So long for a while

The coming week is full of so much activity and preparation that I'm saying goodbye to blogging for a while. For the few pals that still pop in I just thought I'd let you know.

I'm leaving you with a recommendation for a fabulous read and I hope you will follow up on this one. It is the diary of Eleanor Coppola during the time she was raising a family and simultaneously following Frances, and later, Sophia to movie locations. It is so much more than that. It's the diary of a woman who is conflicted by family love and devotion and artistic calling left fallow. A story that most of us can relate to at some point. Being torn between the very essential desire to be everything to everyone is natural for women and it is both a blessing and a curse. I have found so much to love about this book it is one I'll re-read again and again. Aside from the mothering stuff, there is also the really fascinating story of a woman surrounded by unbelievable talent. Her tales of being on the set for the all the Godfather movies, the journey of her film diary of Apocalypse Now, called Heart of Darkness, and for her daughter Sophia's movies "Lost in Translation" and "Marie Antoinette" are worth the money alone. The eventual re-discovery of her artistic self begins to evolve throughout the book and I really wanted to make it go on to see where else Eleanor has gone since. I hope there is another book of diary pages to come. She has a sweet, simple style that is set down without conceit or verbal boasting. I love her voice and I think you will too. One of her pieces art installation art, made in conjunction with several people, is a tribute to those we have lost. Her son Gio was killed in a freak accident in his 20s. It is such a touching story to hear about this installation that I wish I could go and see it. It moves around the country to various places and sounds like it would be well-worth a trip to visit.

I am packing to leave for a while and my birthday(the big one) is Tuesday. I've dreaded this one for a while but oddly enough along with it's arrival, I have found a certain sense of peace and a small, but strong, developing, fountain of artistic energy. Maybe you just need to get to "your time" in life and it begins to unfold in lovely ways for you. Letting go of certain angry things and seeing what is important with new eyes makes for a sense of peace. To a small degree, I am doing what I advise others to do when faced with possible unpleasantness-I think of it as theatre. I have begun to write ideas for art down with a little detail included so that I will remember them fully when I return and begin a hopeful, creative, year ahead. I'm not sure what happens to others when they reach this age but so far for me, I have begun the important job of ceasing to care what other people think and I imagine that's when the real creative process can begin. A few ideas with a common theme are rolling around in the caverns of my brain. Some are fabric related and some are back to the basics of artwork that I began so many years ago.

At any rate, since there is so much prep for this longer than usual trip and few friends are stopping by anyway(can't blame you-nothing artistic gong on here)I will go on a blog hiatus for a while. I'm not sure if there is any computer connections where we are and I don't have a laptop anyway.

It's over 90 and humid here. Very unusual weather for here this early. Anything over 80 is pure hell to me and for good measure I'm heading down south in a week. Bah!

Take care and I'll see you later if I don't melt. Hope I don't run into any flying monkeys....I'mmm melllting...melllllting