In the taxi in Stockholm, I had an odd feeling about our credit card transaction. After we got home I called the credit card company and it turned out there were four fraudulent charges. So Gary delivered the new card.]]> He was delivering medicine for me.]]> Simon got to work an hour early so i could give him my credit card to go out and do some errands for us. During the morning he worked with Cathy (Catherine Murphy) setting up for a new painting of buckets and reflections. He ordered some more buckets online. He then posed for drawings for another new painting of Cathy's. Before he went home he ordered a Mannequin that will sometimes be posed for the painting that will sometimes be Simon.]]> A few weeks ago Catherine (Murphy) and I went to Windy Hill Nursery in Great Barrington, MA. We picked out a Full Moon Maple and a Birch tree. This morning a crew from Windy Hell came to plant the two trees. Michael had been herer before to plasnt other trees that we had gotten from Windy Hill.]]> Lee called a couple of weeks ago to ask if I wanted him to deliver some brushes. Lee works at Catskill Art and Office. The moved and consolidated their stores in Kingston, NY. I called and said today would be a good day to deliver the brushes and I added a few items.]]> Simon got here early, about 8:30am. I gave him my credit card and a list for the store. When he got back and put the groceries away, he sprayed the Hostas against deer. Soon after we had lunch. He then straightened out some of my stuff in my Dutch Barn studio. He helped Cathy (Catherine Murphy) set up for a new painting by the pond. After that he posed for the painting (pictured in this entrry).]]> Maria came to clean.]]> We decided to go to the student cafeteria art the Culinary Institute of America. It was a rather nice space and the food was acceptable.]]> Simon came to work.]]> They came to work in the garden, except for Aliyah, who played.]]> Lee dropped off (from Catskill Art and Office) a number of tubes of paint for Cathy (Murphy). Last week I was at Davies Hardware and the station wagon went dead. Luckily Lee walked by and he gave me a jump from his car. He also showed me a image of the book cover of his upcoming book to see what I thought of it.]]> After he first got here Simon and I worked on a few things together. We picked up the station wagon from Al's. After lunch we brought the two lawn mowers to Adam's to see about having them fixed. The Toro was not fixable, so I bought a new one. The other one we left for repairs. Simon re-fixed the screening to cover the Pails for Cathy's painting. In the afternoon even though it was insanely hot, Simon and I mowed the path through the woods, which was way overdue. I forgot to take his picture.]]> Simon got here early today so he could help Cathy (Murphy) set up for her morning painting (Pails). He put stakes in the ground by the stool for Cathy's painting (temporary title: Camo). Then he cleaned out the back of the volvo. We are now working on this site. Soon we will be having lunch and possibly spending much of the afternoon working on this site. n_]]> They came to mow the lawn.]]> Judy came over here and then Cathy, Ben, Judy and I headed off to the Culinary Institute of America to have dinner at the Egg. The Egg is the student cafeteria which is also open to the public. We didn't realize that most of the stations are closed on weekends. So instead we went to Mizu Sushi in Hyde Park for dinner.]]> Ostensively Benjamin came to work with me on this site. But on Saturday he spent a good part of the day sharpening pencils for Cathy (Murphy). We went out to dinner with Judy Linn. First to the Egg at the Culinary Institute of America. We didn't realize on Saturdays most of the stations at the restaurant are closed. So from there we went to Mizu Sushi restaurant in Hyde Park. On Sunday, Ben and I spent part of the day working on this site. Cathy and I went off to Peter and Sean's for dinner and Ben stayed home and sharpened more pencils. He went home Monday morning.]]> Simon got here at 9 am so he could help Cathy (Murphy) set up for her morning painting which he did. After that he switched stools for, hopefully, one more comfortable for Cathy's (Murphy) afternoon painting. Simon went off to Kentucky fried chicken to get the new special for our lunches, but the one in Poughkeepsie didn't have it, so he went and got us lunch at Wendy's. In the afternoon he went to home depot to get Cathy a tarp for one of her setups and while there he bought some plastic for covering my sculptures and new drill which we needed desperately. I forgot to take Simon's photograph.]]> We had Simon come at 9 am instead of 10 am (his usual time), so he could help Cathy set up for her morning painting (Pails). When he got here he did his regular morning routine, after which he helped Cathy set up. When he was done with that we did my self portrait and this photograph and now we are working on this site. From time to time Cathy (Murphy) will call Simon to help move her painting, when Simon isn't here I help Cathy setting up. After lunch Simon will help Cathy set up for her afternoon painting (Camo). We will work some more on the site (I assume). I have a doctors appointment this afternoon.]]> Simon helped Catherine Murphy set up for her paintings and also continued to clean and organize the basement.]]> Simon got here early (9:00 am, his usual time is 10:00 am.) It was supposed to be sunny and the earlier time enables Simon to set up Catherine's (Murphy) painting when I am at school. It turned out not to be reliably sunny, so the painting wasn't set up. Simon had to come to school to pick up a bag of tomatoes that I accidentally brought with me. Then he went to the supermarket to get various things and to pick up Singapore noodles for Catherine for dinner tomorrow when I am at a critique. He also got lunch for himself at the Chinese restaurant. After moving a new table to the Dutch Barn he resumed digging a hole near the house to try and find the water pipe. Our water pressure is terrible and John from Sterling Pump thinks he found a blockage. When Simon locates the line we are going to look for the place where the plastic hose is connected to a metal line. Now we are typing this caption and we'll try to get to some more entries.]]