It has been quite a long and hot summer here in Texas, and it drains the energy out of the most well-meaning of us. I am no exception and so my summer was spent trying to escape the 40+ days of over 100 degree temperatures that we have had here in the Metroplex (so far) with no end to the drought in sight. I have to admit that I haven't given this blog a lot of thought until this week, when I began spending some days up at school again and it occurred to me to do some updates. So here we go... the summer blockbuster!
With the end of the school year in June came the usual sadness as I watched classes break apart and I knew in my heart that some close friendships were breathing their last (even with promises of "we'll visit" or "keep in touch", some good friends will never follow through on those. High school brings necessary changes in people, and so does the end of high school.) Being a witness to this for year after year now, I sometimes feel like I'm really the only person in the room that truly understands the finality of that day. It's such a relief to have school end, but also brings a sort of melancholy to those of us who have valued the experiences we have had.
Melancholy is almost always short-lived with the onset of summer fun, however, and this year has proven to be no exception to that rule. As for me, I enjoyed a great deal of travel as well as opportunities for relaxing in the sorts of ways that I have grown to appreciate more with each passing year of my life. I had so many nice breakfasts with no hurry to get anyplace in particular, and I really cherished those times. Some mornings were luxuriously long, and others were shorter due to my "altered" summer hours. I found that on some days, my prime sleeping hours were 7 AM till 10 AM! I had quite a few nights when I found myself still awake at 4 AM, just puttering around. Reading, watching an old movie on Netflix, or (strangely enough) sorting through clutter and purging unnecessary things from my life. I had the luxury of time, something that runs in short supply once summer ends.
I was lucky enough to have two vacations this year, the warm weather one and the cool weather one.
My warm weather one was to Florida. I saw such great things! Key West was great, I loved seeing the alligators in the Everglades (they are EVERYWHERE!), and the Miami Beach area was great too. We were there for ten days, and I have a billion pictures of that trip. There were so many photogenic areas to visit, and I never got tired of palm trees. I miss them.
Another thing I will never again take for granted is temperatures in the 70s and 80s. With our sizzling summer here in Texas, it was amazing to feel what 77 degrees at 4:00 in the afternoon felt like again, thanks to a great trip to some places that I would NEVER visit in the winter: Chicago, along with Wisconsin and Minnesota. When I was in a small town in Wisconsin, I remember I actually stopped and said it out loud: Texas in summertime is awful. My hearty congratulations to those of you who made it through the summer of 2011 without leaving for any length of time. I was gone for 20 days this summer, and I still barely survived the heat. You are better people than I.
Some highlights of my cool weather vacation were: the August 1st Paul McCartney concert in Wrigley Field (I could go on and on just about that), visits to Taliesin and Oak Park to tour Frank Lloyd Wright's original homes and studios, the green rolling hills of Wisconsin with beautiful farmland and wonderful people, and fabulous art museums in the great city of Chicago. Also, I visited cities that I have a connection with generations ago...we did a lot of work on our "family tree" this summer by digging through archives and visiting towns that our ancestors helped found / or where they were early businesspeople or farmers. This was much more fun than I could have imagined. I expect that this pursuit will continue for many more years to come.
When I got back to Texas last week, I began to realize just what a big world it is and how we really cheat ourselves if we don't travel. I will always want to do this, and I am lucky that I am entering a part of my life where I can do more of it now. I love Texas and will probably live here forever, but not in summer too much if I can help it. I'd like to travel during the summers as much as I can for as long as I can. Both to escape the intense heat and to see more of the world. There are so many wonderful places and there is so much to do. I hope that everyone can do their fair share of traveling.
Now it is with renewed energy and enthusiasm that I greet this upcoming year of school with lots of stories to tell and lots of information about several colleges and design schools I was able to visit during my travels. I finally made it to several of the Florida schools and to several in Minnesota and in Wisconsin as well as the Chicago Art Institute. I know many of my students will come back for the fall semester after having attended the SCAD summer program as well as MICA and a few others that will have good information to pass along too. I always look forward to the first weeks of school, and they are now upon us. Good for us!
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