Crazy Scheme

After tomorrow, I will be taking a blogging break. For one, I won't have easy access to the internet. And for two, I will be doing a TON OF OTHER THINGS--including, working on my annual Great Gals Calendar. Joan Didion, pictured above, is miss December. I am really looking forward to two weeks of doing art, listening to books on tape and NPR and walking the streets of New York.

October is my favorite month by far, and to experience it without a 9-5 job is going to be grand. Also, it's going to be JAM PACKED with visitors. Among them, my best friend Jenny Sue will be visiting her family and myself and be in the New York area for THREE WHOLE WEEKS! YIPPEE. Then my dad is coming! This is totally exciting because he hasn't been to New York since he was a kid AND he's an artist and appreciates great paintings and artists. I cannot wait for him to see The MoMA's collection, with all those famous famous paintings. I also can't wait to show him Central Park and just experience the wildness of seeing MY FATHER walk the streets of New York City.

My family has rarely come to visit me when I have lived on the East coast. They are just NOT THE TYPES to leave their home base. My dad is not a traveler for the most part. He traveled around when he was a kid, as a Navy brat, enough to make him practically have an allergic reaction to airplanes or packing. When he was old enough to live on his own, he immediately moved back to the one place he felt comfortable--California--and has rarely wanted to leave a 50 mile radius, much less the state, since. When we started talking about him coming out here, I thought we were hatching a GREAT SCHEME, as if it was somehow a plan to kidnap him, only HE WAS IN ON THE PLAN. It's one of those things that I never imagined in my life--walking in New York City with my father. When I made the plane reservations on his behalf, and we talked about taking the subway from the airport, I keep thinking THIS IS SO WILD. He asked, "Will we be taking the subway often?" I thought, "Father, YOU HAVE NO IDEA."

Since my dad reads this blog (hi DAD!), I can't mention some of the exciting plans I have brewing for us, because some of them are surprises, but I can tell you, that I'm looking forward to sharing this CRAZY SCHEME with him--a happy surprise for us both.