quick trip out east...

Last weekend, we headed east on a mission; to pick up my son's car in New Jersey.

Both of my sisters live out east; one in Sagamore Beach, MA and one in Brooklyn, NY, so while we were on that side of the country, we thought we'd stop in for a bit.

My sister Terry and her husband Bill moved back to the US last year around this time - you may remember from an earlier post that I drove out to Boston to surprise them at the airport.  Since then, they purchased a really nice place a block away from the ocean.  This was our first time visiting this new place.
The evening we arrived after taking a short walk down to the ocean, we ate real live (at first) lobster...that was by our request.  You can't go to New England without having some lobster, can you?
We were only visiting for about 48 hours, and for one full day, my hubby was sick.  He's been working very hard for the last couple of weeks; staying up very late working on a project for work and it finally caught up to him.  So, he was in bed for the entire day on Monday.

Terry and I went to visit Plymouth and the Art Center where she is volunteering her time.  Right now is the biggest event that the Art Center throws; The Plymouth Guild 43rd Annual Juried Art Show.  I got to walk around the Center and vote for which piece would be "Best in Show" and play a little scavenger hunt game where they give you a paper with 20 or so pictures of a portion of different art pieces and you had to find them within the Center and write down the name of the art piece.  I won!  I think everyone wins if they are playing.  I suggested that they should offer 10% off a purchase of an art piece if the scavenger hunt paper is completed and correct.

I really could have used that 10% off coupon because I ended up purchasing one of the 1st Place winners for its category..."Sense of Sight" by Hollianne Wood-Carruthers.  This sculpture is made from old metal negatives (dry plate negatives or printing plates) and the wood from the printing frames.  The metal has been oxidized so each negative has a different color; purple, orange, black, white.  The only thing that I've seen on-line that is close to this sculpture is this.  I am anxiously awaiting my sisters next visit when she will be bringing me my sculpture.

Which brings me to my question of the day...What is the greatest amount of money that you've ever spent for a piece of art?  If you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine :)

I'm pretty lucky - I come from a family of artists, which means I didn't have to pay for any of their pieces...and we mostly have only original art work on our walls.  We have purchased a photograph from a friend - otherwise we have friends that have actually GIVEN us their artwork; even if it's something we're specifically requesting (sort of commissioning without paying).  We have great friends!  Mostly, we spend our money on framing and in some cases, matting.

Also while there, my sister showed me her finger.  Two weeks prior, she had been walking her dogs on the beach and needed to have the one dog retrieve the other and the dogs leash which was wrapped around my sisters ring finger yanked the finger and it was sprained or something.  (There's a longer story about this having to do with my sister not being in her right mind at the time because her daughter who had spent a month and a half in Africa during the summer had just been admitted into the hospital that day with Malaria..etc, but I won't get into all of that).  It was pretty swollen, still.  She could not get her rings off and was worried about going to the hospital.  I told her that all we needed to do was go to the fire station; they have the equipment there to remove rings (I saw it on Design Star a couple of years ago).  So, as she was driving me around her neighborhood, I asked her where the fire station is located.  So we went and the paramedics took care of removing her rings without too much pain.
Anyway, the next day Jerome and I needed to leave Massachusetts for New York City.  About a 4 hour drive.  We would only be in NYC for a few hours before heading to New Jersey.  Enough time to take a gander at my sister Deni's new kitchen that my brother Ray put in last year.  It looked really nice and opened up her apartment quite a bit.  She prepared dinner; pesto ravioli with some ingredients that she grew in her urban garden.

We had plans to head out for a square dancing evening, but since Linda was waiting (in New Jersey), we thought it best to head out.  It's about a 45 minute to an hour drive from the city to where Linda lives in New Jersey.  She is the one that was housing my son's car that he purchased on the internet while he's been in Afghanistan.
We watched the first disk of the birthday project for my dad and played games and then headed to bed.

The next day Jerome and I would spend it entirely in separate cars.  We brought our walkie-talkies so that we could keep up communication with each other.  He drove Justin's car the first half and I drove it the second half.  The car does not have a radio, so you basically listened to rattling noises and a high performance engine...for 6 hours (each).  Luckily the seat was comfortable.

Anyway, it made it home and will have to make it down to North Carolina in November and then it's all his :D

Mission Accomplished - for real!
**I was just informed by a close friend that the above image is disrespectful.  I thought it was funny...but to be more "non-partisan", I am adding another equally disrespectful image below.  I say disrespectful because it didn't happen.

I was really only trying to convey that MY Mission was Accomplished - for real.

And then my husband reminded me that this is my blog and I can put whatever I want in it; whether it offends people or not.  This is why people have blogs...I will try to keep this in mind for future posts.

Comments

Anonymous said…
We will just be missing you while you are in North Carolina :(. But it sounds like you had a good trip!

Sam
Tami said…
Your hilarious with the pictures....made me laugh, so mission accomplished =)

I can not believe how close your sister and brother-in law live to the ocean. I bet they get some amazing storms there.
Looks like a fun trip! I, too, ate seafood (crabcakes) while near the shore. Yum!

Isn't that a long drive?! And you did it all yourself, which amazes me, because I usually make J drive all but about 2-3 hours of it. I hate driving! :)
Sara said…
That painting in our living room above the couch cost the most. Bought it in Greece and then had to ship it home. Unfortunately, it got a little damaged, but it's not entirely noticeable. =( What's was your most expensive piece?
baby sister said…
Shane's photograph of the outside of our house was the most I had ever spent on a piece of art. Then consider the expense of framing and matting...until now...Anyway, the one I just bought in MA was $475.
Jan Marie said…
I think the photos are hilarious!!!

His whole tenure in Washington was disrespectful to the working man and those that trusted him in the aftermath of 911.

OOPS...I try not to comment on politics because it is so close to people's heart. But he and his ilk piss me off.

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