Mountain Monkeys

posted by maggie on Mar 3

When I was in college I read stories written by two different authors who made me want to visit the state of Maine. Due to the way they described the landscape and the small towns along the water I became curious and wanderlust.  I don’t remember the name of the author who wrote the first one I read.  It was a short story that described the rocky shores of the Atlantic ocean.  Steep, old, rock staircases leading up to the businesses and the hotels of Maine that overlooked the shoreline.  She made it sound like the landscapes, the seascapes and the buildings were shades of gray. Not gray in a bad or depressing way that winters in some places can become, but the shades of gray that make up the life of an old town and illustrate its history.

The second writer to make me wonder about the state, was May Sarton. She wrote a book of a year she spent alone, in order to gather herself together and to work on her craft of writing, to work in the garden, to shovel the snow.  This book was titled “A Year of Solitude”.  This is what I wanted.  A year away from everything that threatened my painting.  Day jobs, ex-boyfriends, family and friends.  I wasn’t leaving them forever…I just needed to spend time away to discover what the different shades of gray meant.  And I needed to find out whether I could capture that in the paintings–the shades of subtle color necessary in order to create the images I wanted to capture on the canvas. I didn’t spend a whole year in Maine, just one winter.

It was cold.  Makes sense.  It was Maine in the winter and it was cold.  I had rented a small cottage which was old and not well insulated. But a fire each night, and to be honest a fire throughout the day cast a warmer kind of glow on the grays that were just outside my windows.  Occasionally a small deer would walk across the yard, and her smooth brown coat seemed cadmium red in comparison to this black and white winter world.  I learned a lot about color during the months I spent in Maine.   I found that it is the subtleties of life, the grays of life that made the browns so vibrant.  My paintings changed a lot that winter.  I changed a lot that winter, that winter in spent in a state of grays–in the state of Maine.

posted by maggie on Feb 27

“Do you think we could actually make this happen?” Alice always questioned possibilities while Kyle always presented them. “Of course, once we talk to the others they will realize what a great idea it is and be eager to initiation that new tradition.” Alice had her hesitations and concerns but she actually loved the idea so much, and had just returned from an amazing trip to Palm Springs that she decided that it was definitely worth the effort to make it happen. The couple planned a dinner party for their four best friends the following weekend. That would give them plenty of time to get their photos ready and be able to present them with their gifts and also find a place to display the elegant new plant vase they acquired on their recent trip.

The following weekend’s plans seemed set and both Alice and Kyle were eagerly awaiting the evening and the chance to present their idea. They planned a meal that would emulate the great food they had at Miro’s and Kyle was happy to exercise his new culinary skills in the preparation of it. They gathered all sorts of information on the types of hotels that are in Palm Springs as well as various art walks and gallery information. A lot of this they had in brochures that they brought back with them.

All four of the friends arrived the following week and heading Kyle’s suggestion, the couple waited until after dinner to make their suggestion. This gave the friends time to fully enjoy Olive Tapanade, Cabbage Rolls and Shrimp Scampi appetizers as well as the Chicken Paprikash for the main meal. And this plan worked perfectly, they all loved the food and demanded to know where Kyle got the idea and recipe. That was the perfect introduction to talking about the pleasures of their recent trip and also let into making a suggestion that the six of them choose Palm Springs as their annual group weekend getaway. The plan worked perfectly and the six friends for the past four years have been making regular trips there together.

posted by maggie on Feb 21

There are lots of great things to see and do while you are visiting in Hong Kong. The city is filled with many elegant hotels you can find here www.hongkonghotel.com to stay in and some of them are famous for there architecture and service. While you are staying on this island, there are other islands near by that are worth exploring and there are many tours you can take to see and learn about each one. Whether you want to take a bike ride or hike the areas to see the historical monuments you will find the area charming and relaxing. There are even some places along the beaches to take your shoes off and enjoy the ocean.

