Rainy Days and Bloody Sundays

Okay, the haiku's sort of a downer. The picture's a little brighter, don't you think? It's listed on eBay, if you think it's so wonderful you'd like to pay five whole dollars for it. What the hell, I'm having a lot of fun.

It's a cold and rainy Sunday here in Connecticut...but Mother Earth needs the rain, so I'm not complaining. I went to the Hygienic Art Show last night...in case you're surfing by, the Hygienic was a greasy spoon type restaurant in New London (methinks the restaurant doth protest too much?) that closed down in the '80s. The city was going to tear it down, but a bunch of bleeding-heart types decided to save it (just kidding). They turned it into an art gallery. It has naked ladies on the side (an interpretation of the Graces, I believe) to the horror of prim and secretly prurient city fathers and mothers. I've never been to one of the shows before.

But last night, my friend Carrie was in the show! It's a juried show, so that's quite an honor. She had two photos accepted, titled My America I and My America II. They've very cool. Carrie's a team member on this blog, so you can get to hers from here, but I know she hasn't posted them...yet, anyway. I hope she does.

I should go to more shows like that. It's not so much that I "get ideas" from other people's art--it's more like I give myself permission to express what's not quite conventional or "acceptable" to express. It made me want to finish a couple of pieces that I've started.

Another exciting thing happened at the gallery...I was standing next to a bin with various posters in it, and I noticed that there were things in there that looked like menus...sure enough, they were old Hygienic menus! The reason this was exciting (in case you think I've lost my mind) is that my mother worked there, back in the early to mid '70s! I have some wonderful memories of the place (which kept the counter and all the fixtures, by the way). I told Carrie last night about visiting my mother there after my father had disowned me for (horror of horrors) seeing a Jewish man, to whom I was subsequently married for 15 years. My mother died in the early '80s of colon cancer, and I still miss her. This greasy menu full of cheap, tasty food is a fitting memento.

Carrie, I hope you continue with your art. Bon voyage!