"A Journey with Ikki, Charley, and Peter Makes Three"

First, let me apologize for my lack of blogging. It is a pretty big commitment and I like to have something fun to share, so again I'm sorry. I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to sit down and write. I started to write this blog months ago in hopes of making some pre-sales of artwork I purchased, but life gets in the way some times. Life: My wonderful husband, Steve, and I bought a new home in Tamarac Florida. We needed another bedroom and it had to be wheelchair accessible, so his sweet and adorable 88 year old mother could come and live with us. Shortly after Steve and I were married in July of 2015 Mom was diagnosed with cancer again. I closed my frame shop in Naples and Steve went from being a bachelor to a single dad within months. I moved into Mom's dining room so I could be the primary care-giver. When the occasion arose that I could extend him the same precious time with his mom as he gave to me, I jumped at the opportunity. That was a very condensed version and I can elaborate more on that later, but we're here to talk about our road trip.

Back to the story...

I received a call from a family member of an Ikki collector a few months ago who had recently passed away. Sadly, this is not the first time. The collector had a nice collection of framed and unframed Matsumotos, Harpers, and Peter Parnalls. Truthfully, I was not familiar with Peter Parnall's work, but I liked the pictures she sent me, so I decided to buy them all because it was such a rare opportunity to acquire so many great pieces in one place, and I figured I would get a better deal if I bought them all. My family has always been HUGE Charley fans (wonder why), and there were some that I had never seen before in this collection. I made a cash deposit on the whole lot, but had to wait to pick them up till the weather warmed up since I had never driven in snow before.

Skip ahead to May 1st -

My son Christopher and I took an afternoon flight to Seattle since I had started that morning in Fort Lauderdale and had to drive to Cape Coral to pick up Christopher before heading back to RSW airport for our flight. We were detained at security for 2 reasons. First, we brought a roll of 6" cling wrap to, well... wrap the artwork for transport and it got swabbed for bomb residue. It passed! Second, we brought 2 baggies with the ashes of Mom and Dad. I had thought ahead and brought the cards from the crematorium, but I couldn't help teasing the young lady and suggested she stick her pinky in the bag and taste it, like they do in the movies when they think it's cocaine. She didn't. The flights were boring and long and way too cramped. We were a late arrival, so straight to the hotel to sleep.

May 2nd -

We woke up, checked out, and grabbed an Uber to the rental car center to pick up our vehicle. I had reserved a minivan with stow-and-go seating since we were going to transport so many framed pieces, but there was a mistake and they tried to put us in an economy. Luckily, they had a Ford Explorer on the lot and we left hoping it was big enough. We met up with the lady who contacted me, Cee Cee, at the collector's home. Christopher and I wrapped each piece carefully and loaded the Explorer so the artwork wouldn't shift in transport. We chatted a little and asked her, "If you only had 1-2 days in Washington what would you do?", and with her advice in hand, we set off. We had planned on going to see the Chihuly Glass Museum and Gardens, but decided on a smaller venue so we could do what Cee Cee had recommended, and decided to see the Tacoma Glass Museum and Hot Shop. Sitting in the hot shop and watching them work reminded me of the time when Mom had sent me to Penland School of Craft to take a Lampwork course in glass. It was the first time I had ever driven that far by myself and I was the youngest there, so of course the course was lost on me once I met all the glassblowers. I was 18 and they were loud and ALIVE with heat and energy. I had a BLAST but did not learn a damn thing.

Cee Cee had recommended, if we had time, to drive up and around the Olympic Peninsula, so we headed North on the 16 to meet up with the 101, which goes up and around. While we were driving, Cee Cee texted and suggested we stop to see Sequim and Dungeness Spit along the way. It worked out perfectly cause Chris and I had decided not to do any night driving if possible since neither of us has good nighttime vision anymore. Chris was driving so I jumped on AirBnB and found us a place overlooking the water. We pulled into Sequim about dinnertime and googled restaurants. We decided on a local place versus a chain. A great little pizza place, named Alder Wood Bistro and Wood-fired Pizza with many locally sourced foods on the menu. Here is a google link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/FbgJZqrFYSZL5gfM7

I was too tired to really enjoy dinner, but the leftover pizza was delish for breakfast.

While eating dinner, I did a Google search on Sequim and come to find out it is known as the "Lavender Capital of North America." Sequim is located in one of the driest regions in the Pacific Northwest with average annual rainfall of 16 inches. Sequim (S'Kwim) is said to mean “a place for going to shoot”. Tallest Structure: The old Clallam Co-Op Granary, 85', built in 1929. Here's a link if you are interested: https://sequimwa.gov/

After dinner, we found our lodgings and had time to hop a gate and walk down to the beach to look for rocks and shells and sprinkle some of Mom's and Dad's Ashes. They would have loved it there, but I'm not sure what he would have chosen to paint. He did do a couple of Inuit-inspired pieces.

