The show opened at the West End Gallery last night and went pretty well. Nice crowd.
Some surprises, like writer Alicja Mann and her husband, David, showing up unexpectedly. The opening coincided with their annual trip between their home in Tucson, Arizona and their summer place in Cape Cod so they drove quite a bit out of their way to surprise me. Alicja, as I wrote about in this blog, had used one of my paintings for the cover of her book of essays, Looking At The World Twice. She told me the book had recently won a prestigious award, the Glyph, for best cover design from the Arizona Book Publishing Association. She was extremely thrilled and proud to have such an honor bestowed and allowed me to share a bit of her excitement.
I had never met Alicja personally nor was I expecting her appearance at the gallery so I was very surprised when she introduced herself. It was a real pleasure meeting her and David and we had a wonderful conversation during and after the show. Many thanks to both of them and may their trip up to the Cape be safe.
Anyway, I’m taking a little time this morning to mull over the events last night so I’m just going to have a bit of music. How about Cavatina from guitarist John Williams? Some of you may remember it as the de facto theme of the movie, The Deer Hunter. Just a lovely piece of music…
Redtree Times 
How wonderful that the Manns arrived unexpectedly. I remember her book, and the cover. I thought at the time what a lovely collaboration that was.
The music is sublime. I’m a great fan of Williams, especially his renditions of Bach.
The only downside to listening to Cavatina now is that it may lead to a bit of Bach, and then on to a bit of Vivaldi, and then the sun will be nearly down, and the only reasonable thing to do will be to pour a little something, and mull away my own evening!
Hello Gary,
I am very honored by your blog’s entry – hey, this way I am almost famous! I am so happy that we made it to your show in Corning, and that you and I had the opportunity to meet in person. As I mentioned that day, it was a bit scary to surprise you like that, after all how could you expect us to be there since we live in Arizona?
Knowing each other through your art, my writings, our correspondence, and blogs is so very different than in real life. And what a delightful encounter it was! One couldn’t design it more perfectly. That is how I feel and that is how I will remember it – delightful. I would not change any element of it – even the weather was cooperative compared to the next day! Many thanks again for your hospitality and big hug for both of you.
We are still “on the road” – several hours from our destination point – the old good house on Cape Cod.
Alicja