blue...

yesterday started early and got hot quick. my sweetie had to work and invited me to tag along way up to ukiah where the good machinist is and beg him to make some parts on a saturday. bribery and breakfast and 5 hours later the machinist handed over the parts and we were back on the road. ukiah itself was a bit strange. blue collar in that old west kind of way but with a crop of chain stores and emporiums that completely smudged out any charm that the town most likely at one time possessed. no offence to the good, hard-working people of ukiah. i'm sure you've noticed it as well. there was another town named hopland that we drove through on the way up and all the 100 year old buildings were still standing. charming and nostalgic, though i'm sure the high school kids don't find it to be anything other than boring. antiques stores and junk shops and little diners and, of course, the caravan of left-over hippies with tapestries and tie-die dresses breezing out of their VW bus. and then we went to my sweetie's work where i got to watch him wrench on machines for a little while. i like watching men wrench on things. i like seeing them get all greasy and sweaty. their hair gets all tousled and boyish and it's very endearing. i don't mind the f-bombs that get dropped either. i am quite the trash mouth in my own right. :) two of my neighbors have been outside for the past two weeks working on automotive type things- one is restoring a bright red Austin Healy sprite (one of the cutest, coolest cars ever designed) and the other is busy babying a huge Harley. they come over and check out the paintings when they need a break from all that wrenching and pulling and sweating and swearing. it's nice. they make me smile. and i love hearing what they have to say about art and how important it is and how they never knew so much work went in to one painting before i came to the neighborhood. painting, in spite of how its perceived, is definitely hard work. it's not all happy play-time. it's nice to hear mechanics agree with that statement.

later today there's a huge barbecue- all rough and tumble men who, due to our location and living wild lives, have a fine understanding and appreciation for art and wine and music. one is bringing a bottle of schramsberg. yummmmmmmmmm. the longer i'm here, the more i appreciate it. i won't always be living in the country-side and i've decided to embrace it.