Tags
barn, bob thompson, columbia university, farm, grandma, jonathan, s., swing
it's a lovely long ride and likely to seem timeless to a
six year old boy. the hemp hung down from the rafters
about thirty feet. so the swing described an arc and
lifted off the ground at least twenty feet. "hold on
tight" cautioned his careful father s., as he pushed
and pushed to reach the limit. then he would stand back
and wait until the pendulum stopped swinging.
jonathan used to just sit there swaying gently lost in desultory
thought. the hay barn is enormous with two foot beams.
the old tire hangs in the very middle over a mound of
loose hay.
it's 1971. night highschool is finished. s. has a
scholarship and a few grants to attend columbia
university to get a degree in architecture. jonathan
has just arrived by plane from san francisco to spend
the summer at grandma nancy's farm. it's a nice old
house in maine near the ocean. it had been a thriving
dairy farm but of course nancy wasn't a farmer. but
land was cheap then in maine and it was a good house for
bob thompson to fix up when he wasn't flying for
continental airlines.
wherever the company relocates them s.'s mother and
step father bob find a rundown house, buy it and over a
couple of years of free time fix it up. then when they
move again, they make a large profit on the house. this
was about the sixth house s. had visited them at over
the years. the last one had been in cotuit,
massachussetts, also near the ocean. nancy loved the
ocean and never would live anywhere far from it.
s. and son had a great time all summer. but s. had to
give jonathan a good spanking once and jonathan had
screamed through his tears, not from real pain but hurt
pride, "you can't spank me. you're not my father." s.
didn't argue with him just then. fitzgerald had given
the three boys a name and as far as the boy knew he was
his father. but they were separated now. julie was in
san francisco and bob fitzgerald was in new york.
apparently it hadn't worked out.
on the last day in maine. s. took jonathan to a field
of grass. they sat crosslegged accross from each other.
s. waited about ten minutes in total silence and the
little boy felt the seriousness of the moment.
"i am your real father."
the boy just accepted that and began to ask a lot of
questions. the whole history of meeting julie in the
village, their life in vermont and then the time in new
york and winter park, florida, where jonathan had been
born, the 'hegira' to the west coast and back and all
the rest was told. and jonathan accepted it all with
the natural grace of the young.
to save money on plane fare jonathan hitch hiked back to
san francisco with s.'s trusted friend marty ravitzsky.
but he was to come back in three years for good. s.
didn't know that yet.
Panzerplatte said:
:up:
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IArtMan said:
:up:
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BabyJay99 said:
:up:
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BabyJay99 said:
That's 3 thumbs up. :good:
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anonymous said:
Anonymous (jonathan) writes:I was looking at the picture of me and I actually started to smell the hay, I remember that hayloft and the swing… then a tear, great memories. Thanks for the picture. 🙂
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cementmanjon1 said:
just created opera account. thought it might be interesting
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IArtMan said:
glad you did. there are many good people in opera. good readers. :happy:
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BabyJay99 said:
I second that Sir Scott! :up: 😉
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autoquit1 said:
hello
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Aqualion said:
:up:
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edwardpiercy said:
Like the opening in particular. :up:
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autoquit1 said:
hello, thanks for visted my blog. it seem that you talked with my Vietnamese friends on my blog. I'm very happy. whenever you come back to my blog, you are welcome. Wish a good day for you!
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edwardpiercy said:
I don't know. I hope it's not her Father — if you know what I mean *knock on wood knock on wood*
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IArtMan said:
hi martin.Originally posted by autoquit1:
you're welcome sir, i will visit again. :happy:thanks ed. where's angeliki? i am worried.
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IArtMan said:
*taps cranium three times.
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claudette.bb said:
Good reading there :yes:
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claudette.bb said:
Welcome to Opera
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lokutus-prime said:
Great narrative. You haven't lost your touch! I remember five years back your express creativity in words was awesome to see back then, and it has never stopped – in fact you get better and better. I salute you. Bravo. :up: 🙂
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IArtMan said:
and you my spirit brother across the big water, still have the piquant knack of tickling the sensitive neck feathers associated with extreme ego gratification. thank you loku-bro, i have sorely missed you. :happy:
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lavender988 said:
Scott, you have created new style of writing! Take my congratulations! It's awesome! You have combined two styles–essay and stream of consciousness:) I admire this article!:)
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IArtMan said:
i didn't know that until you pointed it out, katya. it sounds marvelous the way you say it. :up: 🙂 you are a good reader.
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Aqualion said:
This weekend I found myself in the biggest barn I have ever seen. I'm a country boy and have seen my share of barns, but this was awesome. It was at a big old country estate that used to belong to some count or baron or something, but now it is used for cultural purposes, and they rebuild this huge barn and put in a stage, lights and acoustics and stuff. Impressive.And it is actually a lot bigger than it looks like in the picture.
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IArtMan said:
it is the fanciest barn i've ever seen. it looks more like a church than a barn.
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lavender988 said:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
You are talented writer!
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cementmanjon1 said:
happy thanksgiving everyone!:)
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Panzerplatte said:
Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
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studio41 said:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
that's what I thought at first glance, too.Originally posted by cementmanjon1:
happy Thanksgiving, Jonathan. went back and read to the end… I understand the link, you are Scott's son. things begin to make sense when I read carefully and to the end…
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studio41 said:
nostalgic renderings. amazing first photo."but s. had to give jonathan a good spanking once and jonathan had screamed through his tears, not from real pain but hurt pride, 'you can't spank me. you're not my father.' "I would find that not only pride jerking, but intimidating. would make me rather homesick, I think…
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Aqualion said:
It is fancy. They use it for classic concerts, mainly chorals, operas and such. I went there to see my wife's gospel choir doing a Christmas concert. It was awesome. Strange to imagine that some 300 years back the building was used to store crops.
