Mission Accomplished

Charlotte asked what I thought Sara would think. Which is an interesting question but irrelevant. What we had to do, those of us here, C and M, and myself, with our feet on the ground, was install a show. And it's beautiful, the space is glorious; there are a hundred last minute adjustments, but the show is set. A show like this, 100 pieces, there are ten thousand ways it could be arranged, none of the them necessarily better than any other. I marvel that we actually do it, that even the smallest enameled do-dad is given fair shake. When you're swinging around a blind face that overhangs by maybe 15 degrees, you're operating on blind faith. Someone said there was a hand-hold. I check my anchor, and it's good, swing around to check the next foot-hold, and it's good, and I make some progress, climbing an impossible wall. Despite what everyone said, this just gets more difficult. Not just the physicality but the mental state. An intense line of squalls just after I got home yesterday, the power went out, and the phone; no AC, no fan, and I could only open one window (SSW). A very hot , uncomfortable night with only fitful sleep. Sara and Clay got in yesterday, for the opening tomorrow, and for a couple of meetings. Sara loved the installation, and loved that she hadn't had to do it. I finished affixing the labels and started the nearly endless clean-up. Stopped at the pub for a free birthday beer, got home, the squall-line hit and I dined on a can of tuna with hot sauce, gherkins, and saltine crackers. At least I was, by god, home. I could drink, smoke, and read by the light of my LED headlamp. The good life. Couldn't shave this morning, because the power was still out and it was too hot to start a fire. Heard, on my wind-up radio, that dozens of transformers had been struck by lightning, and AEP (American Electric Power) thought they would be 90% restored by Friday afternoon. There's a person I can call at my small branch of the power conglomerate, Adams County Rural Electric, another Sarah, who, can tell me whether or not MY power has been restored and she says I was back on-line at 2:30 this afternoon (my meter is monitored electronically, because the meter-readers can' make it up the driveway so I knew I was good to come home, which pleased me deeply in my tired soul. Most of the day we lit the show, which is always a great treat; Mark was on the ladder, and I handed him the instruments. The last show was all two-dimensional, and this one is mostly three. Wall work takes flood lamps and pedestal work takes spots. So I'm steady changing bulbs and passing up lamps. I didn't anticipate this, that I would spend so much time working on the lighting, but I'm a day ahead. TR spent most of the day mopping, what's the next thing on the list? I might be able to get home before dark tomorrow. Christ, I have a dial tone, I'd better send this now.