> John came to check on the water line between the well and the house. He brought Tracy with him, of which I was quite pleased because I was able to draw for some of the time they were working. John did the snaking of the water line routine to see if he could hear where he thought it might be clogged. Now that Simon had done quite a bit of digging he was hoping to hear it more clearly, which he did. John now dug for a while to follow the sound so he could unearth the waterline, which he did. He detached the coupling and snaked up the line going in the direction of the well. All kinds of crap came out of the line with the water. The diagnosis was the original line is compromised beyond repair. So that we could have water, he attached a hose above ground from the well to the house and had asked me to ask Simon to better uncover where that connection was visible, so he could better get at it. As soon as the hose was attached our water pressure increased 100 fold. He now needs to contact an excavator and arrange for a ditch to be dug for a new line. This is all very unnerving because of tree roots and the garden. His schedule is very tight, but he will have to get the line put in before we get freezing temperatures.]]> I had to be at school by 9:30 am this morning, so Simon very nicely agreed to come to work at 8:30 am. I wanted to have some time before I left for school to show him some ins and outs for a model he was going to make. After I left for school Simon did various things, but I wasn't home, so I did not witness them. I got home from school at about 3:35 PM. Simon and I went to the Dutch Barn to continue setting up my sculpture models. We had gotten a new table last week. Simon showed me the new digging he did for the water line from the well to the house, which was fine. While I went over some things for school, Simon worked in the basement. Now we are sitting on the porch and typing what you are reading.]]> Rena (Fogal) emailed to tell us they were heading south from their house upstate and would it be possible to stop by and say hi. We hadn't seen them for a while and were very glad to have them come for a visit.]]> Rena emailed to tell us they were heading south from their house upstate and would it be possible to stop by and say hi. We hadn't seen them for a while and were very glad to have them come for a visit.]]> Mike of Mike's Tree Service came to give us an estimate for taking down a large sickly Maple tree and to look at the cable on the tree against the dutch barn.]]> John had discovered the problem with our water. Today (not actually) he came over with Tracy Petty to meet up with the excavation man, Colin Travis to dig the trench and put in the water line between the house and the well. The excavating was tricky because of trees and garden. Colin is very good with the excavation machine, so it looks like we won't have any lasting damage. (see next two entries).]]> Tracy met John here to assist with the waterline (see last entry).]]> Colin did the excavation of the trench for the waterline. He was recommended by John Slizewski (see last two entries).]]> This is Kallie's 2nd time coming to the house, and the last visit was for us to meet him. As of right now the photograph from the last visit may be lost. Today, as we are writing this Kallie, is going to help with some things, but more importantly, he is going to start learning how to do various things on the computer including how to make entries onto the site. Simon (Tosky) is going to be leaving for a different job and suggested Kallie take his place.]]> Simon came to work. He did some of his chores and then Simon and me and Catherine (Murphy) went up to Catherine's studio to fix the seat on one of her chairs. Then we went over to the dutch barn and organized the summer outdoor furniture. We had an early lunch before starting to work on the site. When Kallie got here at 1:00pm the three of us worked, are working, on the site so that Kallie could get a beginning idea of how it worked. First we're going back over to the dutch barn so Simon and Kallie could vacuum and straighten up the studio. When that is done Kallie and Simon are going to remove the air conditioner to the bedroom, put down some storm windows, and that should be all we have time for.]]> Aaron started delivering salt here more than a decade ago. A few years ago other people came and when I asked where Aaron was. I was told he wasn't well so stopped delivering and worked in the office. So, it was a surprise to see him at the door. He said he was feeling good and he looked fine.]]> Kallie brought the newer car to Al's because the low oil light was going on. He waited while they did an oil change. We then had lunch. After which, he did some chores and then went to Adam's Fairacre Farms to buy some things. We tried to deal with too much data on the computer. After which we went over to the heated studio and tried to make sense out of some of the photographs, partly to see if we could find the missing China photos. I couldn't take that for too much longer because the disorganization made me want to hit my head against the wall. So that's why now we are doing input on the computer.]]> Judy came here on Tuesday and the three of us, Catherine(Murphy), Judy and me drove up together to Williamstown to have Christmas at Billie Finn and Arthur Salvadore's house. (see William Finn and Arthur Salvadore December 24, & 25 in Groups). Today the three of us drove back to Poughkeepsie.]]> Sharon who Catherine (Murphy) first met when they were both at Skowhegan. (At that time an art summer school for students between their junior and senior years in 1966.) We saw her once since then but still many many years ago. Sharon has emailed for the last three years to see if we could get together around this time of year. She lives in California but comes to this area at Christmas time to visit her daughter. We were supposed to go to Montreal for Christmas but Billy wasn't feeling well so we were home and able to visit with Sharon. We had enough snacks for everyone's dinner. It was nice to see her after all this time. And also to meet her daughter and her daughter's partner.]]> Pattie Fagen is the curator who is handling a show of my drawings at the Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. She came over to look through the work so we could start working out what would be in the exhibition. The exhibition will be from about the middle of June into a week or two of September 2020. After the studio visit we, Pattie, Catherine (Murphy) and O had cookies and tea in the house.]]> First Kallie did his regular chores. In the morning he unloaded sand from the trunk of our car. Straightened up in my studio. We had lunch. When Patty arrived Kallie did some errands. When he got back Patty was still here so he laid low for a bit. After Patty left Kallie worked in the studio for a while and then he and I did some computer stuff.]]> Ben came to work. He did a few rudimentary chores first, including making coffee. We spent most of the day working on China 1987. He also brought some things up to Catherine's studio.]]> Delivered package]]> Simon came to work.]]> Simon came to work.]]>