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IArtMan said:
Originally posted by studio41:
now i will elevate you jill, to the friend category i call, "real readers" :lol:martin, i would expect that the proportions make for good acoustics. :up:
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studio41 said:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
I appreciate much of your art and food blog posts 🙂 but, you tell stories and articulate well- in artist's fashion. I have to read between the lines sometimes… I think I understood this. however, it is my understanding of rocket science that helped me realise that "s" is "Scott" -ha.
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IArtMan said:
yeah, i don't like to tire people out with the details. somewhere back there, i explained that i didn't feel right telling this story of my adventures in the first person. :cool:as pamela travers says in her essay, "I am the hero of my life", we all are. but the flagrant ego when talking about oneself just rankles.
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studio41 said:
again, poetically put.
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IArtMan said:
oh me, o my, how i love that pumpkin pie. i'm redoing the "cinnamon tree" painting and putting all of my friends' children in the painting. 😎
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studio41 said:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
?
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IArtMan said:
three by five feet painting shown on this post. this was never photographed after i re-worked it. i always wonder where that painting is now. i think i can do something interesting in re-doing the concept.http://my.opera.com/I_ArtMan/blog/2009/04/12/the-cinnamon-tree
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studio41 said:
typically where do you store paintings not displayed?
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IArtMan said:
you mean originals i still own? right here. the walls are closing in on me. 😆 i have about eight good paintings in new york.i haven't displayed a painting since rockport… my bluebird gallery. i don't count the boardwalk in venice… that was a last resort starvation period.
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studio41 said:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
that is what I meant… so you sold the one you cannot find? or is it perhaps under your mattress?
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IArtMan said:
i'm not sure what's under the mattress but i know the "cinnamon tree" is not. the fate of that painting was like many other of my best works. that is to be coveted by someone who lacked any conscience about obtaining them without paying. in other words it was stolen. but this one was stolen by the law which is better at stealing than any other entity."the lovers" was lifted while i was returning to the venice beach hostel for more paintings. i didn't have a dolly at the time. "progress" was stolen at a rajneesh "yes" center on washington boulevard. lots of stories untold about the fate of many paintings.this one is explained in the link i posted in the next to last comment.*oops. can't find the saga of the demise of the cinnamon tree. still searching. 🙂 it has to be when i went back to vermont to get the boys. i was arrested and released by a kind judge. i'll be back later.
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IArtMan said:
under "a sad tale" i found this reference. "s. was staying at the 'woodstock inn' and when he returned there officer durphy clapped him in handcuffs. mr. wright, his attorney who sold out to the tates was now a states attorney. you will remember the incident of the painting called "the cinnamon tree". sure, s. had an uncommon sense of honor and justice. he felt that a lawyer who loses a case which should easily have been won, shouldn't be paid. what happened to "posession is nine-tenths of the law" ?? did you know that in rural china everyone pays the local doctor until they get sick? when they get sick they stop bringing around the weekly basket of eggs or that delicious suckling pig. just imagine if lawyers who lose cases for their clients didn't get paid. then they might do better.anyway, the judge in white river junction took s. into his chambers and began to pour over his books of precedents. he was a good old judge. he was looking for an excuse to dismiss the case. he found one. s. had come to vermont on a summons from the court. consequently, he couldn't be prosecuted on a different charge."maybe i never did tell the story fully.the main thing was that the tates reneged on our deal. they stopped feeding me and wouldn't let me shower anymore after a couple of months so i felt that the painting was mine. when i took it back to my studio and worked on it for a couple of days i decided to not give it back.they had a 'writ of replevin' filed and durphy came with the order to reposess the painting until it could be adjudicated in the court.lawyer wright did a terrible job of arguing the case which should have been decided in my favor because they broke the verbal contract.so i consider that painting to be stolen by law.
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studio41 said:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
:up: sorry to hear this, ScottOriginally posted by I_ArtMan:
seems your lawyer maybe should have gone w/o food and shower after that. or maybe the tates…?
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IArtMan said:
my point exactly. it's no fun taking a bucket bath with cold water in an unheated building through a long vermont winter. 😮 😥 😆
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studio41 said:
Originally posted by I_ArtMan:
I imagine not!
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IArtMan said:
just remembering gives me chills. 🙂
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studio41 said:
yeah- that's how the showers were when I was in Paris- the month it snowed and immobilized the city – I think it'd happened once before 😀 so cold …1985 janvier when Rock Hudson's headline broke. it was quite a month, and I thought I was going to freeze to death.
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Arnekrilu said:
:hi:
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IArtMan said:
hi arne. :happy: nice to see you.
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FIFINELEB said:
Merry Christmas – Comments and Graphics!
🙂
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IArtMan said:
thank you pham.
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phamthanhduong said:
Merry Christmas. all the happiness to you and your family.
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crystalacey said:
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billthompson said:
Bill thinks that this is a poignant, touching piece of non-fiction. He finds that, "s." is a gifted writer as well! He misses his father deeply!
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IArtMan said:
i miss him too. too bad people have to die. i wish we could all live forever.thanks bill, for the good comment. :happy:
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crystalacey said:
Friends18.com New Year Greetings
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FIFINELEB said:
New Years – Comments and Graphics! 🙂 🙂
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