yum

yeah, that describes my time away! great food and happy times with friends, most of whom i rarely see. there were five of us, and NO one was inclined to do anything other than what was purely fun and celebratory. my, how refreshing that is!

we all fell in love with 'mama mia'... if that doesn't make you wanna put on your dancin' shoes, i don't know what will! the cast is fabulous and the choreography impeccable, but what moved me most was meryl streep's performance. that woman inspires me! now i need some ABBA tunes... : )



i drew this the night that i got there... it's quite the long story, but it has to do with giving a homeless person money. the sadness on his face when he saw it was only a dollar; the sadness in my heart that i didn't give him one of the other two bills in my wallet at the time-- a ten and a twenty; the shock that the person in the car behind me was laying on the horn because i didn't immediately bolt when the light turned green-- no time out for giving. and lastly, the feeling i felt when i saw how quickly he tried to conceal his disappointment at a mere dollar. he didn't want me to feel bad about only giving a dollar... one other interesting little thing is that i'd stamped 'practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty' on the background before i left home... it's the first and only time i've ever stamped words on a background.

i painted quite a bit while i was gone, even though my plan to buy the perfect small light on the way failed. i bought a book light at barnes and nobel but it wasn't nearly bright enough... back to the drawing board on that. good light for painting is hard to come by when you're traveling. if anyone has suggestions about a good traveling light, i'd love to hear them.

so much more i could write, but i'll end for now, leaving you with these oleander blossoms. thank you all so very much for your kind comments to last weeks post-- i appreciated every one!!