Maui, Days 12-13

Yesterday was pretty bla. I was underslept and headachey, not feeling very inspired to write or draw, and missing Mike so much that my tummy hurt. I pretty much just spent the day trying to steal naps when Penny did or else watched her sleep when I couldn't, trying to pick out her features that most resemble Mike's.

Look how long she's getting!




Mom and Penny seem to be getting along swimmingly.




This morning I did some more sketching at the beach and gabbed on the phone. So and so got in a car accident, so and so finally got laid, etc....Life in Eugene trucks along with or without us. What a treat it was when yesterday I got to hear from a dear old artist buddy from my SB days. So good to still feel close and connected to those once thought long lost. Joey, I'm still counting on that mixed tape!

Today I packed, tomorrow we travel. This trip has been more rejuvinating and creatively prolific than I ever would have dreamed. Picked up some good habits (mostly a better diet and the drive n' sketch), lost a lot of the bad. Ready to jump back into "real" life and rainy Oregon all over again with a fresh perspective. Home again, home again jiggety jig.

Here are the new roughs. Feeling a little indifferent about these ones for some reason.

Maui, Day 11

Today's been pretty mellow, mostly consumed with making phone calls to family and friends. I wouldn't be writing a blog today at all except that I'm feeling the pressure of there being a Day 1-10 and no Day 11 - which is a lame reason to write.

Here are the only noteworthy things to mention about today:

#1. Penny signed snow, girl, and boy.

#2. She also took a major face plant before bed which left her bleeding from her front teeth - nothing seems to be shaken loose except my cool.

#3. Teething tablets are half as expensive here - can you beat that?

....and, I wasn't going to mention #4. for fear of sounding petty but I have to come clean and let those of you know whom I told I thought I lost 10 pounds in my stay here, it turns out it was a faulty scale but I am still pleased about losing five. It turns out that living in a household without cheese could be a good thing for me.

Maui, Day 10

This morning Penny woke up and immediately began systematically spewing her entire vocabulary of spoken and signed words, and I was surprised at how much she knows now. I don't know signs for half of the new stuff she wants to say so it's getting hard to keep up with her. So far she either says and/or signs and uses the following correctly:

hi • bye • cat • bird • dog • baby • hat • hair • eyes • mouth • teeth • nose • toothbrush • brush • horse • cow (and moooo) • this? • that? • bottle • boob • milk • drink • water • ocean • swim • flower • bath • surprise! • happy • silly • up • mom • dad • peek-a-boo • shoes • no • yes • hug • kiss • bear • ball • butt • potty• butterfly • diaper change • wind• go • car • uh-oh • wow • whoa • yuck! • Thank You (she just signed this over lunch today!)

She also called me a "Boob-bot" today which I would consider to be fairly accurate.

Mike, you would be impressed with how well she's doing with standing. Here's a video from this morning.


Another success with the drive n' sketch today - hoping this little ritual works as effectively on the mainland! - and got to have a nice long chat with Mike on the phone. This perhaps steered the direction of my sketching.

Maui, Day 9

The morning drive n'sketch plan did not go over well today so I took Penny around the Wailea Shopping Center as I needed the excercise but also needed to stay out of the heat. It appears that the Enchantress, one of my favorite boutiques that used to be located in the quaint little boardwalk town of Paia has gone bougie and moved into the mall. Their store photo album is filled with pictures of Paris Hilton now so what used to be one of the best kept secrets of Maui is all over the map and the tabloids now and the prices have gotten just as overblown. Penny and I had fun looking at the Halloween costumes though. The Terpsichores Daughters would have had a hay day in there with frilly bloomers and ruffle skirts gallore.

Afterwards, went back home to eat and see about more luck with nap time and lucky for me Penny was down so I got in more sketching time than I ever could have hoped for. I'm pretty happy with the new bird/pomegranate one.



Afterwards we went to fancy dinner and live (easy listening) music at Tommy Bahamas. I'm so fat and happy and I don't know why mom and I don't drink together more often!

Maui, Day 8

Yesterday was pretty mellow. The morning drive and sketch routine worked like a charm. I got to write a card to dad. I found this one that totally fits him - see image below by Darshan Zenith (Mike, see cruiserart.com):

I guess there is a Karmen Ghia one on the website but no cards left at the store or I would have gotten one for you. Anyhoo, this guy certainly found his niche, eh? I wonder why it is I can't seem to love one particular subject matter enough to master it and make it my bread and butter. Even though I'm on my 16th icon, the style seems to change between each piece whethor I want it to or not, and I'm beginning to feel really blocked when I know I need to come up with a new one. Sometimes I tell myself that this just means I've gotten all of the obvious stuff out of my system and this is where the REALLY good stuff begins. Other times I just get paralyzed by the fear of nothing coming, like now, and then nothing does. Usually this is when I would go to color to switch modes from the planning of paintings to actually painting but that's a little harder to work into the morning drive and nap routine. Sigh, sometimes I really do miss watercolor.
Went to a deli at the Grand with Mom for lunch. Penny and I saw a butterfly up close. She said "up" a lot and has been practicing standing on one foot and stepping over obstacles while cruising. Even though she slept for about an hour and a half in the morning she seemed ready for another nap by 2 but ended up staying up past bedtime. Desperate and exhausted, I read one last bedtime story when she started pointing at the light and signing flower and after arguing about this with her for a good long while I suddenly realised that she was pointing to the flower pattern on the lamp and had to laugh at my tired self.

