Turn Around Trip

Man, that road trip to NOLA and back is getting easier these days, drove the kids down on Friday and returned on Sat, leaving at 1:30 and home by 7pm. Had planned to hang around a bit longer but so much to do here. Had to wait for the storm to pass that did so much tornado damage in Dallas and carrying a tail that stretched down to NOLA and right along my path home.

I went into town this morning, did a complete inventory check and brought back ten older paintings from my gallery, having taken in four new ones (as seen peeking out of the packed back end of the van) which still left them a decent sized inventory. I promised I'd be working on more to be delivered in August which is when this same g-kid arrangement is planned. (Returned home to an email from Atlanta gallery asking for more BIG pieces... wasn't planned, but then, what is?)

Kids entertained themselves nicely with a last minute item I remembered to toss into the car... balloons for twisting into animal shapes, complete with pump. They got the hang of it right away and I quickly got used to the occasional and inevitable !! POP !! Amazing how long that entertained them. Very little whining, I made the mistake of asking them were we should have lunch (I'll make that decision myself in the future,) spells of fast walking around rest areas helped break up the trip.

So next on the to-do list is to get the Memphis show in shape, final tuning and all that. Good that I have an extra day to work on it.

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Just a mention... many parts of New Orleans is still in open wound status. It hurts to see where so many homes still stand neglected. You can't miss this as you enter the city from the east... miles and miles of ruin are evident from the Interstate. Yet there are signs that change is happening. Many older shopping centers that were eyesores to begin with have been leveled and apartments that have been refurbished have "Now Renting" banners hanging. This is prime real estate that needed to be brought up to speed... and will eventually provide the needed tax revenue this beleaguered city has been missing. There's good as well as bad happening there... just hope the good stuff prevails!