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Crashing the Party

Apr
26

by Thompson Lange

Over the years Homescapes has gotten a lot of publicity and when I was the Chamber President I got my fair share, too.  So braggy as it sounds, I’m not totally shocked when something shows up in the local papers (unless it’s bad news).  But yesterday I was.  Especially WHERE it showed up in the paper.

monterey-herald-sport-page-story-web-quality

I can honestly say I never envisioned seeing an article about myself on the Sports page.  In the old sexist days of my youth, I would have had to acknowledge that I’m totally un-athletic and throw like a girl.  In today’s enlightened age, I humbly admit I don’t even throw THAT well.

But apparently in some ways slow and steady may not win the race (which would be newsworthy), but it DOES make for a different perspective.

marathon-mission-full-herald-article-web-size

Chicken with its head cut off

Apr
11

by Thompson Lange

Ever had the bright idea to do a million things at once, hoping you’ll have the time to do it all?

If you haven’t…DON’T. If you have, well, then you know that you CAN’T get a million things done at once and you’re BOUND to piss someone (or everyone) off.

I’ve been running around like the proverbial headless chicken.
Poultry on the runSidebar: I was looking for something a little less Hallmark to use as an image here…and, FYI, I don’t recommend doing an image search for “Chicken with its head cut off.”

But back to the narrative: Somehow I thought I could expand the garden store at the Barnyard, get a Design/Construction office open at Carmel Plaza, volunteer for the Big Sur Marathon and the Carmel Art and Film Festival, sing with a jazz group, community chorus and a group performing the Rutter Requiem at Lincoln Center, all WHILE working on opening the all new Homescapes Carmel downtown.

And now I’m WAY behind with everything. Including running…I haven’t gotten my fat butt outta bed to run since I finished the 7-Continent goal.  Then Tuesday I got the (good?) news that I made it into the New York Marathon in November, so now I HAVE to get my fat butt outta bed. I don’t know where I think I’m going to get the time to do any (or all) of this (even though I really WANT to do all these things).

I think I need to learn how to say “no” to at least SOMETHING. Better to do a few things well than to….well, you know the rest.

And so do all the people who are waiting on things from me. Yikes!

Sitting by the dock of the bay

Feb
21

by Thompson Lange

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the houseboats in Sausalito…I loved them instantly and swore I’d live on one someday.

Sausalito marina

It was 1970, I was with my family, and much to my un-dying shame my younger brothers and I were dressed in identical clothes.  (Even the Brady Bunch kids were cooler than that…sheesh..but our step-mother, Momma Sue, liked the look and so whatchya-gonna do when you’re 9?)

Anyway, I was daydreaming about how life would be when I was an adult and in control of my own destiny (and clothes), musing about my future life on water. I was walking along “balancing” on the edge of a walkway, acting like a tight-rope walker and thinking how cool my life would be…and then Momma Sue, who was walking ahead of me,  fell off her mile-high wedgies.

70s wedgies

S0 I moved away from the edge.  If an adult couldn’t even balance herself on her SHOES, the certainty of my remaining high-and-dry on the walkway’s edge instead of wet and floundering in Richardson Bay was suddenly questionable.

Ahhh…the 70’s.  Good times, bad fashion.

While I HAVE lived in Sausalito as an adult (twice, actually),  I still hadn’t full-filled the old houseboat dream.  Until this week.

Waldo Point houseboat marina Sausalito

My friend, Joe rented a houseboat to celebrate his birthday and I got to share in the experience.  He found a great boat on the VRBO website,  booked it and away we went.

houseboat-from-the-baySausalito houseboatSausalito houseboat floating garden pontoon

Tiny little place that rocked with every step…which I loved (being a Californian I’m so used to the earth moving under my feet now and then that I don’t even notice it…usually).

Houseboats of Sausalito

Houseboats of Sausalito by Phil Frank

Great time, great boat, great to have finally “lived” on a Sausalito houseboat.