlottesville, VA. Jefferson stayed here and signed some document, and so there is no TV in the room. I'm into TV right now in a big way since I discovered Long Island Medium a few nights ago at a different hotel. I need a massage, but other than that life feels pretty good. I was in a slip of depression before I left, but being busy has lifted me out of it.

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I'll have lots to share with you from my travels when I get back. Till then trust that I'm either on a ladder, driving deep into Romney Country for some really special flowers or being hit on by old men at gas pumps.

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