Inside the Uffizi Galleries with Ric Hirst

I spent most of Thursday getting ready for the Friday, March 23 show which was intended to be part 1 of a two part series on Central Tuscany. I even prepared my own maps of the regions involved and scanned them into my computer, so that I could explain to my viewers how I was going to present our hundreds of Tuscan photos. My plan was to divide the photos into 5 sections of Tuscany of which I have some knowledge, Central Tuscany, Eastern Tuscany (The Casentino Area), Chianti, Western Tuscany, and Southern Tuscany. I already presented Southern Tuscany along with Alto Lazio in a previous show (my first with Ric). After much soul searching I almost started with the Casentino Region and absolutely stunning photos, and then moved in the logical geographical sequence to Chianti, Central Tuscany, and then Western Tuscany. I felt more comfortable doing the area which I labeled Central Tuscany, because that was the first area I ever explored in detail, and felt much more comfortable with that. My version of "Central Tuscany" consists of starting with Caprese and Anghiari moving south via Arezzo, Cortona, and Lake Trasimeno, to Chiusi and then back north through the Val d'Orcia, and Bagno Vignoni, Montepulciano, Pienza, and Montalcino to Diena, San Mignano, Monteriggioni and then ending at Volterra further north. I felt great about those two shows and eagerly went to visit my friend, Ric, to discuss his contribution to a show 2 weeks hence on The Uffizi Galleries in Florence. After a wonderful 2 hour preparation, his wife, Sharon, suddenly remarked they  had plans for April 6, i.e. the day of the show !!! Arrrrggggghhhhhh, I shouted. Ric said, now what. Some fast footwork and a lot of the flexibility I have learned (and become quite adept at I must say !) to accept as par for the course. Ok so we'll just do it tomorrow ! And, put off Tuscany another week. So off we went and on Friday that is exactly what we did, and it was a marvelous show !!! There was a hissing sound during the first 10 minutes or so, which Ellen quickly noted and turned off the studio air conditioner ! OMG ! We even had 3 phone calls, one on the show and 2 others after the show ended. Let me just say that Ric has extraordinary knowledge of artistic technique, and I could not have performed this show without him. We were an excellent tandem, if I may ay so.  I happily went home, uploaded into my computer, and then on to Youtube (without reviewing it) and went to sleep with a clear and relaxed mind. I woke up watching it and was horrified to see that Ric and I were being cropped in half on the right side photo box. I immediately called my computer technician like an insane maniac. I removed the video from Youtube, but not before 20 people had already seen it ! The problem was fixed by my tech taking over my screen and making a few adjustments, and then I uploaded again to Youtube. Let me tell you truthfully that being the producer of this show is NOT THAT EASY !!!!  However, the endeavor is well worth it and I love the opportunity; I just have a few more grey hairs to go with my already greying areas, which are numerous. Anyway, all is now well, and tune in to Central Tuscany Part 1 next week. I hope there will be no disasters.