Okay, when I offered to take friend up for a medical appointment/procedure, I forgot there would be a major bureaucratic angle. Well, not forget as much as not think of. So, first sunny Florida is not so much today; although it may be clearing as I write this. At least I didn’t have to drive during rush hour and we’ll see what happens on the return. We get in and get parked and now we discover the restriction on no family or friends with the patient is still very much in place. Oh, and the usual nice waiting areas are no longer available. I did bring the notebook computer anticipating a long wait. What I did not expect was the wait would be outside where chairs – not what one would call comfortable – and a couple of tables are. No access to the cafeteria, but there are small bottles of water in a chiller. No outlet and I’m not sure how long the charge on the computer will last. I should be able to make it at least through this post. I did also charge up my little recharger for the phone in case I need to resort to that. Since the table I’m sitting at is wet and I don’t have many tissues in my bag, I could only wipe off a portion and can’t get my mouse out. This little notebook is a bit tricky with using the cursor. I’ll have to be careful not to inadvertently delete items as I type. Anyway, it’s working for now and that’s what matters. I found it interesting that even though we had our masks on, they handed us new ones. I suppose that does make sense from their perspective. After all, they don’t know where ours have been, how often they are washed, etc.

The next issue will be when I am supposed to go join my friend as she has never been to this place before and the other times I have been were in other parts of the very large building. At this point I am outside on the ground floor and she is upstairs somewhere on the second floor. Added to that, she may have more than one procedure and I don’t know if that will be in the same area. As I said in the title; a new experience. Close out; the rain held off for a while, we did reconnect and there will be a follow-up appointment at a later date.

On the other hand, despite rain all the way back. there was a late lunch – well, more like a Happy Hour that included wine.

A comment from a friend triggered another memory from many, many years ago. I’ve explained how I was what I call “an inadvertent pioneer” during my Army career and that I was part of the Army Ordnance Corps by basically an odd set of circumstances. In case you didn’t read that post, that was the maintenance side of the Ordnance Corps. My initial official category was as a “Tank, Ground Mobility Material Management Officer”. Anyway, after leaving Fort McCellan, AL where they put us through what was essentially a Basic Course, I went to Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD for two separate courses. The Ordnance Officers Basic Course was where all of us were together. That was three months; then those who were in Ammunition, Missile Maintenance, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal went off to other locations for the second part of training. That meant I was at Aberdeen for six months. The staff (called a cadre) obviously got to know us well in that amount of time.

Our post office boxes were in the same building as the company headquarters and so the cadre (who were all Captains and Majors) often crossed paths with us between training sessions. One of my girlfriends and I were standing outside the building talking on a day with quite a few clouds and it was just starting to sprinkle. We were almost through with our conversation and one of the cadre hurried past to get into the building. We saluted smartly and he turned as he was under the overhang and said in tone between amusement and exasperation, “You two do realize don’t you, they say second lieutenants don’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain.”

There really wasn’t much we could say in response, so merely saluted again and didn’t get too wet as we finished talking.

Many people reading this blog are already familiar with me being in Homestead Center for the Arts. If someone is new, our situation is we lost all our art galleries in the Real Estate Bust that started in 2008. We held onto a couple and then they relocated as well. We then partnered first with the Capri Restaurant and their Gallery Room to do exhibits about every three months, then one other restaurant which unfortunately didn’t survive the COVID-19 closures. There is also a City of Homestead Artist in the Spotlight program that uses the extensive wall space in the Seminole Theatre and our artists are often featured.

Anyway, our very talented volunteer Ellen Reese suggested we try Facebook Live for one Capri exhibit since we had not been able to hold receptions during COVID. It worked fairly well and even though we had our first in-person Meet the Artist reception Thursday (May 15th) for the exhibit, “Birds”, Ellen suggested we do another Facebook Live show 30 minutes before the in-person. Other than we didn’t appropriately take into account background noise as some people came early, it went well. We had three of our artists on camera and I gave a quick bit about each artist for the others. We would have had two more on camera, but a heavy rain storm blew through delaying them. They did arrive for the in-person portion so that was the most important thing. This format is allowing a greater reach, especially as we have a number of artists in Kendall and Miami and the drive down can be a real pain at times. I think we’ll maintain this and see if our reach continues to increase.

The two pieces shown here are Hubby’s photo of three white pelicans in the Everglades (we usually see only the brown ones), and a parrot by Ada Catala done in a technique of “piecing”. It is what it sounds like of doing a collage with tiny pieces of paper. Most of our artists have a page in our Gallery at https://homesteadcenterdorthearts.com

Two Pieces HCA “Birds”Exhibit at Capri Restaurant May 2021

Of things Hollywood believes in, attempting to duplicate success is high on the list. The  huge popularity of Joanna and Chip Gaines in “Fixer Upper” led to a search for other “engaging couples who remodel houses”. While there are multiple remodeling shows with various combinations, “Home Time”, has Erin and Ben Napier in Laurel, MS. She is perky and petite and he is hefty with a beard. They are committed to helping revitalize their town and especially focus on older homes. Most are of course done for families and individuals and include a range of sizes and budgets.

