After the ‘burg and La Veta it looked like there might be a few days of – my ideal – Nothing but

soon after Friday’s lunch Jim showed up to interrupt Linda’s drawing with some countercultural tourists, provenance unknown.  I remained hidden with picaresque novellas* until they took off, ultimately went up to the studio to noodle around, do a little painting, a little drawing and try out the new PT moves Jytte had prescribed.   Subsequently small afternoon walks segued into

peaceful evenings while

each morning we pushed a little further uphill…

Sunday, again not quite Nothing, we went to Leon’s for peaches and a tour of his projects then

back to ours

until

finally, over eight weeks in and not without some missteps, we made it to the “steps”,

jumping off place for the last big pull to the Lone Pine.  The trail, rarely used, was all but

invisible so coming down I refreshed the ducks for the next attempt;

8400′, the Steps. The Inks and I went up again Tuesday which was not Nothing; more a day of

Somethings…housecleaning and hours of  ravioli-construction on L’s part in preparation for a longish lavish end of summer dinner for John, Eva, Jon and Patsy which was most fabulous

though left us unable to make our way all the way up the morning after…stopped short on the

path where Cosmos coated Aggie with richly aromatic dirt from his scrape and nearing home it was noted that the rope swing’s rope** had finally dropped after some forty years…

Intermittent unpredicted rains swept through, Wednesday another day of Nothing but

not so the next as that one saw a trip to Walsenburg for Safeway

and the ‘bib, sorting noodles*** and unearthing the likes of “Overpaint 4″, 57X57”, 1979;

and 1-80, 61X61″, done in Dogpatch, 2606 Third Street., 1980.

After unwrapping and shooting those two and two diptychs we exited via First Choice Market [for Tamales] and beat it home, beat, for lunch.  Three more canvases [= a 5×10′ diptych and a single 5×5′] remain.  Next time.

 

*Risqué business to be sure and great fun though not as outright hilarious [at least to me] as Alan Weisbecker’s In Search of Captain Zero.

** The log itself had been on the ground a decade or so, peacefully undisturbed.  Interesting how the rope embraced it when it finally dropped.

***AKA the “Divorce Paintings, among other things, 1979 – 1981.