The remainder of last week was quite productive. I put off the orchestra piece to finish "Take All My Loves", mostly because I was feeling a little closer to the latter since I’d been working on it longer. Plus, I felt as though I should finish it sooner rather than later. So, I plugged away during the week, and managed to get close.
Friday evening, two of the residents gave readings in a dance studio in Sheridan. Collier Nogues read some of her poetry, and Kenneth Lin presented an early draft of his latest play, read by Collier and three Sheridan natives (one of whom is also a current resident in filmmaking). Both were quite fantastic. They’re clearly very talented writers, and their readings (as they should) made me want to read more of their work.
After the readings, we had a night on the town, and met some colorful characters, indeed. One particularly drunk middle-aged fellow at the Mint Bar decided that one of the female residents was his girlfriend, and offerent to step outside with her "boyfriend" when he arrived. He was too far gone to realize that she had implied that I was her "boyfriend" in order to avoid his advances. Fortunately, she managed to politely escape when he turned away to guzzle more beer. And apparently (so I was told later in the weekend back at the Foundation), some local young homophobes were doing their best to get my attention with flamboyant, fey gestures. Again, fortunately, I was too engrossed in conversation with another of the residents to take notice. I don’t know what’s wrong that sort of person. Scum of the earth, though. That much I’m sure of.
On Saturday, I was given a broader tour of the area by Darien’s friend’s cousin and his wife, who we met at a wedding just a few weeks ago in Boston. Small world! We had some delicious meals around town, and visited a few really interesting museums: the Bradford Brinton Memorial & Museum and the Don King Saddle Museum.
In keeping with my personal rule of not working on weekends or after 5 o’clock at colonies, I spent all of Sunday relaxing. I went nowhere. I did nothing. I puttered on the internets, and ate leftovers from the week’s delicious meals. Then I went to bed.
Yesterday was an odd feeling sort of day. The Foundation was half-open – meals were prepared as usual, but the office wasn’t open – so I took that as my cue to only half work. I slept in and knocked off early, but also managed to finish "Take All My Loves": I set the last three lines of the poem and finished most of the engraving. All that remains to be done is to let it set for a week before I consider revisions, and to put in dynamics (which I have set in my mind, but always save until the very end).
And today: back to the usual grind. I set aside the orchestral movement that I started last week (I’m not convinced of it yet, and become less so as days go by – it seems destined for the scrap heap), and began sketching another. The opening of the movement came to me in a flash of inspiration as I stood on Labrador Beach this morning. I ran back to the studio to get it all down on paper before I’d lost it. Only tomorrow will tell if it’s any good.
And here are some deer standing in the field and stream near my studio that I photographed today. Stupid creatures, but pretty.
Recent Comments