It's the Simple Things in Life. It really is.

This is the week that I deliver all the art to their new homes.  It's always such an interesting time.  Today was a simple day.  Mrs. "P" lives close enough to me that I could walk to where she lives in about 20 minutes.  Remember Mrs. 'P'?  She bought one of my first pieces of art, with vigor! You'll have to go back here and read the story.  I think it's a good one.  Mrs. 'P' and I correspond via snail mail since she does not have email.  I love getting letters from her.  She lives in a seniors highrise and as it turns out, she loves my art.  She went all the way to Gardenscape to buy the littlest piece last year.  Now at this show in the Centre Galleries, she left payment with the administration for a third piece of small art.  It was my favorite: Winter Comes at Night.

I lost Mrs. 'P''s number, and so I set out for a walk to drop off her art.  It was seven degrees above 0C today!  The school yard I cut through was bare and the grass was light yellow.  It looked SO pretty with the blue, blue sky. The few clouds were all whispy like breaths, and there were lots of kids skating on the pond between my house and her's.  It smells like fall and feels like spring.  I am so glad I walked!

me in the glare

I got to Mrs. 'P''s unannouced.  It was tea time and she invited me up to her place to sit for a visit.  From her apartment, I stood at the windows.  I don't get up high very often.  This was many stories up.  I was high enough to see far, far, far.  I could see right over the city and out into the flat fields.  I could see the entire horizon from left to right.  She said her windows face east, and all I could do was imagine how much I would LOVE to be in her shoes each morning.

Mrs. 'P' fed me maple tea and sugar, along with some butterscotch baking.  Heaven!  : )  I started to tell her about me, but I'm not sure she was too interested.  She didn't ask who I was.  So I asked questions about her life.  : )  She doesn't sew or quilt, and that's why she likes my work.  We visited for quite a while, and I was so calmed by the quiet home with no one yelling at you "I'm hungry!  He won't play with me! I need a band aid! Wipe my bum!" to which I am all too accustomed.  Don't get me wrong - I love my kids, but oooh I love quiet too!  I can't wait to live at her pace.  Maybe I need a sabbatical.

Our family portrait on a postcard

I gave her a hug good-bye in the lobby and we went our separate ways.  The whole way home, I smiled.  I stopped for little conversations with strangers along the way.  There was a dad checking out the ice with his boy, and a few people walking dogs or jogging.  "Happy Spring!" I would say, and for the most part, the person would burst out giggling.  ; )

I got home, took out my paints and brushed on a few skies onto plain fabric for the first time, and there is my day.  Super-fulfilling.  I feel rejuvenated.  Tomorrow I figure out my teaching schedule, book babysitters, deliver more art, and head off to the guild meetings, cook-clean-cook-clean-cook-clean... you know the drill.

See you tomorrow!