Leaving Home, Going Home

I am sitting at my sister’s kitchen table in Naples, NY—the place I always planned on running away to when I was a kid. I am the only one up. There is a steady rain outside and wind chimes on the front porch occasionally sing a verse of a song written by the wind.

There are thirty-three hundred more miles on “Fletch” our rented Kia Sorento than there was before we first turned the key. There are at least twenty-six hundred to go.

I have been ‘home’ for eight days. Now it’s time to go ‘home’. I had a fairy tale wonderful time here this week. I decided not to spend any of it blogging till now.

As I already blogged, I played my first solo show ever at the Record Archive in Rochester and left a stock of CDs there for sale. My local band, Jim Shreck and Andy Smash rehearsed that same night and I went home completely exhausted.

Monday was one of those idyllic days where my parents, Audra and I did nothing all day but tote a few things out to the gazebo for a long lazy lunch. We saw a pair a figures making their way out to the gazebo. When they got close we recognized a couple neighbors that had moved away nearly forty years ago.

Tuesday I did some gardening in my parents’ vast gardens and sat on a lawn mower for the first time in nearly fifteen years. I mowed about a quarter of the yard and Quiet Meadows paths including their labyrinth. It was one of those zero radius articulating lawn tractors one steers with levers like a bulldozer. It took some getting used to and some close calls with small trees before I was done.

I also trimmed the branches of our old tree house tree (the tree house is long gone). It seemed like it would be a simple task but tree trimming is a slippery slope; the more low branches you remove the more you can see needs to be removed! A chainsaw and two trips in my Dad’s lawn tractor/trailer later the tree was looking spiffy. I decided I was a kid again and rode in the trailer on the way back up the hill. I got a sunburn in the New York sun—grounds for loosing my California card

Wednesday Audra and my dad, the photographers went to the Zoo in Rochester to take pictures. My mom and I had lunch and took a nice stroll on the Lakefront. We sat on a bench and watched the tourist paddle boat “The Canandaigua Lady” slowly leave it’s dock, get turned lakeward, then announce over the PA that they had forgotten the money bag for the bar and had to go back. They slowly turned and maneuvered close enough to the dock so the money bag could get tossed to a woman on the end of the forward facing gang plank. She missed and the money bag which landed at the very edge of the plank. The “CL” slowly turned again and was on its way, now with the ability to get its passengers drunk while touring the beautiful lake.

I have been away for too long, at least during the summer because after a whole week I still can get over how green everything is.

When the four of us reunited that evening we watched a movie and reviewed the zoo pictures.

Thursday was a big day. We moved to my sister’s house to make room for my brother’s family at my parents’ house and I drove to Rochester for a second rehearsal with Jim and Andy. My trek home to my sisters involved four different construction detours and running over a raccoon (I sure hope it was a raccoon). To add to that when my worried wife called to ask what the heck was taking me so long my phone crashed and didn’t reboot until I was in the driveway.

Friday was a big day too between prep for the party and prep for my gig and spending time with my brother and my nephews who are growing so fast that you can see it if you squint just right.

[Enzo pic]

The gig was amazing. I saw so many people that I hadn’t seen for years and met some people for the first time. There were also several people that came back to from the Record Archive gig.

As before Jim Schreck started off the evening. It was great to hear him play at a more substantial volume. I played next. I was a little nervous at first but when I heard the first round of applause the front man deep inside me came alive. I tried some crazy impromptu stuff for the first time like a sort-of drum solo on the fret board of my bass.

I sold a bunch of CDs that night too.

“Andy Smash and the Rust Belt Hot Rods” headlined the evening. They sounded great and kept everyone bopping to their high energy. At the end of the night I sent my new bass amp home with Amie

I was pretty tired when I got home but Saturday was an even bigger day.

I’ll cover my parents’ wonderful 50^th Anniversary celebration in next week’s blog.

In the present, we are almost packed and ready to head back to LA. I am so sad to leave but at the same time I’m eager to see our kitties and get back into our groove.

It have stopped raining for the most part making it easier to load the car.

Thanks to everyone who made this stay a memorable one. Thanks to everyone who saw my shows and bought CDs. It was so wonderful to see old friends and meet new.

In the words of the ‘Governator’: I will be back…

and not after three years this time.