One of these islands is called Cheung Chau which means long island in Chinese. It takes no more than an hour to get to the island by ferry from the Hong Kong Central District. This little island has actually be occupied longer than any of the surrounding area. It was mainly a fishing village originally and was part of lands leased to the U.K. under the terms of the Second Convention of Peking. It became the fishing and supply hub for a few of the other neighboring islands like Lantau. In 1953 they set up the Hong Kong Observatory that helps track weather patterns and more.

Lantau Island is the largest island in the Hong Kong chain and is located at the opening of the Pearl River. There are some great tourist attractions on this island. People come from all over the world to see the Tian Tan Buddha which is a bronze Buddha statue that stands about eighty five feet high. There are monastery buildings and restaurants near by which makes a nice place to have lunch. There is a great ride on the Ngong Ping Cable Car that goes between Ngong Ping Cable Terminal out to Tung Chung Terminal with give a spectacular view of the big Buddha statue and all of the beautiful park surrounding it. It is a twenty five minute ride.

posted by maggie on Feb 19

Tory made a really important decision recently, which was to move to New York City to pursue his career as an artist. He actually used to struggle with the phrase career as an artist and as many painters, sculptors and other artistic people sometimes recent the commercialization of their work. However, Tory was also practical and wanted his work to be seen and knew that it would take as much hard work to get it out there as what it did in inspiration and talent to get it on the canvas. He primarily painted cityscapes with people and he was started to become more focused on a seeing into interiors and single room focuses. He was fascinated with the idea of being outside of something and looking in on it and frequently wanted to put his viewers in that position. Well, he started painting that way just as an expression of how he experienced a lot of life and he realized the potential connection to other this might indicate, which is why it turned into a deliberate point of view for much of his work.

There are a ton of galleries in New York and a lot of the clubs and small performance venues also hang artwork. He knew he would find inspiration for his work in New York and when he arrived in town he was particularly interested in visions he would find in lounges and lobbies of some of the boutique hotels in New York. He stopped in at the Jazz Gallery on Hudson Street on his first day there and while he had spent a great deal of time weighing his decision to move he knew instantly he was where he needed to be and was filled with a tremendous sense of inspiration. He wanted to get back to his studio as soon as possible and put some paint on a canvas.

posted by maggie on Feb 17

Do you have an interest in the Middle Ages?  Do you feel the only way to really immerse yourself in the 11th Century is to travel to Europe and tour the various cities built in those times?  Or is it possible to travel to New York City and get a taste of it there?  Most people in New York head out to the top five or so attractions, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler Building, Central Park, and so on, but how many take a trip up to a hill that overlooks the Hudson in Fort Tyron Park.  There, you will find a museum covering four acres of ground that contains about five thousand works of art from Medieval Europe, mostly through the 12th through 15th Centuries.  This is the Cloisters Museum.

A branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters is dedicated to the architecture and the art of Medieval Europe.  Even the building and cloistered gardens are a part of the collection, which includes such works of art as the Plaque with Saint John the Evangelist, from the early 9th Century, the Cloisters Cross, from the 12th Century, the actual Chapter House from Notre Dame-dePontaut, from the 12th Century, the Tomb Effigy of Jean d’Alluye, from the mid-13th Century, to the Doorway from Moutiers-Saint-Jean, also from the mid-13th Century.

Absolutely vital to see are the Unicorn Tapestries.  These seven hangings were believed to have been designed in Paris and made in Brussels  somewhere between 1495 and 1505, and are known to be some of the best and most complicated art works that survive from the Middle Ages.  Known as The Hunt of the Unicorn, they’re made of wool, silk, and metallic threads, and these seven hangings depicting, as its title suggests, a hunt for a Unicorn, have been displayed together since the 17th Century.  They’re an amazing sight.

