so sorry, dear readers, that i didn't update yesterday--i know you all hang on my every word. i woke up and did the normal feeding of the animals, found out that the rams charge when you open the barn door, found out that i can move pretty quickly when a ram charges at me, and then i spent most of the day at robert's glassblowing studio. it's in an old house just outside of the center of town (which is made up of maybe twelve buildings). they have the studio and a showroom on the bottom floor, and then their offices upstairs. i had thought i was going to be working and living with a farmer, but it turns out i'm working with a strangely well-connected man. his work (shown here: http://www.dugrenier.com/) is all over the place--he has glass sculptures and chandeliers in hotels all over the world, a chandelier in (one of) bill gates's house(s), and he designed the statues for the mtv movie awards, the nickelodeon kid's choice awards, and the espys. and i found out today that his cousin, who he used to live with, was andy warhol's lover--so he spent all that time in new york hanging out with warhol, loud reed, and the rest of the factory. now i understand why he was surprised that heroin wasn't big in college anymore.
but, back to the glassblowing--there's something beautifully antiquated about it. they still use the same tools used hundreds of years ago, except the furnaces are gas now. they only melt down clear glass in this studio too, so they make different colors by inserting a little piece of whatever color they need and blowing it out until it expands into the whole shape. it's mesmerizing to watch them shape molten glass using only a few wooden tools and some folded-up newspaper. most of the time i was there i spent helping zach, who i believe does most of the blowing for the studio now. he's been working for robert for a couple years, having moved up from birmingham. he's also a natural teacher and a very easy guy to spend a few hours with. they are finishing up some chandeliers for a hotel in turkey, so zach was making some long cylindrical pieces and some hanging lamps. most of what i did was opening the door to the furnace, but with the hanging lamps i had to help use the mold they had and then twirl the thing around to keep its shape while zach attached a smaller rod to it. the thing about glass blowing, though, is that it's absurdly hot. it also gave me a massive headache--which is why i fell asleep at nine and didn't write an entry last night.
today, i fed the animals, helped a friend of robert's (who i also tried to wwoof with) make some apple cider, and then rode back to new york with robert. he told me he'd love for me to come back at the end of the month to stay for awhile at the farm, but he wants a minimum one-month commitment and i'm not sure i can do that. i don't want to leave brooklyn early and i have family i'd like the time to see before i head back south for my cousin damon's wedding, and i'm not sure how i'd get back to vermont after. so, i think i'm going to try to convince robert to let me come for a couple weeks, but if not i'll either slowly make my way down the east coast to charleston by the end of october, or i'll find someplace else to wwoof.
tonight, though, i'm going to try to find a way to afford going to see modest mouse in williamsburg. i'm also going to restart the job search in earnest--because i have missed brooklyn in the past few days.
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