Some Days I Am Harold Lloyd
The name of today’s abstract illustration is “Surprised By A Reflection Casting A Shadow”
Water finds a way. I remember watching a Dr Who Christmas special where the Dr’s Tardis appears on a base on the surface of Mars. In the episode the scientists living in the base are being found dead from drowning. Apparently sentient water is killing them. At one point they ask the Dr how is this incredibly odd cause of death happening and his reply is “Water finds a way”. Well that is the life I have been leading for three days. On Thursday Rhode Island was hit with a bomb cyclone. We had heavy wind swept rain slowly working it’s way into the mill. My studio was doing fine and then just a the sun set the drops started. I had leaks where I have never had them before. Soon the drips were garden hoses filling thirty gallon bins.
Flash forward to a sunny but breezy Thursday and my day was filled with mopping not just in my studio but in most of the building’s studios. By noon I decided to go and do some Christmas shopping all the while knowing I would have to go on my roof and try to repair the leaks. As I was heading back to the mill I noticed the wind had died down enough to tackle the roof. This is a huge building and the roof is twenty five feet up. It was 3:45pm as I pulled up. I ran up to my studio and changed into shorts and a t-shirt knowing it was thirty six degrees but not wanting to ruin my clothes with a splash of flex seal. I filled my roof repair bag with all the flex seal and other items to do the job. I quickly placed the extension ladder and scurried up to the roof. The damage was worse than I thought and it took me until it was pitch black outside to complete the repairs. I was freezing cold in my shorts and t-shirt combo and decided I had done a decent job of repairing the roof. As I started to reach for the ladder I inadvertently knocked it to the side. I was now stuck on the roof alone. I reached into my pocket with frozen fingers and called my assistant for help. It turns out he was forty minutes away stuck in traffic. He said he would call around the building for help. Twenty minutes later a frozen Bill Muzzy was saved by the owner of the music and DVD store. He was able to position the ladder and hold it for my safe descent.
What I have come to learn over my recent years is I am not Superman. It turns out I am more like Logan. For those who are not familiar with Logan that is the movie where Wolverine’s powers weaken and he dies from in essence old age.