I like it that the word blue has taken on meanings these days. Very hip…or maybe just that I have been a consumer of the blue brands in the past few days. JetBlue, BlueStudio, et cetera having to do with skies or seas. Regardless, I like blue despite that fact that most clients want blue logos so they can take fewer risks and to some degree, fit in when standing out is more the place we should want them to be.
We got up early and are on JetBlue winging our way back to white (snow) in Syracuse which we should have the pleasure of encountering around noon thirty today. We spent an evening in Fort Lauderdale in the Courtyard by Marriott across the street from the National Swimming Hall of Fame (a very prime example of Post Modern architecture which R. surmises is an Architectonica design given it’s lovely whimsy and crappy construction—a winning and yet recognizable style). Abutting the National Swimming Hall of Fame is the Fort Lauderdale Swimming Club with many pools cordoned off for lap swimming that could easily accommodate hundreds of swimmers going back and forth finding either sport or focus in that lovely repetition of strokes, walls and markings on the pool.
We did a walk on the beach to see the rosy sunset, and to our surprise, there was the Celebrity Solstice going out for a bit of a spin for the evening. I took pictures of the palm trees (many and varied), the palm fronds and of course many green coconuts which seemed to be quite abundant on the beach. We passed a tree that we always qualify as a bird tree. You can have bird trees anywhere…and this bird tree was thunderous with the chirping and singing that emanated from its leafy branches. We caught a glance at boat tailed grackles (identified over the phone by Princess Kitty) who were happily gobbling up the fruit and beckoning their friends to come and join them. We saw pelicans and parrots –who cawed raucously as they flew by. I love the flora and fauna that seem to be so regular in South Florida. Granted, I love the flora and fauna regardless of where we go, but what with brilliant purple foliage and exotic birds, South Florida has much of the world by the tail.
We also walked down the River Walk in Fort Lauderdale which is a lovely park that follows the river. The river activity is wild with these enormous yachts and sea taxis steaming down the water, maneuvering some quick turns and narrow spaces as equally large yachts lined either side of the aqueous street, parked and waiting. The River walk was lined with a great selection of palms and plants one might see up north in shopping malls or tropical plant stores –great purple leaves, some polka dotted bright pink or green leaves, frosty blue round palm leaves etc. River Walk is very Fort Lauderdale and well worth the visit.
R took me to a wonderful place for dinner, the 15th Street Fisheries. There is an upstairs with fancier menus and downstairs, more bar and casual food. There is outside sitting and inside. But, beyond the yummy sandwiches with seafood, they have cut holes in the floor of the restaurant which is suspended over the river, and there right in front of you are scads of fish—flounder and other fish, in a silvery dance in the illuminated green water. They had pictures of people on the outside of the building feeding buckets of fish/chum to these enormous, big jawed tarpons. Primordial fish. One definitely felt on the top of the food chain as I glanced down at the frisky flounder and then at my hot plate filled with dinner. The 15thStreet Fisheries is situated in a boatyard, so we got an eyeful of all sorts of Boston Whalers—center console, ocean going etc. Loved it.
Onward to home. Onward to our dear ones who need us. K had a series of interviews with art schools over the weekend at SUNY Purchase (which she quickly labeled as a prison for art), and had negative responses to her work with Fine Arts departments (which she thought was where she was interested) with input such as “do you want to be an illustrator and do things like Hallmark Cards or Children’s books?”). So, poor K got the first taste of the Fine Arts sneer at illustration. It was a bit of a shock, tip of the lash for her as she didn’t see it coming. She is quite disheartened as am I as her work is beautiful, genuinely good, and as she is just on the front end of this process, it is (as we all know) hard to scrape yourself off the floor, sew your ego back in place, pick up the portfolio and proceed. But, we will get her all put back together again. A. seems lonely—and needs some hugging. Shady Grove is mope-y so she will need time hugging us and taking a deep doggy deep breath.
This coming weekend is a baby shower we are doing with friends…so I will need to engage in this. We have Christmas to start focusing on, Thanksgiving to plan along with the writing of our papers for Hartford and getting back on track with the project work. Need to check on ski bus before it is too late. And of course, it’s the last quarter of the year, so the business needs a bit of TLC along with the steady stream of work we have the opportunity to do. So, back to the whirl at Two Camp Street.
Winter awaits in Syracuse.
More later>>