Beauty in Full Circle or An Elephant Never Forgets - Part Two

A coincidence. When it happens once, it's pretty nifty. When it repeats, you know the universe is tapping you on the shoulder. Hello universe! You have my attention! What are you trying to tell me? This story is part two in a series of serendipitous events. 

Can you feel it too?

Here is an abridged version of part one (click HERE for the full story if you're interested). Last October, I drove home from Bethel on a very stormy night and a flatbed truck slowly pulled out in front of me from a side street. It was carrying some pretty amazing life-sized elephant sculptures. I drove in awe behind the behemoth beauties almost all the way home. I was so blown away, that I quickly snapped a pic. Months later, I took a day trip to NYC. Thom and I headed to Columbus Circle to visit the MAD Museum. When we reached the museum, the same two elephants greeted me in the center of the circle. The reunion with my elephant friends made me giddy. I contacted the artist Peter Woytuk to tell him about the experience and he wrote back a kind response thanking me for sharing the story and wishing me a Happy New Year from China.

Bethel - elephant encounter 1

NYC - elephant encounter 2

This past weekend, one of my favorite jewelry displays broke while I was setting up for the Greenway Open Market. Copious amounts of white duct tape barely held the wire frame together for the day.  I knew I had to get it welded back together once I returned home. I set Thom on the job on Tuesday. He looked up all the welding places in the area and decided to contact Edelman Metalworks in downtown Danbury. Thom stopped by the shop on Tuesday at the very end of the day. When the owner saw how minimal the repair was, he graciously offered to fix it for free. He told Thom to just remove the metal part from the wooden base and return with it on Wednesday (today).

broken display with jenky tape repair

Early this morning, I woke up and did my regular routine of checking my email and Facebook page. I did a double take when I saw a picture posted on my friend Chrissy's Facebook page. Recently, she drove behind two bold geese sculptures on the highway and had the same response that I had driving behind the elephants. I knew instantly that it must be another sculpture from Peter Woytuk. It made me smile, think of the elephants, and I continued on with my day.

Chrissy's picture

After school today, I came home to a fixed jewelry display. It looked as good as new and I was so thankful that the welders did such a kind deed. Thom and I headed out for dinner. While eating, he told me about his day, including his trip to Edelman Metalworks. Thom talked with the owner's wife while they quickly fixed the broken parts. During the conversation a big truck pulled up. This is what Thom saw:

Thom's picture

As soon as he showed me the picture on his phone, my eyes bulged out of my head. It was almost the identical picture that Chrissy posted earlier that morning! Both Chrissy and Thom were at the right places at the right moment for the double Woytuk encounter.

Two encounters with two elephants. Two encounters with two geese.

What does it all mean? I have two sets of animals collected in my Noah's ark o' coincidences. If it's true that things happen in threes, what's next?

My antenna is up. I'm ready.

tuned in

Thank you Edelman Metalworks for your generosity. Thank you Peter Woytuk for your sculptural safari. And thank you universe for making me stop and take notice.

UPDATE (5/31/12) - It turns out I wasn't 100% listening to Thom's story when he was telling it to me. Peter Woytuk was actually in the truck that pulled up to Edelman's Metalworks. Thom briefly met him at the shop and he said he was really nice. I can't wait for part 3 to happen!

Beauty in Full Circle or An Elephant Never Forgets

Yesterday Thom and I went to New York City. With the holiday craft show season behind me and vacation upon me, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go and explore some museums. I needed some new inspiration for the New Year.

 stair-ing at Thom - New Museum

First stop was the New Museum (speaking of new). Highlights of our visit included jet propelling down Carsten Holler's Experience slide, watching Thom conduct psychological experiments on himself, and taking a technicolor primate nap. 

Carsten Holler's Experience

Pinocchio Nose Experiment

primary primates

Next, we headed to one of my favorite places - The Museum of Arts and Design. When we came upon its location at Columbus Circle, I nearly stopped in my tracks. Smack dab in the center of the circle were some old friends: two giant elephant statues. Let me explain. Back in mid-October, I had a strange day. It started with finding five shopping carts neatly parked in front of my house on my way to work.

art ala cart

At the end of that same day, I met up with some friends at Molten Java in Bethel. We parted ways on that rainy and dark night and I headed back toward Danbury. A few blocks from the coffee shop, a huge flatbed truck slowly pulled in front of me from a side street, carrying two life-sized elephant sculptures. I drove home behind these colossal creatures in awe. From start to finish that day was both sculptural and surreal.

larger than life drive home

Well lo and behold, these two behemoth buddies greeted me once again in a swirl of traffic right outside the Museum of Arts and Design. It was such a surprise because I never thought I'd ever see them again! It was fun getting up close and personal with the sculptures. On the placard, I found out the elephants were created by sculptor Peter Woytuk and that there were eighteen other whimsical sculptures of his scattered about the city. Things really came full circle at Columbus Circle. 

Well hello again!

a fruitful encounter

The rest of our night out in the city was a whirl of activity. We explored jewelry and mid century design at the MAD, karaoke sang our hearts out until we nearly lost our voices, visited the mecca of all synthesizer shops (it was a religious experience for Thom), and ended the night sharing the perfect little pizza in Little Italy.

burning out my chords

Throughout the evening, I kept having "whoa" moments whenever I thought about my reunion with the elephants. It was the perfect reminder that life is quite spectacular when you stop and take notice of the beauty around you. Sometimes it comes in unexpected forms: shopping carts, glances down staircases, bright blue orangutans. Thanks to two elephants, I will never forget this!

There's magic everywhere!

Happy New Year from Twitch and Whiskers!