claudia's surf city

still serving beer

2009-11-14T09:47:00.007-05:00

The West Plains Daily Quill, my favorite small newspaper in the world, put the 200th anniversary of Thomasville, Mo., on the front page yesterday. Yes, it's the New Goose, turquoise eyeliner and glass blocks and all, but is there any reference to the fact that Old Carl is no longer the owner? Any mention of the newest taxpayer in this mouldering town? Any mention in the lineup of Famous People of T'ville that a world renowned journalist who has climbed Mt. Everest and canoed the Amazon, interviewed two Presidents Bush and countless movie stars now calls the Goose home?
This is the peril of talking to only one source for a story, oh Quill reporter whose boss I am likethis with.
And this diss, despite the fact that I know Frank Martin!

name that pet

2009-11-13T09:44:00.004-05:00

Big excitement at the Dowling International, a.k.a. Claudia's Crashpad, and no I am not talking about Aymar!
I was just finishing off some watercress yesterday when I ran across a foreign object. Well, he/she (slugs are hermaphrodites) was actually probably native to the watercress, so you could look at it that he/she ran across a foreign object in his/her watercress, to wit: my finger.
Anyhow, he/she was too small (see fingertip) and cute to execute, so now he/she lives in a walnut meat container with the rest of the watercress. I'm not much on pets, as those of you who want me to buy a chihuahua may know. Any idea how long slugs live?
And please suggest a name.

property taxes in the ozarks

2009-11-12T09:06:00.002-05:00

bonding

2009-11-11T09:49:00.004-05:00

An expedition can bond people—and the more brutal, the more lasting the bond. High altitude is pretty brutal—especially after the first month. I went to 22,000 feet in the Himalayas with Russell (left), and Jeremy made it to the top of Mt. Everest, 29,000 and change. And even though we see one another only every few years, it's always a pleasure.

strong men

2009-11-10T09:42:00.003-05:00

Rabbi Abraham, a man who goes for extreme cold-water swimming at Coney Island, poses with another Brooklyn fixture, now recovering from abdominal surgery. They both look pretty damn healthy, considering.

artist at work

2009-11-09T10:23:00.005-05:00

Peruvian-American artist Aymar Ccopacatty put on a bitchin' show at Tribes Gallery. Called Recycling Urgencies, the show is comprised mostly of work Aymar made by spinning "wool" from plastic trash and using it to form weavings or knits. A video and display shows the artist at work. There are also paintings. Buy one today! The show will only be up for another couple of weeks.
Aymar is onto something important about flotsam and jetsam. A recent NYT article says that there is a trash whirlpool twice the size of Texas in the Pacific.

a little ditty

2009-11-07T09:25:00.004-05:00

About Frank and Dianne: They bought yet another property In Missouri, including forty-something acres and this lovely John Deere room, with matching fan blades and wallpaper! There is also a horse room with matching fans and wallpaper. . . They were so charmed by the decor that they are considering a move from their current palatial abode, pictured above post Halloween. . . while they were otherwise occupied at the cafe in T'ville.

day of the dead

2009-11-06T10:23:00.004-05:00

On the Day of the Dead, an exhibition of the life work of Ann Sims Rath Dugan opened at the Harlin Museum in West Plains, Mo., complete with Tower o' Tupperware and a Mexican Day of the Dead altar with sugar skulls made by Ann's daughter Jessica Rath (top) and admired by Ann's granddaughter. A wonderful tribute to a wonderful artist. Up for two more weeks and well worth the trip.

three down

2009-11-05T09:46:00.002-05:00

I shut down the Goose yesterday.
Dale came out to drain the pipes. Hopefully Bear has shut down the squirrels' quarters in the roof, too. He did not want to, but he did climb up and stuff steel wool in the nest hole. I shut down Claudia's before California, and Hannah and Chris shut down Hannah's after Halloween. So the real estate empire has been winterized, and a New York rent stabilized apartment is it now. Spotless, thanks to Kathleen, who also laid in my favorite food and drink.
And by the way, I left the Goose at 8:30 ayem and got home, via planes from St. Louis and Chicago, at midnight or so, about the time the Yankees won the World Series. Hell, I coulda practically driven home in that time.

road trippers

2009-11-04T10:51:00.002-05:00

An unexpected stopover at the Goose by a mother-daughter cross-country in-transit pair! So fun! Eat your heart out, J!

a sad story

2009-11-02T12:19:00.008-05:00

The river was rising fast and darkness was falling as I pulled into the Goose. I unlocked the door, and all seemed well. But then I noticed a pile of wood chips next to the sink and then the gnawing at the window. Upstairs, a piece of the ceiling had been chewed out, and it looked like something had tried to use the Venetian blinds as a ladder. Something had been desperate and trapped.
Behind the bed was was the unhappy victim. I put the body in the yard, but before I could bury it, Yoyo trotted off with the remains.

why they built the new bridge

2009-10-30T15:42:00.002-04:00

And just for reference, my house is at the left center of the bottom picture. Or was, when I left it three hours ago, with the water still rising. . .
Drove through the tempests and fogs and winding roads and flooded roads for five hours from St. Louis to get to the Goose yesterday and found—death and disaster.
Stay tuned and I will explain next time I'm in town.

