Loving this Life!

This place where we live, the Kitsap Peninsula, is surrounded by sea water, except for one little tiny land bridge that keeps the tip of the hook of Hood Canal and and Case Inlet in South Puget Sound separate. For all intents, it is an island more than a peninsula. If a short canal were cut to connect these two bodies of water, the only ways to get here would be ferry or bridge. Water views are everywhere and ever-changing. It's a wet and lushly vegetated area, crisscrossed with streams and studded with ponds and marshes.

Friday we drove up the Hansville road to the very northern tip of the peninsula and soaked up some sun at the sandy public beach and then over at the Point No Point lighthouse. We were just out running some errands.

Lost Boy

This little flute player came to me (on a card) from my Auntie Freda way back in the 60's. I dearly loved this image and wanted a big print of it. Years later, I looked for it among my boxes of souvenirs but it was not to be found. Last year, my brother Garry gave me a bunch of stuff he'd been storing for years, photos and letters I'd sent home from my wanderings. To my utter amazement, this same card popped out of a letter I'd written to our flute player brother when he was very young. I must have scanned it onto the Mac because just now it appeared in iPhotos. This is great because the card itself has again gotten lost in the shuffle. We have a big job to do right now, sorting through 18 years of accumulation, preparing for opera singers to rent the house while they're in town for The Ring this summer. This little lost boy is bound to be found again.

Opening Night -- What a Night!

I guess that was the biggest thrill I've experienced in a long, long time. Dozens of family and friends turned out to celebrate my opening last night at the Kingston Art Gallery. With the big crowd, J. L. 's amazing piano playing, great food, flowing wine and significant sales, it was quite a night. I greatly appreciate my friends and gallery members for their support and kind words. It makes a big difference.

For some strange reason, I just remembered the disappointment I felt on the first day of kindergarten when my first ever easel painting didn't at all turn out like the vision in my head. Today, I see that I'm a bit closer to nailing that image.

Mediterranean One Crust Pie

Wow! What a pie! What a crust! Whole wheat flour and parmesan cheese! And such tantalizing smells from the oven while it baked! Now that my show is hung, I've got time for experimenting with "The Best Vegetarian Cookbook in the World." "The Greatest Ever Vegetarian Cookbook" is the actual title -- I just got up and looked. This is a big book with full page color photos, just the enticement I need to try new dishes and add some variety to our ordinary diet (dinners of some kind of protein and a big salad).