An Anhinga:

and a Pelican:

The place we stayed was called Dungeness Bay Cottages. Here's a link to their website. https://dungenessbaycottages.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=GMB

Our little warm cottage overlooked Dungeness Bay with Victoria Canada far off in the distance. The air was clean and crisp and it was so quiet that all I could hear was my Tinnitus, but I only saw a single Tern on the beach, which is completely foreign to me.

The last two pictures are the start to my bounty.

May 3rd -

We woke and continued on our way. We stopped at Lake Crescent for Chris to take photos and it was so beautiful we decided to spread some ashes.

We continued through Port Angeles and over to the coast at LaPush Beach from the Twilight Saga. I wanted to see the tidal pools and to be honest, I enjoyed the books... so we went. I've always loved vampire stories, ever since I was a Preteen myself. https://maps.app.goo.gl/vuZwXvJg2hDQFScGA

Did you know we have a rainforest in Washington state? It's the Hoh Rainforest. Here's a link for more information. Worth a visit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoh_Rainforest

Part of the fun of traveling is trying new things and local cuisine, so we stopped in Aberdeen, WA for lunch at Billy's Bar & Grill. Lots of locals. We started off with 6 Oysters to share. They were so big I could have shared them with the whole restaurant if I cut them down to the size of the ones we have in FL.

We continued down the 101 to where we crossed the Astoria-Megler Bridge into Oregon. Sorry to say no Goonies to be found, so onto Portland.

May 4th -

We were going to go to the Saturday Market, but it didn't start till 10 am and we wanted to get on the road. Maybe, next time. We had places to be and people to see. Next stop - Lost Mountain Clay. Some of you may know this name from the 1970s Sanibel Island, Mark Heimann. My last memory of him was at a party my parents had at our house in the Dunes in 1979. The band he was in was playing and Mom let me come out to watch when he sang, "Amie" by Pure Prairie League. He was forever a Rock and Roll Star to my 10-year-old self. He showed us around his property and clay studio and I purchased a few pieces. His work is amazing. Most people don't appreciate the time and skill that goes into creating unique individual pieces of art and working in clay is creating all original work all the time. Here's a link to his Esty store:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LostMountainClaywork?ref=condensed_trust_header_title_reviews

I know the last picture wasn't from our trip, but it is of Mom and I with her Mark Heimann platter she has cherished since 1979. It has served many Blue Crab dinners at the Matsumoto home 🦀 .

After Mark's, we cut back over to the coast and down. The Oregon Coast has many natural wonders. We stopped at several natural wonders as we drove south on the 101. We took a short detour to visit an old weaver friend of Mom's. We last saw them when we went on a family vacation to Cannon Beach, OR in 1980. You can go horseback riding on the beach, which we did. https://maps.app.goo.gl/kkats7YeDQEKKxpF6

OPRD Whale Watching Center https://g.co/kgs/WFWr5Hu

Spouting Horn: https://g.co/kgs/NdNhAqa

Devil's Churn: https://maps.app.goo.gl/t2Xpqwq6pwBBVGXY6

Thor's Well: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Nz1MnHLqQDbuDqE

May 5th

It was NOT a fast drive, but it was beautiful and I enjoyed spending quality time with Christopher.

Redwood National Forest https://maps.app.goo.gl/GMhKQyPoQzJZjsKq6

We reached our goal in early after, so we had time to experience "Glass Beach." https://maps.app.goo.gl/QxnZm73KjtxsmeLfA

May 6th

We jumped over to I-5, so we could make better time to San Francisco, but 1st WINE Country.

LOL. That didn't take long. I don't drink wine, but we stopped to pee and buy a bottle for my husband Steve.

Onto San Francisco

We stayed for lunch in China Town, but could not find a Dim Sum restaurant, so we had an ok lunch, then back to the car to see how far we can make it before we need to stop. We crossed the double-decker bridge to Oakland and headed toward Bakersfield. We ended up in a tiny motel in Boron, Ca. I would not stay there again.

May 7th

We had slept in our clothes and didn't even bother to take in our bags. Just grabbed our toothbrushes and a couple of the larger pieces of driftwood just in case Norman Bates decided to pay us a visit in the night. We woke up early, brushed our teeth, passed on the shower (again... Norman Bates) and headed out. We made it to the Petrified Forest, but decided to wait till morning before going since it was extremely windy.

May 8th

Another busy day. We started with a ride on Rt. 66 and a drive through the Petrified Forest and we were hoping to hit the Acoma Pueblo, but ran out of time.

