I took advantage of the 2010 expedition’s abrupt end by soaking up the rapture oozing outta Hello World’s home base, the Artist house on Crystal Lake. Truth be told, the spring had sprung so sweetly last May that it was tough to tear myself away and start the trip. Though Hello World’s broken paw was a bummer, the prospect of staying home for the rest of the summer was decidedly excellent.
The end of the expedition wasn’t all sex on the beach, tho. Being back early made me vulnerable to wedding invitations. I loathe weddings generally and ALM was supposed to be my get out of jail free card. Now my nephew and brother-in-law’s weddings were looming, in New Hampshire and California respectively. Shit.
Having a limited supply of nephews, I decided to shag my ass out east. A visit to New Hampshire would put me within striking distance of the four 20 foot galvanized pipes I left on the roof of my alternate crib in Brooklyn, NY.
Heading to wedding in New Hampshire with an iridescent obsidian knappage by Steve in Ogden Dunes, IN.
Weddings - gak!
Family face time, my genius niece with her two main men, Gordon and my famous brother, Jim
Galvanized pipe and AIS Klamps are like Legos for big kids. Originally I had intended to use the pipes to build a fire escape for my 3rd floor apartment and facilitate direct access to the ground floor gardens. Static from the snooty french neighbor on the second floor complicated the design requirements and the 20 footers were no longer practical. The plan was to bring them back to the Artist house and build a passive solar greenhouse informed by Mike Reynold’s Earthship aesthetic.
The transport protocol involved stacking 2″ thick foam blocks on the roof of the Honda Odyssey to supplement it’s wimpy 100 lb capacity roof rack. 5 ratching cargo straps locked the load down with a couple of tee shirts around the leading straps to dampen high speed vibration. Having 1 1/2″ pipes poking 6 ft over the windshield made my POV rather like commanding a tank or missile launcher.
While packing the pipes I realized that I wasn’t excited about returning to the Brooklyn apartment in the fall. After 6 years of living between Brooklyn and Beulah, perhaps it was time to return to Michigan full time. I let that thought settle in during the 15 hour drive back.
En route, I got a call from Gene, a fellow devotee of Swami Bua, my yoga teacher. Swamiji had died in India from complications of stroke. He was about 120 years old. Here are articles from Hinduism Today (obit) and The New Yorker (2006).
An ~80 year old Swamiji in the 1970s. I was 13 when I first met him in 1976.
A few days back in Beulah and I knew I was finished with NYC. The Odyssey and I headed for NYC once again – on a mission to extract the last of my gear and wrap up obligations. Mission accomplished on August 1.
I plan to visit the Big Mango every other month for my Taoist check-up and After Effects New York. It feels totally right to be back in Michigan full time – consolidating my resources, building a production alliance, focusing on the local and letting Lake magic flow through me. It’s hard to describe how that works here, you’ve just got to experience it.
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