Buffalo soldier in the heart of America

Here's a bit of a photo tale of the first 2 days of the trip.

When we left Bennington, it was snowy and slushy. Not the most ideal conditions. I was excited about our first wedding, but I was not looking forward to "camping out" in freezing temperatures. My mom was worried and I was too. I'm a weather fanatic. I know what it's like on the Great Lakes in late fall. I was prepared, though. Everyone had snow boots, coats and tons of clothes to layer. Sidd man the cat stayed home. I'm sure Emily would have loved to have stayed home too, but since she isn't a 9lb cat but a 50lb dog she was forced to tough it out with the rest of us. The great city of Buffalo was the halfway point we tried, and didn't quite make it to.

We pretty much stayed on I-90 all the way. Here is the fog on the first day. I took some really spooky shots of the fog in various ways. There were several fog mountains and some eerie fog fields. I love the fog fields.

Merrily we drive along...."hey mom what is wrong with this lion's teeth?" ahhhhhhhh! Nothing like having a giant book placed in front of your face without warning.


Next day the fog turned into rain. We were deciding whether or not to make a stop at Niagara Falls (we were so close), but the weather was terrible. I just wanted to get to Lorain.

Here we are one night, parked in, yes Walmart for the evening. I love how my son now treats me like the paparazzi. Next summer the inside gets painted. The wallpaper is horrible. And check out those green cushions. Bad I tell you.

Mandala and me (SPC)

Something which I wear on my skin, which is with me all the time.

It is a bat taken from a symbolic Chinese image typically referred to as the five good fortunes.

The five fortunes are Wealth, Health, Longevity, Love and Virtue. I'm not sure which one I picked, but I like to think that it becomes whichever I need most at that time.

Check out other fashion dos and don't at SPC

gets me to the church on time...

It was a lovely wedding.

The family was there along with some very special friends.

Rita had picked a very lovely place. A barn that had been restored. Despite some farm equipment and a very menacing stuffed raccoon, it was very sweet. The raccoon was a little funny.

I loved Rita and Edwin reciting e.e. cummings poem i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart).

And both of their boys were the ring bearers.

Rita's mom gave her away, and I loved that too. I wish would have had my mom give me away instead of my uncle.

I got to met all of her brothers and another blogger-Hotmama. She was a crazy woman and made me laugh. Her and her husband, along with 3 of their 7 children, oh yes and a stowaway cat were there as well.

Over the Rainbow

First and foremost, congratulations to Rita & Edwin on their wedding.

It was lovely and we are so happy to have been a part of it.

There is quite a bit to talk about form this journey, but I am so tired from driving all night.

Du kannst mir sehr gefallen

Here's the tree all wrapped up and ready for it's trip to D.C. I was looking forward to seeing it pass by in the parade. As soon as we were right beside it, my eyes were flooded with tears. It's a shame such a beautiful tree was cut down for just a month in the White House. Before it was taken down, along with 50 accompanying trees, a woman from a local Indian reservation said a prayer and thank you to the tree.

We left for Ohio in slushy, snowy weather Tuesday morning.
Last night we stayed in another Walmart in Newark NY.

Updated photos on the Project home site. Includes photos from Halloween (and Bennington's Great Pumpkin Challenge) through the Capital Christmas Tree celebration.

Dashing through the snow...

Boy, I don't know about you but I am tired. What a week it's been! Making the above logo used up the rest of what little strength I had.

As noted above we are a week away from our first official wedding! We finally got the RV back after some repairs. Who would have guessed ball joints for a camper would cost so much? It's a good thing we keep getting opportunities to paint on windows and signage jobs. Not exactly what I planned on doing, my background is in marketing and ad design, but it's nice to be our own bosses.

We had a few flurries today, which made it seem very Vermont-y and all. There is an abandoned lot across the street and it's where the town Christmas tree went up. We've heard there are going to be ceremonies there and Santa is going to put in an appearance. The town is really being decorated nicely with pine trees on the sidewalks every few feet, wreathes on street lamps and lights on buildings. As noted earlier Bennington is supplying the official tree for the White House and there will be a big to do on Monday. After that it's off to Cleveland.