We did, however, track down Christy Henspetter, another friend of Mom and Dad's in Santa Fe. My husband, Steve teases me all the time and says "the 'Google-Fu' is STRONG in this one." While Christopher drove, I tried IM-ing her on FaceBook to no avail, so I googled her. She's an artist in Santa Fe, so there was a chance she had a website. I sent a message...crickets. There was a lot of desert, so I continued my search. Ah ha, a gallery. I called and said, "Hi, my name is Amy and I'm driving across the country with my son and we are driving through Santa Fe. We are old friends of Christy Henspetter. I'm not asking for her number, but I was wondering if you could call her and let her know that Amy & Christopher Matsumoto are driving through town and would love to see her if she's available." I gave her my number and within 10 minutes Christy was calling. She was available and had no one booked in her AirBnB, so she put us up for the night and took us to dinner. We reminisced about Mom and Dad and other old friends from Taos. Christy had lost contact with them as well, so I pulled up Google and started my Fu. I finally found her by finding her son, Ben Shriver, which became a local Taos artist. His art is shown at the Magpie Gallery in Taos, NM. https://g.co/kgs/L1qhZL1. I called the gallery and spoke with the owner, which happened to be Ben's girlfriend. She called Mary and Mary called me and Christopher and I now had another short detour North.

Christy would have my parents stay with her when they were in town. This was one of my parents favorite places to visit and stay. If you are going to Santa Fe, check out Christy's little studio apartment and you'll see why they loved it.

Here are two pieces of Christy's that Christopher and I decided to bring back to Florida to see if we can find her a gallery. They are currently hanging at 50% off Framing in Cape Coral Florida (Christopher works here.) https://fiftypercentoffframing.com/cape-coral/

Fleur's Mahi:

Here is a link to Christy's website: http://henspetter.com/

May 9th

We woke up and had a light breakfast. Then spread some of Mom and Dad's ashes in the courtyard garden, exchanged hugs, and back in the car to Taos.

Family Photo

One with just Chris and I

Taos is a short trip North from Santa Fe.

Some of you might have bought a piece of painted furniture from Mom at the gallery. Mary owned the company that we would buy them from. The furniture was build and painted by ex-cons.

She met her husband, Jim Wagner through the program. We spent the day around town and a quiet afternoon looking around her marvelous home. We left the last of Mom and Dad's ashes with Mary. She later spread their ashes at the local horse and donkey rescue in their memory garden. Perfect.

We had a show for Jim at Matsumoto Gallery back in the day, so you may even have a Wagner.

May 10th

We headed out in the morning and decided to go a different way so we didn't have to back track, but we were NOT expecting to see snow up close and personal. We made it all the way past Oklahoma City. Not much to see on the I-40, (lots of solar & wind farms), but we did get a delicious steak dinner at Paul's Place Steakhouse at 120 W MacArthur St suite 104, Shawnee, OK 74804. It seems to be a local favorite, so I would suggest making a reservation. https://g.co/kgs/7HP5RjC

May 11th

We woke ready to get on the road and get back home. Our route was taking us through Memphis, so I texted my niece Sydney (Tai's oldest) to see if she and her new husband, Miles, were up for a quick visit, but she was in Costa Rica and he was busy, so we just kept on driving. Next up, my cousin Mikki and her beautiful family live in Montgomery and Christopher has met her, so we stopped for about an hour and then we were back on the road. We were hoping to make it to Tallahassee. We knew there had been some bad storms, but when we called the third hotel looking for a room, we had to ask, "Is there some big event going on this weekend?" "No ma'am, we had 3 tornados cross over the I-10 and everyone is without power. Everything is booked all the way to Lakeland." By the time we checked into the motel, we were so exhausted we didn't bother taking anything in, Norman Bates be damned.

May 12th

Almost home. I had to drop Christopher off in Cape Coral and pick up my car, which, of course, meant transferring all of the artwork, rocks, and driftwood to my car. Christopher and his best friend Michael returned the rental while I continued home to Ft. Lauderdale. It was a long 12 (wonderful) days. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Here is what we brought back Charley's:

Here is link to his page: https://www.ikkimatsumoto.com/charleyharper

Here is what we brought of Peter Parnall:

Here is the the link to his page: https://www.ikkimatsumoto.com/peterparnall

I even brought back a Molly Eckert Brown:

Here's a link to the product. https://www.ikkimatsumoto.com/product-page/homecoming-by-molly-eckler-brown

and here are the Ikki's we brought back:

Here is a link to our Secondary Market page: https://www.ikkimatsumoto.com/vintageikkis

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

Stay inspired,

Amy