Before I left for NYC and Ireland in June, I worked with a group of teenagers on a very unique archaeology project. Now, don’t picture me donning Indiana Jones garb, but also don’t snooze at the thought of cataloging itsy bitsy pottery fragments either.
This program was different. Students were required to get to know their neighborhood. I mean, really get to know it. In order to do that, they learned how to [read more…]
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A man takes a break from the hustle and bustle and heat by getting comfortable in Grand Central Station... I know how he feels.
Ceiling in Grand Central Station
The Irish Fireside Meetup... Corey, Karen and Bill
Central Park
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I'm in New York City for the Travel Blog Exchange Conference.
I'm staying with my niece Kristen. We packed in a lot... stop at the tourist office for my pack of freebies, Apple Store pilgrimage so Kristin could replace her Shuffle, Bubble Tea in China Town, a quick visit at the This Week in Travel Meetup and waaaaay too much chocolate at Max Brenner's. Altogether... good company, good food.
This is the spot in the city where China Town meets Little Italy.
Mmmm Bubble Tea in China Town
...and I became an official Laviator.
What’s a Laviator?
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Welcome to the world little Satchi!
The arrival of Satchi, the daughter of our friends Frido and Wakako, came right at a time of transition in my schedule. The last two months have been all about working, filling the coffers and planning.
Now, it’s time to put those plans into action, and there are all kinds of little reminders to keep family and friends close. I reconnected with two very close friends from college… one of them has two sons and I spent time with them as well. I started teaching a class to high school students. My niece, nephew, their dad and I invented a new game. I witnessed the amazing work ethic of my parents as I watched them in action for their business.
It all kind of adds up, I guess… at least in my mind.
Tomorrow I fly to New York City to meet (in person) some folks who follow us on the Irish Fireside, participate in the Travel Blog Exchange Conference, attend an event at the Irish Consulate and visit with Liam’s niece. A week later, I’m off to Ireland where I’ve partnered with Tourism Ireland to travel Ireland by train and blog about it.
It’s going to be wonderfully busy time. New adventures. New adventures everywhere.
Now, back to packing.
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This piece turned out to have more of a story to it than I ever expected.
This week the world got a whole lot smaller when a customer called from the State of Qatar, near Saudi Arabia. She was an American living there, and she had just ordered a piece of my shard jewelry for her mom in Chicago.
“My mother is just going to die when she sees the piece I ordered for her.” I could picture the piece clearly… a white plate decorated with a golf ball, tee and a green with gilded golf clubs. It stuck in my mind because it was extremely durable china and was especially difficult to work with.
“Why is that?” I asked wondering, first, why I was getting a call from the Middle East, and second, why a golf pin/pendant would elicit such a strong reaction.
“She DESIGNED that china for Homer Laughlin!”
That was a first — the daughter of the designer of a china pattern just happening upon a piece of my jewelry featuring their pattern. I do commission pieces all the time where customers ask me to create jewelry out of something with sentimental value, but to have someone reunited with their design completely by accident is quite extraordinary.
I certainly didn’t expect that when I found the plate in a stack of chipped dishes in Palm Springs, CA.
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Four times a year I feel like I’m back in grade school and on my way to the principal’s office. A brick seems to form in my stomach as I package up my receipts and paperwork on my way to the my accountant for quarterly taxes. Before I even leave the house, I’m already predicting how many times I’ll be asked, “Why did you do this?” or more precisely, “Why did you do this – THIS WAY???”
Just like in the principal’s office, I get an overwhelming feeling that my accountant is completely disappointed in me… like the fact that I didn’t separate my food and restaurant receipts in just the right way will absolutely devastate the guy. You’d think after six years of working with Pete I’d realize he just wants to get me a gazillion deductions and then get me out of there so he can work his magic on the next client’s tax forms.
Of course, when I’m done and say my goodbyes to Pete and his wife/office manager Fran, I want to do a happy dance all the way to the car… which is a bit of problem in April because I have to haul a giant box packed with all my paperwork for the year.