Thanks for following our misadventures so far, hope you keep checking back. We get far more visits than the comments reflect, please leave a message or say "howdy".

Saved by Zero...

I read this A-Z meme on JC and Vedrana's blogs. It's a make up your own category A-Z. Ours is about what is current in our lives. Except the color ones. :)

A-Apple Tartlets. I just made them for the first time last night.
B-Blue. Blue is my favorite. Blue jeans, Blue Moons, Cerulean blue, Cobalt blue
C-Coachmen. I miss the 'ole girl.
D-Downtown. The past week we have walked everywhere. Lucky we have a cool downtown area.
E-Egg Nog. Our favorite thing to put in coffee at this time of year. Egg Nog light of course.
F-Feng Shui.Arranging what little furniture we have. Mostly it's about eliminating clutter.
G-Gordon Lightfoot, Gary Wright, Goldfrapp. Listening to lately
H-Hannaford. Local grocery store. We prefer Price Chopper. We like belligerent sounding stores. And it's scary because it looks like an axe cutting the flag. Very weird.
I-Incense. For general sense of peace and fighting garbage smell in hall.
J-Jury Duty summons. What Patti got in the mail after we moved.
K-Karma. Trying to teach our wee man about this.
L-Lorain, Ohio. Where the wedding will be next week with Rita.
M-Monty Python. I think we always watch the series when we live in apartments. Funny how that happens.
N-New England. Where we like being this winter.
O-The Onion. Catching up with it online. I used to get weekly in the city and miss it.
P-Painting. Surprisingly I have been painting windows. If I get paid I'm validated right?
Q-QWERTY. Trying to explain the computer keyboard to the wee man.
R-Rockwell Kent. Check out "A Northern Christmas" by him from the library.
S-Soups. It's the season of the soup. Chicken Barley, Butternut squash and potatoes, Red lentils and ginger.
T-Trim.The hardest part to paint in an apartment with 30 ft ceilings.
U-Under the Willow Tree. A children's book, again check it out at the library. The illustrations are super.
V-Video Camera. What we need to work on, our promo and skit videos. Is YouTube still around?
W-Wedding certificates, wedding pictures wedding outfits.
X-Xmas. This is Latin, people. I was always led to believe this was sacrilegious.
Y-Yellow. It used to be my favorite color as a child. I had a bright yellow room forever. One day I came home from school and my room was beige. I cried for a week. The next summer I was allowed to paint it yellow again. Thanks mom!
Z-Zero. Reading a book called "In Search of Captain Zero". One surfer who is looking for his friend who has dropped out of society in search of the perfect surfer oasis. It's kind of sort of like dear Hunter S., but not laugh out loud funny.

Anyone that wants to be tagged, you're tagged. Tell me if you do this because I like reading them too.

peace and love
p + j

Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up (SPC)

This is my entry for self-portrait challenge's "what I wear". Not one to let a good challenge go the wayside, and besides why let the Mrs. have all the fun, I submit my uniform as thus.

Gearing up for our own Wedding Project, we devised outfits which we could mix and match easily and would help create an identity for us. This is my warm-weather casual Rev look. Not easily seen on the tee, in white letters, are the words "Reverend Joseph". This is in case anyone forgets who I am.

What I like about this shot is that it looks like I am in Heaven's waiting room. The high-contrast and texture also makes it seem like a real photo, not digital.

For more saints, sinners and everything in between swing by SPC.

She's leaving home...

Hi America,
I hope everyone is hung over from all those raging Veteran's Day celebrations (I know how out of control those can get). Speaking of our vets, I'd like to offer a big salute to those who helped make us a wonderful country. I only hope their sacrifice and effort has not gone to waste and that future generations are able to make their ancestors proud of the US of A once again.

We had to take the Coach in for a check up recently (BTW is an RV a he/she? we probably need a name for easy reference, any suggestions, folks?). Consequently we've been without transportation for a few days now, and maybe a few days more. I have to confess I kind of miss the gas guzzling beast. I guess I got used to having to floor it to get it to minimum speed. Cruising down side streets at a g-force inducing 15mph, but feeling like it was going 45. Having to drive in the middle of the road if there are cars parked on both sides of the street. Parking as far away from a store entrance as possible so I can take up the necessary four car spaces. Running out to pick up a few things, probably burning up $10 worth of gas. Good times. You can see how we got into the fix we are in now.