Last year, HGTV made the decision to launch a major effort with Erin and Ben taking the lead role for a four-month program of “Home Town Takeover”. (hgtv home town takeover.com) They invited small towns (under 40,000) all across the country to apply to be selected to have 12 properties, a mix of residences and businesses, renovated to try and spur revival of a struggling area. Although the Napiers have the lead, numerous well-known other HGTV remodel personalities will come in to do some of the projects. There were 5,000 applicants and Wetumpka, Alabama, population: 8,278, was chosen. In the way that often happens, larger stores and services offered about twenty miles away continued to drain business from them. They worked out a plan for revitalization and were making progress when a tornado tore through destroying much of what they had accomplished.

The first episode aired last night of a historic house selected as was a young couple who has opened their home to foster boys alongside their two sons. A woman trying to make a go of her clothing story was the business chosen and until Erin and Ben appeared, none of them knew they were going to be helped. On a different project, a long expanse of wall at an entry point to the town is having a welcoming mural painted with the local high school art teacher in charge of some students. I’m not certain of how many episodes there will be, but it is a wonderful series if you enjoy this kind of show.

There was a discussion about hunting and guns and I was trying to remember when I first learned to shoot. We did have cap guns and BB guns, but of course those don’t count. Daddy had a .22 rifle and a shotgun. He only hunted small game; birds, rabbits, and squirrels. Well, he did accidentally shoot a racoon one time and I don’t recall if we liked the stew or not. Anyway, I went fishing with him sometimes, but not hunting and that was probably because he was pretty intermittent with when he went.

It seems reasonable he would have taught us to shoot although the most distinct time I recall was going to a range with my uncle and cousins. I was on the ROTC rifle team for like one semester and did attend a match. I was never more than an average shot. As I’ve mentioned before, I was an “inadvertent” pioneer in the Army based on coming in as the Women’s Army Corps was being transitioned out. My first two years it was optional for women to qualify with the M-16 and .45 pistol. I didn’t hesitate even though a couple of my classmates chose to not fire a weapon. In light of the fact I went into the Ordnance Corps and weapons repair from small arms to artillery was part of our mission, we did of course have to fire as well as learn to repair them. Now when I say, “repair”, what that actually meant for an officer was to get a fundamental lesson in breaking down the weapon to see the parts and learn the most ordinary kind of failures. That was for pistols through machine guns and yes, firing an M60 and a .50 cal was an interesting experience. I had some difficulty with the Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW) because my hands are small and the hand strength required to hold and fire was designed for the average-size male.

As I have mentioned, I’m heavily involved in the nonprofit Homestead Center for the Arts. We have up to 30 artists and they are in a range of amateur to professional and work in different mediums. A couple are former art teachers and one artist took up painting because her mother was adamant she quit smoking and she was looking for something to substitute. Anyway, a little over a year ago, a couple moved here for the husband half to take a job with the Florida City government. (Florida City adjoins Homestead and is the last municipality before reaching the Keys). Terre Rybovich was an established artist in West Palm Beach and they had quite a bit to relocate not to mention her losing her studio. She’s shown all over Florida, in NY, and overseas. She hoped there would be available space to rent, but we lost that capability several years ago when we lost the last art gallery. With their decision to buy and remodel a home in Redland, they only recently became fairly settled.

One of the aspects of restoring the Seminole Theatre was to dedicate its considerable wall space to the Artist in the Spotlight program. Although the program is run by the City, HCA artists are frequently featured and the exhibits change about every two months. Terre was scheduled for last March when everything was shut down. So, she’s the first artist to re-start the program. She and her husband described her unique art and the fact it’s really big, but I didn’t honestly understand until I helped them hang the exhibit last week. In essence, she takes a huge canvas, covers it with charcoal, and applies part or all of her body. She then decides what part to leave or add and often also adds a bird to inject some color. Here’s a link to her website to get a better understanding. (https://www.terrerybovich.com)

I knew it had been extra hectic lately and didn’t realize I was days behind on posting. Yes, it’s the “usual suspects” as the popular line goes. Today will be only marginally better as I head out to cover a local event for the paper, but another thing I had lined up occurred yesterday instead. That, of course, wound up taking a few hours longer than expected even though it was a good deed. Anyway, among my tasks was getting the word out about the release of Idyllic Islands, now available on Amazon and B&N as well as posted to my website. I’ll get my copies in about another week; those I have earmarked for the ones who always receive signed copies plus a few extra to keep on hand for direct sales.

This is the fourth of the Chris Green books; the character I created in Shades of Truth and liked her so much I decided to spin her off into a separate series. That was why I featured her as the dual protagonist in Shades of Gold. I included a subplot to make it reasonable for her to leave Verde Key and go off on her own. I had already developed her character to be more of a “wandering type” and while not free-spirited, definitely more open to certain things than the character of Detective Bev Henderson. In fact,  when I wrote False Front (second Chris Green book after Deadly Doubloons) I did check with a friend and fan about Chris consistently entering into short flings. Not having been single for quite some time I wasn’t sure how that would play in my target audience. I was assured that didn’t mar her as a character. While a new interest isn’t quite the case in Idyllic Islands, there is a bit of a reflection about it as it applies to her relationship with Jeff. (No, I’m not going to say any more about that). This one is somewhat like False Front in that the clues to potential sinister events are not completely clear. Oh, and this is also a case where I actually made a major change toward the end based on my editor’s view. After you read the book, I’ll let you in on it.