awoke to yet another desert morning and only the next day,
Friday, after a full week of light-headedness for every effort outside and exTREME soreness,
did I finally feel somewhat up to “normal” tasks
such as getting stuff to the burnpile but by then it was time to pack, to load…so…
packed and loaded after a quick last inspection the next morning we
ate breakfast on the porch
and were gone; Gerlach to Empire
and so on down the road, sketches casting shadows
in the sky over Nixon. Chemtrails or contrails…shadows in the sky.
I was barely in Benicia in time for Sunday’s library takedown, a mere week
before the first SFMOMA Artists’ Soapbox Derby since 1978* – pics from then below –
a week so jammed with stuff I barely got out on the bike, barely clothed given the mid-summery temps, but one of those times I did espy, in his garage down at the water’s edge, a car built by a guy named Bob, sweetly retired for 33 years after 33 years at Mare Island, ’35 Ford fourdoor
four blocks away from my ’45 tChevy pickup built in Berthoud Colorado**
and a mysterious*** Dinky Supertoy sent from Italy for The Birthday by my brother Bryan to
keep company with this Murano glass, bought in Venezia years ago to brighten our wines
and memories. Otherwise…
unseasonably [a word much overused of late] warm…
*Unfortunately prior commitments preclude my attendance this time around, but highly recommended; Sunday, folks! https://www.sfmoma.org/faq-2022-soapbox-derby-mclaren-park/
** Built there between 2010 -11 and augmented locally in the years since.
***”Mysterious” in that though its designation and cab match up to a known military model the color, rear wheels and bed do not. Most likely late fifties but…
The link to SFMOMA soap box derby’s was wonderful. It reminded me that in the 50’s in Dayton my dad would take us to the Soapbox Derby held on a giant paved hillside at Wright Patterson AFBase. We would see the SAC bombers parked about. I’d also try to build something with a board and roller skates, and an old wooden box or something, never very successful. I never entered a race however.
Stephen
Didn’t the Soapbox Derby originate in Dayton?
Definitely Dayton. Sez Lance without a second’s pause. Daytona is a different story.
1933…Daytona had nothing to do with it.
Last July I commemorated my birthday with a short poem:
I can’t believe
I’m 78.
It must be something
that I ate.
I’m going to complete my 79th orbit around the sun in July. But 80?! That’s weighty. Carry on.
Nice rhyme there, Eighty and Weighty. I’ve put it up my sleeve for the coming September when I’ll join the club.
Thanks for Mare Island. I had never heard of it, and the internet turned up some fine photos from its heyday.
Happy Birthday Mike… sorry I missed the day… Thanks for the photos of the desert roads and onto home… Love, E
Hope you find a way over here in time to see your painting at the NMA…and us, too!