May 2nd
Goodbye ACA

After meeting with Nancy and Barbara I spent a little time with the butterfly net. I captured and got a number of dragonflies and butterflies.

Then the entire crew of art associates left for a lunch at JB's Fish Camp. On the drive over Vincent and Filip interrogated me about gallery business. After a cheerful lunch we loaded up for the Canaveral Seashore beach with its turbulent waves. We made a strange sight with Filip in his Euro Speedo and Bronwen helping recover treasures. We passed flocks of Ruddy Turnstones. In the surf numerous Portuguese man-of-war had washed up looking like oily balloons. I collected a few. Nancy seemed particularly interested in them. After about two and a half hours we returned to ACA for a last meal and open studios.

(Photo by Scott Hocking)

About fifty people showed up from the public. Ann gave an invigorating opening speech and spoke of how Florida has gone from being the 4th largest supporter of arts funding to being the 38th. Then David presented a work and Omar and another fellow presented. The Suzanne Marshal's associate danced and she showed her dancers in milk clip. I then asked my associates to line-up and introduce themselves with a few words. Although they were nervous they did a remarkable job. There was a rather silly collaboration between a composer and two dancers and then my group dressed like funky athletes and played a ping-pong championship. The night and residency ended with an absurd dance party in which Corrine and Filip were real stars. Two of the world's most uninhibited dancers acting out. Corrine in Dana' s 1950 bathing suit and Filip in shorts and a wife beater. David turned to me and said "how long do you think we have to stay?" and we left just then.

May 3rd
Packing Day

It was a horror to pack. The house looked like we had been there for ten years. It took about three and a half unhappy hours to box everything and cram it into the car. The vehicle is jammed and still I left behind my box of books, tools and writing box and butterfly nets. Beat, hung-over and entirely worn out, we crossed Florida to visit Dana's grandmother.

We stopped at a classic funky roadside shack where Dana ate two pounds of spicy crayfish while I had a BBQ pork sandwich and six fried oysters. We listened to the lectures about the romantic poet Lord Byron and crossed the state. We arrived at Adele's house exhausted. We took her out to the Longhorn steakhouse and then watched "Rebecca" on TV and went to bed.

May 4th
Homeward Bound

We had pleasant breakfast with Adele in her spotless condo. After a tour of the common areas and swimming pool we set off for the flea market, which was one of these labyrinthine covered affaires selling mostly cheap hardware and mass produced goods. We did find one or two items of interest like a push button doorbell from the 1920's. We then tried to visit a fireworks store which was closed but we did manage to come across a tiny antique shop were a few items were added to our obscurely packed car.

After bidding Adele goodbye we sped across the state to Sanford where the car train awaited us. Dana became obsessed with having a taco and we had to pull off the highway several times before we came across a chipotle restaurant. Soon we were resting in our sleeping room on the Amtrak car train, which cost almost twice as much as it did last time. On the way to the station I spied a Northern Harrier hawk by the roadside, which made for my 80th and last bird on the trip.