Monday, December 27, 2010

Beach holiday

The TCM tour ended back in Atlanta which coincidentally is only about five hours away from my Mom's new home in Florida so I decided to decompress from tour by visiting Mom & the beach. 

I lived about four blocks from the beach in St Petersburg, FL for over two years prior to moving to Texas and I miss it a lot - sort of like the way you miss an old flame.  Although I'd planned only to stay for a few days on this trip, once I got there I realized how much I'd missed both Mom & the beach and called the airline to extend my stay.  I also made plans to come back for the holidays...  

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St Augustine running south into Flagler is such an incredible stretch of beach, relatively free of noise and people save for the repetitive rhythm of the waves crashing on the shore.

It was so invigorating to wake to that amazing sound every day...

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This stretch is So desolate, in fact, that at times it almost took on the appearance of some sort of beautiful post-apocolyptic fairy tale land - At least in my mind & lens... 



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Several mornings I went for a run down the beach and never saw a single person (except for my own shadow)...


(My apologies for the phone chirp at the beginning of this one.)



I found this awesome little abandoned dome home as well.  It appeared that the ocean essentially just decided to take the property back, as evidenced by the lack of a road to get to it  




though I can't say for certain. 
Whatever happened to precipitate it's current condition, I can imagine that once upon a time it must have been a fantastic little home by the sea for someone...






I was also lucky enough to be staying just down the street from Sculpture Artist, Paul Baliker.  

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Paul and his Mom, Joan Baliker, own this incredible beach studio.  When I walked up, he was putting some finishing touches on this massive piece with a chainsaw, which, he said, he just sold to someone halfway around the world. Figuring out how to move it, he said, was going to be another project entirely...   


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He calls it, "A Matter of Time."  My Mom had given me a beautiful framed photograph of it for Christmas but to see it in person was pretty incredible.  It's size alone is impressive....And the detail - right down to a tiny teardrop falling from the eye of the figure in the middle, is nothing short of magnificent.  I can't imagine how it must feel to let go of something you put so much time and energy into but it's all part of the creative process i suppose.  In the end, I'm sure wherever it ends up, it will astound everyone who sees it the way it did me.   





We talked for awhile about making a living in the creative realm;  How he started carving images into wood he found on the beach many years ago and selling it to whomever he could wherever he could and how he'd built his career and his studio literally piece by piece.
It was inspiring.  I'd been feeling a little shaky about my own future still being the new kid in town and I was reminded that imagination & vision mixed with a little persistence & perseverance, can pay off - with a little patience.



           


  
Finally, due to distance and a number of other factors, this was the first holiday I'd spent at my Mom's in a number of years and it was a feeling I haven't felt in a long time.  A really good one.  Safe.  Loved.  
Thanks, Mom.  This was a good one.  <3 



Happy Holidays to you and yours!!

See you in 2011!!  :)