Coincidences

[vaneramos]

There were several odd coincidences about my trip to Atlanta, the biggest one being that ghostsandrobots happened to travel there at the same time. This was unplanned, a matter of her family going there for family reasons, taking her and Jude along.

Once we were there, anti-coincidences almost conspired to prevent us from meeting. It happened like this.

On Monday we made phone contact and discussed meeting for lunch the next day and hanging out with dakoopst. In the morning, Stephen and I got up early and headed to Stone Mountain; we wanted to see it before the crowds and heat became too oppressive.

On the way back into town, we tried to call Ziggy to meet her for lunch, but couldn't get through to her cell phone. So I left a message. We headed to The Flying Biscuit Cafe, which jeffbriggs had recommended to me, hoping to make contact before long. She finally got my message and called us back. It turned out her family had gone to the Center for Puppetry Arts, and she couldn't make it back downtown until they were ready. We went ahead, ordered and ate our lunch, hoping she could join us whenever. It turns out there are two Flying Biscuit locations, one around the corner from where Ziggy's sister lives; we of course had gone to the other one, the original, so this caused a little confusion.

By the time we finished lunch it was 2:00, and we were anxious to attend the Annie Liebovitz exhibit, as this would be my last afternoon in Atlanta. We started wandering up the sidewalk toward Stephen's car, still watching for Ziggy. Finally she appeared on a street corner with Jude, but they hadn't eaten yet, and we needed to go, so we promised to call as soon as we finished at High Museum of Art.

When we did, we headed to OutWrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse, a gay establishment downtown, which also happens to be a few steps away from where Ziggy's sister lives. So there we sat drinking something icy, phoning Ziggy, expecting she could just pop out and join us. This time we got through right away, but her family had gone to her parents' hotel for a swim.

The hotel was in Sandy Springs, 25 minutes north of downtown Atlanta. And here's the anti-coincidence: Stephen lives in Sandy Springs, five minutes from the hotel. So we started to discuss meeting for dinner downtown.

Just then, Stephen's cell phone died. At that point, all we could do was go home and charge it again. After that, the course of events grew a little less obstinate. We managed to contact Ziggy again, she was still in Sandy Springs. We actually managed to pick her up from the hotel and take her out to dinner, also meeting Stephen's friend Scott at Nothing But Noodles.

We had barely sat down to eat when Ziggy's entire family arrived at the same restaurant. This was unplanned and undiscussed—Ziggy didn't even know where we were heading when we picked her up. They sat at the next table, Jude popping happily back and forth with a book of Mad Libs.

Afterwards Stephen and I took Ziggy to Burkhart's Pub downtown; we had to expose her to a gay bar! It turned out to be a fine evening, and I'm glad we persisted in getting together. Ziggy and Stephen got along famously. That's one of my favourite acts in life—to bring compatible souls together—and I seem to have a knack for it.

And that's how my Atlanta rendezous with Ziggy happened.

But there was another odd coincidence.

My first day in the city, Stephen took me to Atlanta Botanical Garden, which I mentioned previously. I had just missed a show by glass artist Dale Chihuly. Stephen raved about it, and felt certain I would have liked it. There were still several pieces on display, but it seemed the finest opportunity had passed.

When I arrived back in Pittsburgh the following weekend, writer00 took me to Phipps Conservatory, which was even more impressive than the one in Atlanta, in fact the largest of its kind I've ever visited.

But guess what was showing there?

The Chihuly exhibit. So in honour of this whimsical course of events (and my indulgent friends who helped bring it all about) here are images of a few glass works. The first three are from Phipps, the last from Atlanta. The third shows the Victoria room at Phipps, my favourite of all the greenhouses we visited, consisting entirely of silver-foliaged plants.

Comments

[blue-by-you.livejournal.com]

I love Chihuly! He's a local artist so there's a permanent display here as well as his studios. I have heard horror stories about him from employees but man, his designs are brilliant. These are great photos Van.

[e-musings.livejournal.com]

The Phipps is one of my favorite places in the world to go.

[halation.livejournal.com]

chihuly is a genius and his work is so magical. i've had the pleasure of experiencing it in small doses, and i'm so glad (and jealous) that you had such a huge shot of him while on your travels!

wow.