Another year of taxes DONE!
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Yesterday, I played a little April Fools Day prank. I posted on www.IrishFireside.com that we had sold the website to the Irish government for 1.2 million euro.
I tried to make it as far-fetched as possible… an extraordinary amount of money, a goofy tourism official complaining about not having enough brochures and finishing the whole post with me jet setting to Idaho.
The reaction from our Irish Fireside audience was what one would expect for an April Fools gag, “You had me going,” “Good one.” All in all, readers were entertained and many couldn’t believe they fell for it… even if only for a few paragraphs.
The response from friends and family was quite different. Many of them believed every word. Within five minutes the first phone calls and emails began, “Did you and Liam REALLY sell the Fireside?” “How many dollars is 1.2 million euros?” “I am so happy for you.” They not only believed it, they fell for it hook, line and sinker.
At first I felt embarrassed. In truth, I’ve never been a fan of gags and pranks; I hated when they were played on me. Now, there I was at the center of giant joke… with some of the dearest people in my life were believing an untruth.
As the supportive emails, calls and Facebook comments kept coming in, I realized something. I’ve got amazing people in my life. As implausible as the story was, they wanted it to be true (and not just because they’d have a millionaire on their friends list). Not only did they want it to be true, but they also believed I had it in me to make something truly extraordinary happen.
That’s quite a compliment. I don’t think I could ask for a more endearing compliment.
Now, I’ve got to go out and make something amazing and REAL happen… my friends and family are kind of expecting it 
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We pushed home through the rain and wind to arrive in Cedarburg, WI, just in time to set up for the wearable art show. Thankfully, it was sunny… but still below freeeeeezing.
The frosty weather changed our plans a bit. We wanted to wait until after this weekend to re-winterize the RV, but when I dumped the holding tank on Friday morning, it came out like a sewer slushie. With temperatures in the 20s, we couldn’t risk a full-on freeze.
We took to task draining the water, siphoning RV antifreeze into the lines and dumping the tanks. None of this is difficult, but it’s certainly NOT something we want to be doing after two months of sunshine… and knowing that within a month, we’d be reversing the system again.
Although we’re really close to home, we’re still in the RV and haven’t come home to our condo yet. Now that this show is done, we can regroup, repack/unpack and get things organized.
The Cedarburg show was wonderful again. Lots of people… customers new and old. Lots of our favorite pieces of shard jewelry finding good homes. All the excitement helped us almost forget the 1,800 miles we put in in four days.
On our last day “on the road,” we had an interesting stop at the Pink Elephant antique store in Livingston, IL. It wasn’t a particularly great shop, but they had some fascinating items in their yard… giant old fiberglass promotions. Here’s a peek…
We haven’t seen sun since Tucson. We’ve driven through strong winds, rain and even a bit of snow, but haven’t seen much of the sun.
I guess that’s okay though, since we’re really only looking at a lot of asphalt… 4 days of about 500 miles each is a lot more roadtime than we’d like. Alas, we had a Tucson show on Sunday and a Milwaukee show on Friday, so the miles are required.
Not much to report… we’re passing the time by listening to podcasts from This American Life, The Moth, This Week in Travel, Amateur Traveler, Storylife and Radio Lab.
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We left our trackside spot in Tucson yesterday and started our eastward migration. We need to be back in Milwaukee for a show on Friday, so there will be no time for dilly-dallying. In fact, we’ll be putting on about 500 miles each day… waaaaaay more than we’d like.
And this afternoon as we passed through Albuquerque, we hit slush and snow piles on the side of the road. It felt like winter was slapping us in the face, which I guess we deserve after a couple months of sun and warmth.
Last night, we pulled into Elephant Butte Lake State Park in New Mexico. Another great State Park. Tonight, we’re blacktop boon docking in a truck stop parking lot… not glamorous, but we’re on a mission.
I’m worried that our VitaMix has made its last date shake today… it died as I was mixing the ingredients and there was a noticeable burning smell. Sigh, I’ll miss those date shakes.
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