San Diego and Arizona II

I am still in Arizona with Shelly and Karl. The mornings here are slow and peaceful, as we sit on the patio sipping coffee in the warm sun. Sammy and Gizmo, the family dogs, are playing around with their toys. They are fun to watch. Sammy is a 13 year old German Shepard and is as sweet as can be. Gizmo, pictured to the left, is a little hyper Maltee-Poo who is so freakin cute! I love how animals can make the world around me seem insignificant just by being cute. I can't imagine my world without them.

It is day five and now, and after a few days of indecision to stay for a while longer or to head out, I have decided to leave here on Sunday. I enjoy the company of my sister-in-law and her husband but not having anything to do is driving me nuts. I have visited several frame shops and I could visit more, but I feel the need to be more productive or at the very least earn my keep here. I have asked repeatedly if there is anything I can do around the house and the answer is always the same, to just take it easy and to clean up after myself. Well, that is too easy. I need more. When I am on the road I don't feel this way. I believe it has to do with freedom. I can't feel free in any one Else's home. Silly I know, and Shelly has done so much to make me feel at home, too. The road is calling me again.

The ache in my heart is re-awakening after being dormant for a last several days. I keep finding places to go to knowing that the last time I was there was with Mike. Yesterday I drove by a Sonic restaurant and pulled in for a burger. I knew the last burger I had from this place was while I was in Napa with Mike. Just before I placed my order a few tears began to roll. I have been good about not letting this happen, but sometimes I just need to go to that place of mourning. My body craves it like a smoker needs that first morning drag. I get so angry sometimes as a vision of our life together pops into my brain. We were meant to be, I just know it. So why didn't it work out the way I thought it would? What the hell went so wrong? Did my gypsy spirit feel so trapped to the point of self destruction and eventual preservation? Possibly. This sucks.

OK, I am going back to NH to be with my family. I can hardly wait to be with them. No doubt I will be able to heal the emotional scars quicker when I am with my mother, sister and my best friend, Barbara. But California has such a strong hold on me. It fits my life style. Hmm, Conundrum.

Speaking of California, I loved San Diego. I would have liked to stay longer to look for a job, but my finances were dictating my moves. And I knew I had a place to stay in Arizona. If the timing had been a bit better, I would have been able to spend a night with Rob and Barbara Markoff. As I had arrived in San Diego, so did a few guests of the Markoffs. I very much appreciated Rob saying I would have been welcomed to the guest room, otherwise. Now that I think about it, I really missed a great opportunity. If I had stayed a night and been able to talk more with Barbara, and pick her brain a bit, I would have come away from San Diego much richer in knowledge. Crap, I really missed out.

My visit with Rob at his business Artagoeus! was fabulous. If there is ever a frame shop that is a destination, it is Rob and Barbara Markoffs place. So, if you are in the area call and arrange a visit. You will not regret it, you will take a way many great ideas on shop design and organization, as well as a lesson or two on successful business practices. One of the things I liked the most was how they have arranged the liners and fillets behind the design counter using what I would describe as a low wall of book shelves and drawers. Finding a particular fillet or liner would be quite easy. I have always valued good organization in a frame shop, as that is how I am most productive and happy, and Artrageous takes it to a new level. By the way, there is not only a design counter, but also a few free standing design tables with chairs. Very nice.

One thing stood out far above all of the business and that was Rob himself. I can't imagine a nicer or more accommodating person. He was very gracious in showing me around and made me feel as though I was a visiting friend, not just a framer stopping by to say hello. It was a very nice feeling.

Then there is Robs vast knowledge of framing, building and installing art. I am waiting for some one to invent a way to download a human brain into another. I here by put my request in to be first in line for a copy of both Rob and Barbara's knowledge.

Rob was kind enough to buy me lunch. I wish I could remember the name of the burger joint we went to. It was one of the best burgers I have had in while! It was just Rob and I at lunch. I hope it wasn't too obvious that I was nervous. In a previous blog entery I mentioned how I felt I was in the presence of celebrity when among the instructors at WCAF and the PPFA convention. Well, Rob is among them. So yeah, I was nervous, at first. Though it wasn't but a few minutes before he made me comfortable again. What a NICE guy!

So, thanks again, Rob. Your kindness was very much appreciated.

Last Monday (I think it was Monday, all the days seems to run together now), I visited the Fast Frame in Chandler, Arizona owned by Tracy Morse www.fastframe109.com. I am, once again, very glad I stopped in to say hi. Tracy was welcoming of a traveling framer and very willing to take time to talk. I was very happy to learn that Tracy has been busy. Her shop has been progressively better with each passing year. Yes, that means she had a great 2009! It was so refreshing to hear a frame shop owner who could say business has been good. For that alone was well worth my time to stop in. I left her shop feeling good knowing that if one person can do it, so can many more. The business is there, it just takes more effort to get it.

A good part of Tracy's success is due to the corporate art market. She is a disciple of Barbara Markoff and actually had a pre-press copy of Barbara's soon to be available book "Becoming A Corporate Art Consultant". To read more click here. The funny part of this was that we had been talking for a while before I mentioned my visit with Rob Markoff. It was then that Tracy said she needed to show me something. It was the book! I love how one visit to a frame shop can tie to another. The framing community seems so small at times.

So Tracy had taken a class of Barbara's on corporate art and then applied the things she learned to go out and successfully get the business. How awesome is that?! Before I had met Tracy, I was very anxious to read the book, because Baer Charlton told me at WCAF that I MUST read it, and now, after seeing Tracy put the knowledge to good use, I am even more excited. Thanks Tracy, I enjoyed our visit and hope to catch up you with again sometime.