2nd from West Palm Beach

April 17, 2010

Today too I spent some time doing email and Internet work, but after lunch Tsipi took me for a tour of Lake Worth and Palm Beach. First we drove south on Dixie Highway (also called Highway 1, I think) from West Palm Beach to Lake Worth. The town center of Lake Worth is several blocks of small shops, a live theater, and so forth: interesting, unusual, not chain-store-paradise. Lots of houses and apartments for rent in the vicinity. We parked near the beach and walked over, took our shoes off and strolled the beach. At one point there was either a wedding or wedding photography going on. One small portion of the beach was 'taped off' where sea turtles had laid their eggs on the 14th (just 3 days ago!) The wind was up a bit, and so were the waves. Though it was not terribly sunny at the time, the beach was fairly crowded with families, young couples and friends and -- up near the fancy resort called The Breakers -- a bunch of young guys doing acrobatics in the sand, overhead flips and so forth.

We then drove along Highway A1A to Palm Beach where we visited several beautiful spots. One was Bethesda-by-the-Sea, an Episcopal church, very English in its lineaments, though it also features Japanese gardens and a pond of large carp (whom one is not to feed.) Not too far away from B-b-t-S are the Four Gardens, with bamboo, banana trees, hibiscus and so forth, (as well as a library, closed at the time). I can't remember the name of another place we walked, facing the intercoastal waterway, where there is a huge tree with roots shaped almost like low walls, instead of the usual more rounded variety.

Later, back at the B&B, I worked more on Disbelief. It's almost always soothing to me to work on drawing: a good feeling when one is a bit disoriented from too many changes in too short a time (i.e. selling "Alhambra of the South", relocating temporarily to my mother's guest room, making visits with friends and family before heading to Malta, selling the car, flying to Florida, and so on.) Here's a photo I took while out on foot today: Yes, it says "Anointed Meals on Wheels". I "painted" out the phone number, so that's why part of the side of the vehicle is coloured funny.



PS: This is quite likely my last posting here until I get to Malta and get "connected".

(This is not me in the convertible. I just liked the look of it, and I thought I should crop high enough to leave the Florida road sign in as well.)

April 16, 2010

I arrived in West Palm Beach yesterday evening after an eventful/eventual departure from Dallas/Ft Worth airport. After American Airlines boarded us on the plane while maintenance men worked on a mechanical problem, the crew had us deplane when the jet was taken out of service. We then had to go to another terminal and board another plane. We arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida, almost an hour and a half late -- but in a functioning plane!

I took a cab to the bed and breakfast where I am staying, just a few miles from the airport, and met the hostess and the writer contact/friend of mine who had recommended the B&B to me. The house has an enormous banyan tree in the front yard and, in the backyard, a pool and the small cottage where I am staying.

Today I spent a good part of the day walking, seeing the neighborhoods, and catching up on email and Internet errands. I had lunch outside on a bench in CityPlace, a mall and entertainment complex, after doing my Internet work and then took a walk over to the TriRail train station. On Monday morning I will take the train several stations south to the Ft Lauderdale station, where I will catch a bus or cab to the port to board the Equinox. I then returned to CityPlace and spent some time reading and drinking tea at the bookstore.

We had a little bit of everything today, weather-wise: sun, a nice breeze, some light rain, lots of clouds. After going back to the B&B for some afternoon time working on Disbelief and resting, I visited a bit more with my hostess, then walked back to the grocery store for some ham and a croissant to go with my supper. This evening, supper, TV, tea, reading and typing!

Off to Malta

I am currently in West Palm Beach, Florida (a possible place to live when I return from Malta?), preparatory to embarking for Europe from Ft Lauderdale on Monday. While I am the ship, I will be mostly if not entirely Internet-free, but I hope to get the blog going again with regularity by May 5 or so. In the meantime here is the latest panel in my illuminated book Disbelief (based on the novella of the same name), excerpted this spring in two magazines, in New York Tyrant (print) and The Anemone Sidecar, Chapter 6 (online PDF). If you want to see the entire story in progress you can go here.