duh

2009-10-29T05:41:00.001-04:00

I am an idiot.
Not that I didn't always know it, but I had the opportunity to realize it again yesterday morning at 6:45 when I arrived at LaGuardia for my flight to St. Louis and couldn't understand why I couldn't get the damn machine to spit out my boarding pass.
The lovely gentleman at the counter explained it to me: "Your flight is tomorrow."
Yes, I could get another flight that morning, for approximately $300 more. Even i could do that math: "Taxi!"
So off I go again now.

it's not a cancer

2009-10-28T05:19:00.005-04:00

"We don't give this news to too many people too many times," said the doctor. "It's not a carcenoma. It's benign. It's not cancer."
Ed struggled to understand that the knowledge he had been dealing with for two weeks, that he had colon cancer,had proved erroneous. "I had stopped thinking about the future," he says.
Now he has one. Still, we want you all to have a colonoscopy, as he will have to again soon. Ed, who has been joking about semicolons, asked the doc, "Given the size of the colon, do I get half off?

tribeca trees

2009-10-27T10:30:00.001-04:00

not that itsy bitsy

2009-10-26T09:57:00.003-04:00

This is a picture of a brown recluse. They are everywhere in Missouri. Frank and Dianne have lots living in their attic, and Frank captured this one so that Chris Garrison could photograph it. You can see the characteristic violin shape on its back that has also caused it to be called the fiddle spider.
Last week when Ed was in hospital, his roommate had a baffling skin ulcer. The flesh was being eaten away, and doctors did not know why. Ed suggested that it might be a brown recluse bite, even though Brooklyn is well out of the spider's range. The doctors treated it as such, and the man, a construction worker, was released the next day.

i am sick

2009-10-23T11:12:00.003-04:00

I mention this because a Certain Person tells me I always have a cold in the fall, and I can't remember. So here's a record of one time that I do. Now.
Also it may explain some flakiness in posting.

rushing the season

2009-10-22T10:08:00.003-04:00

Actually saw this yard in Van Nuys about two weeks ago. Some people really know how to have fun! What are you going to be for Halloween?
I think I'll be a New Yorker in the Ozarks. I guess I'll wear a mix of black and camo. Any other thoughts?

bellyfull of war

2009-10-20T08:23:00.005-04:00

If you happen to be in West Plains, Mo., for the Big Read of Tim O'Brien's book about Vietnam, The Things They Carried, be sure to check out the exhibit of photos and memorabilia from local veterans at the West Plains Civic Center, mezzanine. It is curated by my Thomasville neighbor artist Bill Dugan, himself a Vietnam vet. He will also show his "Mouth Full of War" and other pieces from November 1 through 21. On November 12 author Tim O'Brien will speak.
And lest we forget, along with daughter artist Jessica Rath, Bill Dugan has organized an even more personal Day of the Dead retrospective of the art of Ann Kay Sims Rath Dugan, his wife who died last year of Parkinson's disease. Reception November 1 from 12 to 4 with Tower o' Tupperware and Mexican Day of the Dead altar. To order the catalogue see Dancing Through Life.
I, for one, plan to be there.

pigeons roost in palm springs

2009-10-19T11:07:00.003-04:00

That was the day before yesterday. Today I am in New York, where there are also pigeons, and naturally mine have already come home to roost and need to be attended to before much more time passes.
Which reminds me, better open the mail.

not child centric

2009-10-17T10:28:00.000-04:00

Hoping for R-rated plane flights today as well.

dislocation

2009-10-16T10:57:00.004-04:00

It's in the 90s in the desert, and dry. It's hard to imagine that elsewhere, in my real life, it is raining or even snowing. Likewise it's hard to believe that friends are in hospital or at war, fighting foreclosure and bankruptcy, falling in love and finishing a sculpture. How can you resolve all these places and weathers and people and emotions and situations into one picture?
You can't. But we try. And at least—even if I can't really believe that it is cold in Block Island—I did call the plumber to ask that he shut down Claudia's Surf City.
Uh oh. What about the Goose? Better check Missouri weather. . .

view from the pool

2009-10-15T10:55:00.002-04:00

Sorry about yesterday. I was so distracted that I wrote but did not publish my post.
However, Ed's son called to say that the surgery (although it was rather long) went fine. Phew.

open air touring

2009-10-13T10:51:00.004-04:00

There's nothing like a convertible in beautiful Palm Springs, with hostess-to-the-world Ruby at the wheel. Even a visit to her storage locker is fun. And then there was the postprandial (and I'm talking prandial with 13 people at Davey's) drive through the dark downtown, past the neon lights and back to the pink motel in the desert.

somebody got a puppy

2009-10-12T10:00:00.002-04:00

My niece. Yesterday. Or was it the parents who got a puppy?
Me, I don't do puppy. I'm headed for Palm Springs where all are full grown dogs the size of puppies. Well, about half the size of this puppy.