Living on Nantucket was an interesting experience and was both very difficult for me and exactly where I wanted and needed to be.
The entire island has a year round population around 10,000. In the summer, that jumps to 50,000ish. Nantucket is about 47.8 square miles (124 km).
I started my Artist in Residency in a January and stayed in a tiny, TINY one room cabin/cottage until May when I moved out to the barn.
How small was it?
So small, the litter box had to be put in the shower!
I felt very isolated. I had to restrict contact with all my friends because there was no local dialup number. It was a long distance call ... so I really budgeted my time. But it was so difficult to go from being able to chat with my friends for hours every night to ... barely being able to talk to anyone. But then, I was there to work on sculpture! Which I did. I had some contact with other artists, but not really all that much. I'm not all that outgoing and it's hard for me to meet people. I'd been divorced about a year by then, and I was dealing with the loss of 19 years of dreams being no more.
I'd also spent several months before then staying with a friend in Orlando who was going through a nasty divorce. That turned out not to be a very good situation. She'd started drinking (well, probably not started), got an DUI for being parked at the side of the road drunk, and I got pulled into the custody fight because I was staying with her. The deposition was just plain ugly! And with my cropped hair, you can imagine some of the accusations he threw at me. But ... I could continue to live there if I paid rent to him. Despite his concerns for his 13 year old daughter. Clearly, cropped hair on a woman means one thing.
While the isolation was so difficult, it was the very first time that I was on my own! I didn't have to deal with anyone. And Nantucket in the winter is absolutely beautiful. The sky is alight with stars upon stars upon stars. I could walk anywhere I wanted to, no matter how late at night. Which was a good thing because it was the worst winter Nantucket had had in a long time. My car was stuck in the parking lot for weeks at a time because of the snow storms.
Anyway ... I imagine you didn't expect a book.
The entire island has a year round population around 10,000. In the summer, that jumps to 50,000ish. Nantucket is about 47.8 square miles (124 km).
I started my Artist in Residency in a January and stayed in a tiny, TINY one room cabin/cottage until May when I moved out to the barn.
How small was it?
So small, the litter box had to be put in the shower!
I felt very isolated. I had to restrict contact with all my friends because there was no local dialup number. It was a long distance call ... so I really budgeted my time. But it was so difficult to go from being able to chat with my friends for hours every night to ... barely being able to talk to anyone. But then, I was there to work on sculpture! Which I did. I had some contact with other artists, but not really all that much. I'm not all that outgoing and it's hard for me to meet people. I'd been divorced about a year by then, and I was dealing with the loss of 19 years of dreams being no more.
I'd also spent several months before then staying with a friend in Orlando who was going through a nasty divorce. That turned out not to be a very good situation. She'd started drinking (well, probably not started), got an DUI for being parked at the side of the road drunk, and I got pulled into the custody fight because I was staying with her. The deposition was just plain ugly! And with my cropped hair, you can imagine some of the accusations he threw at me. But ... I could continue to live there if I paid rent to him. Despite his concerns for his 13 year old daughter. Clearly, cropped hair on a woman means one thing.
While the isolation was so difficult, it was the very first time that I was on my own! I didn't have to deal with anyone. And Nantucket in the winter is absolutely beautiful. The sky is alight with stars upon stars upon stars. I could walk anywhere I wanted to, no matter how late at night. Which was a good thing because it was the worst winter Nantucket had had in a long time. My car was stuck in the parking lot for weeks at a time because of the snow storms.
Anyway ... I imagine you didn't expect a book.
It went so much better but the child from yesterday didn't come today. Monday is going to be a very interesting day.