Hopefully it's all being done for a good cause, which I hope somehow outweighs the (carbon) damage done. Now why does that line of reasoning sound familiar? Maybe it's time to work on some real solutions that will have a clear and visible result.

Beatniks are out to make it rich...

Ah yes, my rejection from the Guggenheim. I think it sounds better with my touch up, don't you?

I always thought that grants were to help artists (ie-artists that need assistance, not established artists who already have support, benefactors and patrons). I'm not bitter but it would be nice to get a break.

Have you seen her dressed in blue...

I wanted to participate in this months Self Portrait Challenge.

It's my Hockney look.

I begin with my morning attire.

MTV hoodie, very soft terry cloth American Apparel pants, and some crazy janky slippers that keep my feet really warm.

Check out more SPC here.

King of the road

one of the first campgrounds we went to (and, coincidentally, the last as well), when we first started this quixotic journey was a place called greenwood lodge and campsites.

i was in pretty bad shape mentally, from working up to and beyond the sale of our house, packing and moving up to the last minute (we literally went back to our former house after passing papers and had to take stuff off the porch), adjusting to the camper we'd just picked up, and driving for an interminable time. and although i seem laid back to most people, i'm naturally tense on the inside. by the time we got to the above mentioned campground i was pretty much on edge. it didn't help that we arrived on short notice at a very busy weekend. consequently we were part of the 'overflow' campers. that meant the only place available to us was by the lodge. or rather, right next to the lodge. about 2 feet from the upper deck of the place.

our electricity and water were plugged into the actual building itself. needless to say, i gave patti no end of grief. our son picked up on my complaining, and sharing my temperament anyway, piled on like we were badgers backed into a corner. yes, i feel bad about it now. the stay happened and actually ended up okay, blah, blah, blah....we traveled on to maine, and new hampshire.

on our way back through vermont we needed another place to stay and greenwood was close. this time however was different. we arrived after season, when most sites cut the power, drained the water supply and headed to some northerner's dream of heaven in north carolina. thanks to global warming, it was unseasonably warm and they decided to continue letting out sites. our timing must have been fortuitous, or patti really hit it off with the owner, as we were given...THE. BEST. CAMPSITE. EVER.

the location was semi-private, close to the woods and trails, not on a very traveled road and on a cliff overlooking a pond. high five! we ended staying a week, could see the milky way at night and saw shooting stars. and that is the lovely picture that illustrates this post.

Lookin' back on the track for a little green bag

I love Vermont. I don't think I could find this in Peekskill, or Atlanta.

God Bless our county.

She'll make you breakfast, she'll make you toast...

Part 1

So we lived in the RV for 3 solid weeks. It's funny how we knew nothing of RVing until we were well, living in it. Living the life. Two artists who knew nothing of an RV. Completely crazy. It was odd and stressful, and now, hysterically amusing.

In the Coachmen, when we slept in the loft, there was a 3 inch space from our noses to the ceiling. I tried pretending we were in a submarine. That's the kind of space we were dealing with. Now currently, in the apartment we have 30 foot ceilings. I couldn't think of a bigger change. Oh I guess sleeping outside would do, but let's not get carried away.


Here's the kitchen. I love the sink and wish I could take it with me. I'll sound like an old timer when I say this, but they don't make 'em like they used to. It's solid metal, man. I should be so lucky to have one like this in a house. It's beautiful.

Life in a northern town...

Here's the window I painted.

Today I have to take it off, and then I will paint a nice Christmas Tree.

Why a tree on November 1st?

Bennington was picked, or I should say a tree was picked in Bennington that will go to The White House for Christmas. Pretty cool. The tree will travel down Main Street on November 19th.

Also taking part in NaBloPoMo. This should be fun and I hope I'm entertaining.

We also have another photo update on our main Wedding Project website.

Peace and love
p