When Life Gives You Lemons
When life gives me lemons my inclination is to decline and ask: "Where in the heck the tangelos I ordered?!" Today started out blissfully. People are completely enamoured with the trees even though the event doesn't officially start until tonight. I handed cards out left and right and chatted with a local newspaper reporter who photographed me working the crowd. She took my contact information and wants to cover the elementary school students when they come to deliver the plastic they made for me. I met the students' principal, had lunch with my friend who is my contact with the school, and got to see pictures of the students working.
I put marble chips down on the bases of the trees since it was a little windy and then finished up filling out the taller trees. My friends Oren and Chris came down and were helping with the final touches. (Oren was especially fond of using my heat gun.) And then....
The wind started kicking up and suddenly one of my tall trees fell TIMBER onto the side walk, the trunk snapped, and several of the branches broke. I was trying to be chipper, forcing myself to look for the positive. At least we could figure out and fix the situation before the event. Then a giant gust blew through and all of the trees started tipping over. I was somewhat paralyzed by my horror, ran to one tree, righted it, then buried my head in its branches not wanting to open my eyes. Meanwhile Chris played drill sergeant, directing people who were in the vicinity to stand on the bases of the trees while she straddled two trees until we figured out what to do. The owner of Taco Bob, Phil (but I like to call him Taco Bob... not to his face...yet) came out to offer whatever help he could.
Chris dispatched Oren to the hardware store to get more rocks, more brackets and screws, and to try to figure out some mend. We hauled the trees into the lobby of the Calder Building (where they actually look pretty glorious) while a Taco Bob employee took it upon himself to gather all the plastic ornaments from the gutter. Our installation now consisted of seven piles of marble chips on the sidewalk.
Chris never gives up. While I went to the car to gather my thoughts or fall apart or both, she continued to direct people to the trees in the lobby handing out tickets and asking for votes. Oren and Chris are both doctors and when I returned Oren was deep into orthopedic surgery on the broken tree. Good as new. Chris took me home to have some tea and put my feet up while we awaited the arrival of a kind artist who was loaning us the tools to drill into the concrete. And here I am.... Lemonade anyone?
Later: Enter the Tangelos
and the most highly educated unpaid interns I have had the pleasure to work with. We headed back down to drill into the concrete. Oren's friend Doug, also a doctor (that makes 3 if you are counting) came to the rescue. It felt a little like the old Tool Time TV show. When the power tools came out it seemed like the guys' pupils started to spin and I half expected manly grunts. Chris noticed their matching shirts. We didn't know they were going to come in uniform. In the end we settled on a concrete block/ marble chips solution that looks pretty darn good. Doug ran off to the hardware store for more rocks and didn't get back until the building was locked with the trees still inside. Our shoulders sagged a little but we had to pack up until morning.
Just then a lovely woman working the night shift came in and allowed us to haul the trees back out onto the sidewalk. Below are our 'rock stars.'
At last we were set up and the buzz about the installation never stopped. Even when there were only two trees in the space people continued to stop to take photographs and marvel at what they were made of. The highlight of the night was when a professional dancer from Disney stopped by with her mother and was so moved by the positive energy of the installation she decided to dance. A little crowd gathered for the magic. It doesn't get any better than this. Or maybe it does. i guess I'll find out tomorrow.