Maui, Day 7

This morning mom's back was out so we got to borrow the car and go to the beach on our own. Penny fell asleep on the way so I got a blessed full hour-long sketching session parked in the shade just me and Nick Drake. I think I'm a little closer to deciding what I want to do for the Birth icon and worked up some new sketches.

Maui, Day 6

Penny firsts of the day:
The focus today was on motor skills, namely how to multitask while standing hands free: drinking water, shaking shaker, reading book - she did some pretty impressive squats from standing position and then back up to standing. She was more interested in this than doing any more walking today so sorry baby, no new videos today.

Penny was pretty crabby today after her teensy twenty minute morning nap, but mom was good enough to put up with it and watch Penny so I could put the ground in on a new icon painting. I also got to draw up some thumbnails deciding on the scale and direction of the work I hope to have in the upcoming Jacobs Gallery show. I meet with the gallery Oct 24th and I keep feeling a little unprepared, like I haven't done my homework. Maybe it's just that I'm not as far as I had hoped to be, but maybe they will be ok with what I've done, especially since it's a group show so quality vrs. quantity is definitely what I'm going for. I was able to work out that if I use the older icons in the show I will have 20-25 total pieces to choose from at most, and if I only show new work, I'll have 5-10 pieces total although 3 of them will be very large. Because all of the new work is so stylisticly harmonious and they all use the bird/pomegranate theme to weave my mythology of metaphor, I'm concerned the older pieces will seem out of place and comical against the tone of the new ones.


It's been a challenge staying with the bird theme, but I think picturing a real infant would only lead people down the wrong track with thinking that I'm trying to talk about a religious theme as opposed to a personal narrative. I think I've figured out an idea for the pregnancy piece but I'm still in the rough on my birth sketch.

Everyone sort of naturally drifted to their own corners of the house today so Penny and I were left to our devices of napping and playing. She liked the pool today and was very excited to encounter the poolside cats. I'll try to catch some pictures of them tomorrow. One of them has gorgeous markings that look like wood grain.

Here's a photo of this evening's sunset view from the upstairs balcony where I was painting today.


Earlier...

Maui, Day 5

Penny firsts of the day:
She signed bunny,potty and fish; she also said the words bear and "yuck!"

Everything today was smooth sailing. Penny ate two breakfasts, took a bath without a fight and had an hour long morning AND afternoon nap, allowing me to get in some pretty necessary sketching time.

Mom took us to lunch at the Maalaea Grill and then to the Maui Ocean Center Aquarium. We only had an hour at the aquarium but had a blast. I wouldn't have guessed it but the sea turtles had incalculable, birdlike grace, circling and diving, arching their necks, and pumping their limbs like outstretched wings. Seeing this particual creature face to face had me so enamored that I forgot about the tank for a moment and was reminded of stumbling upon a fawn and in the middle of the woods as a child and, taking it as a personal visitation from the spirit world, walked smiling secret smiles to myself the rest of the day, telling noone.

My other favorite was the unicorn fish. They look like caricatures of mousy, neurotic CPA's with incessant head colds - their silly cartoon human faces mistakenly placed on the bodies of a fish and sharp noses that just beg for spectacles.

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Maui, Day 4

Penny took her first steps today! First to my mom and then to me. I can't believe we actually caught it on video! Mike will be so proud - and of course totally sad he couldn't be here - sorry baby, there was no stopping her. Ok, I have to admit we did egg her on a little. For some reason singing Happy Birthday like total lunatics inspires her to do things she knows will impress us.





She also signed flower and learned how to open and close a sliding door while standing up. After the big rainstorm we went to the beach at last. The rain cooled things off nicely and it was still overcast enough for we two pasty "haoli" to venture out in the afternoon hours. Penny promptly scooped some sand into her eyes but we did get to stay long enough to put our toes in. Can't wait to take her tidepooling.

