Countdown

Well life suddenly gets interesting...

Dolly might be a hurricane that might land somewhere very close to me at just about the time I am supposed to be climbing onto a plane to Houston/Newark/Rome/Bari -- 24 hours hence.

The sculptor who hired me for this job assures me that as long as I stay in touch someone will be there to pick me up in Bari no matter when I land. He tells me that the theme I am carving is Ancient Greece, and that I can do anything within that broad topic that I want. I have seven days to complete it. Maybe a pound-up already exists? Not clear, but I always travel with my favorite shovel, just in case. I understand that I will be working under a tent near the (Adriatic) sea. That it will be hot (though highs in the mid-80's don't strike me as particularly furnace-like) but that the (sweet sweet) hotel - has a swimming pool. (I hope that means it is something less than a deathmarch away from the sculpture site.)

Carving spirals on the sunny south Italian coast. This is going to be seriously fun.

I had a Bari adventure a few years back with dear old Fred. (I bet he remembers it as vividly as I do.) We landed there by accident and had to hang around all day while waiting for a late-night ferry to take us to Croatia. Although the day had its happy surprises, it wasn’t an altogether pleasant experience: At one point we were towing our luggage through an area where we felt distinct hostility on the part of the natives and, I ended that day's trip log thusly: “It had been a pretty good sight-seeing day for being totally unplanned -- but I would be pretty okay with never seeing Bari again.”

So now I am returning after all. As an honored guest artist. Cool.