If you’re planning a trip to New York City, find a hotel here at http://www.luxurymanhattanhotel.com, and then make your way to Fort Tyron Park and see this incredible piece of Medieval history in the United States.

posted by maggie on Feb 15

My grandfather told me that the best pizza in the world was in New York City. He was an extremely passionate man, well in regards to the things he was passionate about, that is. If he didn’t regard it highly he didn’t care for it at all. And if he did regard it highly, well then there was nothing else in the world. Oh, New York also had the best baseball team in the world and it was the greatest city in the world. These are the things I learned from my grandpa. And I learned them from him while he was staying with my family in Las Vegas. That’s where my parents lived when I was born and my grandpa became sick and had to stay with us for a few months.

Those were great months and grandpa and I became extremely close during that time. I didn’t realize the extent of his sickness, which had my mom and dad extremely concerned. Maybe that’s why they always seemed so anxious and stressed out during those days. Grandpa never looked or acted sick though and we would spend our days playing cards and talking about the Yankees and Sunday afternoons in Central Park. I forgot to mention, he loved that park. It became his only source of exercise after he retired and slowed down. He’d walk through the park almost every day. He told me when I finally came to visit him he’d take me to his favorite pizza place. It’s on Bleecker Street and it’s called John’s I think. “Not the fancy one” he said.

I’m trying to remember now if that’s what he said. I never made it to visit my grandpa in New York and I’m actually just now getting ready to visit the city for the first time in my life. I have a place to stay near the park and can’t wait to visit it. I feel like I know it and have already been there based on my grandpa’s stories. “If I can find the fountain I can find anything.” That was his motto. It will be great to finally visit New York. I’ve always felt kind of misplaces being a Yankee’s fan but never having visited the city. What do I care, my grandpa lived there his whole life, I don’t have any choice but to be a fan. And when I find John’s pizza on Bleecker Street, I’ll eat a pie for grandpa.

posted by maggie on Feb 12

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Palm Springs, California? Well if you’re anything like me you think of a bunch of pretty lawns with newspapers at the stoop that belong to retired couples. Of course that’s an extremely simplistic view and maybe even a bit stereotypical, but I didn’t mean any insult to the imagery, that’s just what I think of. So, naturally when my wife asked me to go with her to Palm Springs on a business trip I didn’t jump at the opportunity. However, after she asked a few times I decided that it was still going to be a nice stay in a great room and I agreed to go. And besides, it was in California right? So, it didn’t take too much convincing, though I would never have thought to go there specifically.

And to be honest, it was really one of the nicest trips I’ve been on in a while. I spent an entire afternoon at the Moorten Botanical Garden, which is a full acre of a family owned garden and it is absolutely beautiful. I enjoy touring botanical gardens and usually incorporate them into my overall experience of cities. I used to have a theory that you could judge a city by its botanical garden but that has since been overruled. Still, I continue to enjoy visiting them. An interesting fact about these gardens is that they were established in 1939 by Chester and Patricia Moorten. Does that sound familiar yet? How about Cactus Slim Moorten? Anyway, he was one of the original Keystone Cops, which I found to be pretty interesting.

The San Jacinto Mountains are visible from Palm Springs, in fact the city offers some incredible views. To be honest I was perfectly content to spend most of the morning relaxing by the pool with a paper, maybe some coffee and a light breakfast and those gorgeous views. Interestingly that song by Peter Gabriel would run through my head every morning as I gazed out at those mountains. They certainly are an inspiration. The accommodations we received were so nice that they also enticed me into relaxing longer by the pool than I normally would. It truly was an incredibly relaxing, yet invigorating stay and I would eagerly return again.

posted by maggie on Feb 9

Friday, I headed into Wichita, Kansas and it was around lunch time, by the time I found Darren’s and James new place. I grabbed some lunch with them, it was really good to see the old gang again. After lunch I drove to this really nice Kansas hotel I found at this site: http://www.hotelskansas.net. and checked in. It was really cool, I’ll I had to do was show them my confirmation print-out and I was all set.

Later, in the evening, I headed to a local coffee shop where Darren was playing some music. That night, the coffee shop had different musicians play; Darren told me they do this once a month and he’s a regular player. It was great to hear him play guitar, I was surprised to see how good he was, he’s very talented. After that, we hooked up with James and looked over his gun collection, and played the game Settlers.

The next morning, I picked up Darren and we went to church at Whitestone. While there, I bumped into that guy who hires engineers at Excel. He asked me for my resume’, but I didn’t have it on me, so I’ll email it to him. I’m not really sure if I want to work at Excel, but it won’t hurt to keep in contact with this guy. I haven’t been to a Mennonite church service in years; I’d forgotten what they are like. I like some aspects of the service and then again, the rest is pretty boring. After church, Darren and I went out for some lunch and had pizza. By this time is was time for me to be heading on out to see other college buddies, but before I did, I made Darren come with me to Drubers, for old times sake. Drubers is the best little doughnut shop. I’m sure I’ll regret eating pizza and then a greasy, sweet pastry on top of that, but I young, I’m going to take full advantage of being able to burn off calories easily.

posted by maggie on Feb 1

One of my favorite places to go, the busy city life of Los Angeles and the traffic was wearing on my nerves, was to the beach.  Any one of the beaches along the Southern California coast suited me must fine.  From the wide open and very quiet spots in Malibu, to the funky and urban Venice Beach, to the one right in the middle, Santa Monica Beach.  And one of my favorite spots in Santa Monica, was a corner of the Santa Monica Pier, just north of the roller coaster.  Here, I could look out at the ocean, and almost completely forget about the noise and the populated city streets of LA. 

Many people looking for some of the best Los Angeles hotel accommodations will often times look for those which are located in close proximity to the beaches.  The Pier was opened to the public in 1909, and at that time there was no Ferris wheel or fancy restaurant, however thousands of people would flock to the Pier for outdoor concerts and music festivals.  The Pier quickly became popular with fisherman, and while they no longer fish off the Santa Monica Pier, you will often times see many people fishing just a bit down the boardwalk, off the Venice Beach Pier.  The Santa Monica Pier drew such crowds, that many local entrepreneurs began to formulate ideas for businesses to built right on the Pier itself. 

Soon the Blue Streak Roller Coaster was built, as well as the Carousel which is housed in the first named National Historic Landmark of Santa Monica, the Hippodrome.  The Pier has undergone several changes in the one hundred years since it was first opened, but one thing about it has never changed, and that is that today, it still continues to be a huge draw for tourists as well as locals, wanting a bit of respite from the busy city life that is happening just a few blocks inland.  During my two years living in Los Angeles, I went to the Pier almost every week.  It is a great place to go in the summer when the crowds are in town, and a beautiful place to go in the winter when the sky is gray and the waves are a bit choppy.  The Santa Monica Pier is one of the gems of the city, and a great place to go escape and relax.

posted by maggie on Jan 26

I went to Shabbat for morning services with Al, it was our first Synagogue in New York. Ahavas Israel Synagogue is a very orthodox shul. We got there just as they were beginning to read from the Tora. This place was built in 1904! The inside was really beautiful and lovely. I sat with two other women upstairs even though I could have sat downstairs if I choose to do so. But, from upstairs, I had a really wonderful view of all the stained glass windows and the various Stars of David that were painted on the walls. My seat felt ancient but very comfortable. Afterward the service, we hung around and the people we met there were all very welcoming.
 
We then headed downtown to 34th and 5th Avenue, which my Uncle told me when I was a little girl is not downtown but uptown. We only looked at the Empire State Building, we left the going inside and up for another time. The weather is turning, so we thought it wise not to be up high in the wind-chill. We then wandered around window shopping and people watching. One of the most interesting things that always strikes me when I’m here in New York City is the lack of a horizon. In order to see a horizon, one must travel up or go the the edge of the city.
 
After wandering around a bit more, we decided to head back to one of the small hotels in New York, which is right off of Park Avenue, and it’s our favorite place to stay when ever we come to New York, which is about once a year. Most of my family moved away, but there are still a few relatives here and there. When I visit them, they have a hard time imagining life in Alaska, where we currently live, I just shrug my shoulders and say eh.