Maui, Day 3

Today we tried the opposote approach to fending off the tooth monster - getting the heck out of the house. We drove to Kahalui which was a good half-hour drive. Fortunately that meant at least that long of a nap from Penny which is more than I could get from her yesterday. Even Maui has strip malls, yuk. Between Penny's abbreviated naps these last few days, the time change adjustment, the midday heat/humidity, and Penny's reluctance to be passed off to family for any great length time I'm feel pretty deflated. Making the trip to Ben Franklin's to get art supplies today is now seeming somewhat pointless. Hearing more about the ongoing war between my hosts and their neighbor - namely over his smoking in the common areas but now I've learned of his distaste for the sound of small children (the last family that lived here apparently had an infant with previously unmatched vocal projection) - so now I'm feeling completely on eggshells every time Penny cries and there's no way in this heat that we can keep the windows closed, and there's no way with these new teeth and sleeping arrangement that she's not going to cry. What's a momma to do? Homesickness has officially set in.

Maui, Day 2

Penny was a clingy tooth monster today so we stayed on at the homefront mostly. Went swimming in the morning and even though it was only 10:30 I've gotten myself a crispy little sunburn. Penny said (not just signed) "silly" - "horse" - and "Wow!" today, and stood up on the living room carpet for 40-mississippi seconds! hmmm.... I may need to rename this blog Planet Penny.

Just got back from a stroll along torch-lit paths on the beach and bite to eat at the Kealani Hotel. Enchanting. Goodnight Mike xoxoxox! Hope your flight to Germany was swift and painless. Love and miss.

Maui, Day 1

Penny was ready to greet the day at 7, so we got up and made breakfast and took our first bath in the jacuzzi tub. I acccidently hit the jets button with my elbow which prompted an angry surface sputtering sound (since the water was so shallow) spewing no small amount of processed insect parts into the water and scaring the bajeezes out of Penny. Then I spotted a cane spider the size of my hand moving agressively (I'm told they're harmelss but I swear it was) on the ceiling right above our heads and that scared the bujezzes out of me, conditioner still in my hair, bath time was officially over. Shortly thereafter I stubbed my toe but I think I'm still a few days shy of losing the toe nail. The rest of the morning spent in quiet repose nursing headache and foot and shamelessly using sign language DVD as babysitter.

Latter part of the day much improved, caffeinated, foot salved and iced, napped, etc... Mom and Penny read books while Dharma played his new harmonium, a goregeous little harpsichord-meets-achordion sort of instrument - he found it at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, CA. It's gorgous with keys that look like mother or pearl and decorative inlaid wood. Here's what the school says about them (http://www.aacm.org/shop/harmonium.html):

"Brought to India in the mid-19th century by European missionaries, the harmonium has been adapted for use in Indian music. It in now the instrument of choice to accompany a wide variety of singing styles. From the small, portable harmoniums popular for kirtan and chanting to the Calcutta-made scale change harmoniums popular with ghazal and classical singers, and everything else in between"



Later on in an effort to beat the heat Penny and I tried out the kiddie pool in the shade of the back porch as the sun was too high to attempt the grown-up pool. Explored the house some more - Penny's certified baby-proofing inspector skills in full force: dug the mirrors. found a mouse trap. Went into Kihei for Thai dinner, yummm, Penny made friends with other customers and taught herself how to sit down and get up from sitting in booster on the floor... stood up no hands for about 12 seconds!

Getting to Maui

Getting to the airport was a bit of an adventure with only a few minor setbacks - the dead car battery at the gas station before leaving town and the two times traffic was at a complete stop on the 205 - just enough to keep me stressed out until we were safely seated on the plane. Luckily however, once we got to the airport it seemed like nothing but green lights and no waiting.

Penny was a dream on the plane despite her only taking an itty-bitty 30 min. nap. We were lucky to be seated next to two doting grandparents (an elderly couple, very Christian canary farmers, that yes, were both wearing canary yellow, and acted all kissy like they were on their honey moon - ok, so that level of PDA was a little gross but I secretly hoped Mike and I will be that full of passion when we're that wrinkly). Both of them were in need of a baby fix so they didn't mind her playful kicking while she nursed and dropping things in her "uh-oh" game play. The lady behind us was drawn into a game of peekaboo and asked later if she was "always so good natured" to which I had to smirk and say "she has her moments" in a resigned kind of way. When I knew she couldn't stand being on my lap for one more second, I put on her sign language DVD and half way through they were already saying that we were about to begin our descent. Not as bad as I had feared!

Mom's house in Maui Meadows is breathtaking. Spacious and breezy, full of votive statues, fountains and flowers, and a view of the ocean from the upper deck. Mom really went out of her way to make us feel welcome and Penny was extatic to see baskets of toys and books and musical instruments waiting for her and wasted no time looking at ALL of it in the first half hour of being here doing her little crab scoot from room to room at speeds I didn't know she was cabable of. I was extatic to see that mom had already gotten diapers, wipes, lap pads, beach toys, and even a pack and play crib with a changing table, mobile and a little attachment that makes nature sounds and plays music. We spent the evening getting settled mostly. Penny was exhausted as well and slept a good half the night in the pack and play.

Here's a slideshow of our new digs: