Living life with friends. . . . . . . .

We made it home, arriving back in North Carolina at 1:00 AM today!
The tail wind was in our favor, landing in Atlanta from Denver earlier than scheduled, and we were upgraded to more comfortable seats. Other than being freezing cold, the flight was good. Same with the flight on to Raleigh-Durham, upgraded seat, so chilly. 
DELTA, please work your air conditioning!

Busy day and very hot here. Unpacked, lots of laundry, just catching up on necessary things.  No cooking planned. Evening walk once it drops below 90F to someplace with a fresh salad and a chilled glass of rosé will be great.

But, until I have time to elaborate on the wonderful time we had with friends in Utah and Colorado, here is a tiny peek of something very special I brought home. . . . . . . adding a touch of blue and gold to my table. Some of you will know immediately whom I went to visit!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed

 by the things you didn't do than by those you did do.

 So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe

 harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails.

 Explore. Dream. Discover."  

~Mark Twain~

Many more stories to come from the great trip to Utah and Colorado.

Scribble Picnic. . . . . . . Fill in the Blank

. . . . . . . . I craved one for a while. 

Then I wanted grey. 

Now, I'm not up for a kitchen remodel/upheaval at all - so will stay with 

my original natural wood cabinets, enjoy them, save thousands. . . . . 

and guess what, brown wood is being loved again!

This week's theme for Michael's Scribble Picnic is

Fill in the Blank.  There's a choice of two shapes, as my screen shot

above shows (I'm using the version on the right), and you get to see our 

 handsome host Michael too!

Like me, he's a British ex-pat so we have a lot in common, despite

  the fact I'm old enough to be his grandma! We love, tea, toast, marmalade

Victoria sponge cake ~ and Bob and I are hoping next year to meet up with

 Michael and his lovely, talented illustrator wife Alexandra, to sip and nibble

 while we talk about England.

Come and join us on Scribble Picnic days - you don't have to be

 an artist per se. I'm definitely not, just give your creative side a little push,

 it's fun, and you meet other creative people from around the world,

 thanks to Michael!

Michael's Scribble Picnic - my CABIN in the woods -

Scribble Picnic Theme: CABIN

I'm no artist. Well by that I mean I don't actually draw and paint pictures. 

 I can paint furniture, walls and my face. . . . . . but creating lovely 

pieces of art is not my forte.

However, I have been known to spend time coloring. You know, in

those 'adult' coloring books of which I've been gifted several in the 

past couple of years. Also, I do have some lovely tins of British pencils

 of many hues, and I admit to sitting down now and then and reverting to what

 we all thought was a childhood pastime. . . . . . . . coloring. It's relaxing,

 soothing and you end up with something pretty, and even though you may

 not be an artist, you feel a bit like one.

My dear friend of many years, Michael, fellow British professional artist,

 illustrator, graphic designer, and blogger, is an expat like me. He lives in

 Colorado now with his beautiful artist wife Alexandra. If you've ever read

 his comments left on my posts you will love them - he truly goes the extra mile

 to write lovely responses to my higgledy-piggledy posts, and always makes

 me feel good. Thank you Michael.

Michael recently opened a new online art community, a lovely place where

you can enjoy a weekly (Wednesday) meet up with other artists and

 encourage each other to make art. Michael sets the one word theme,

 today it's Cabin, and you post your completed (or even incomplete) artwork

 on Michael's post via the Mr. Linky sign up provided each week.

Go HERE to find all the details on Michael's blog.

My potting shed 'cabin' in the back garden - getting ready for Spring.

So I decided to join in this week hoping it will give Michael a boost because

 I know several of you are very creative with paintbrushes, pencils, charcoal and such.

 Perhaps you'd enjoy having a special, fun place to share your art with many

 other talented artists, such as my granddaughter Cassie who is now joining

in whilst the baby naps.

Oh, a word about my entry above. As Michael includes 'doodles' in his media list,

I'm hoping he will accept my art even though I was assisted by my camera. . . . and

 coloring pencils! There's no way I could draw this freehand - I'll leave that to

 the real artists.

Please stop by and meet Michael HERE if you aren't already acquainted - and

if you can't make it this week you can start working on next week's theme -

Umbrella - I like the sound of that one, especially as it's pouring down 

outside my window right now.

The Table. . . . . . . .

It was 1890. Just 20 miles from Paris, in the peaceful village of Auvers-sur-Oise, 

a slight man, aged 37, worked at his easel. 

Vincent Van Gogh had moved from Provence to the Auberge Ravoux, now named 

Maison de Van Gogh, and In 70 days he created 70 paintings. 

He painted plein air each day, eating his meals at the 'artists' table' in the rear

of the dining room each evening.

During the night of July 29, 1890, Vincent died in his room of a gunshot wound,

 self-inflicted two days earlier in the wheat field where he was painting.

 An amazing artist but sadly disturbed soul was gone.

His body was moved behind the inn's dining room on the ground floor to the 

'artists' room' - the room where he painted and stacked his canvases during those 70 days.

Masses of yellow flowers were brought in, dahlias and sunflowers, and many of his 

canvases were nailed to the walls surrounding his coffin.

The auberge is typical of small French village restaurants where simple, 

earthy meals are served. People arrive to dine in what remains similar to the 

turn-of-the-20th-century café scene.

Recently I made a few changes to my dining room table. This included rolling 
out the black paper purchased in Spring. It came with chalk so I'm planning 

how I should decorate it for Autumn. Not being an artist, I haven't drawn much 
so far - however I'm hoping to add vegetables, pumpkins, flowers, birds - perhaps 
some quotations for the season.

I purchased this beautiful book, 

Van Gogh's Table at the Auberge Ravoux 

several years ago and come back to read it often. It shares beautiful art,

 some classic French country recipes from the inn, and the story of Vincent Van Gogh's

 sad life and the isolation he experienced due to mental illness.

I will be in France again soon and this time I plan to visit Auvers-sur-Oise

and see Vincent's room in the auberge. Visitors are permitted to climb the narrow 

stairs to room No. 5 - where 125 years ago the world lost an amazing artist.

I'm practicing simple little illustrations on oddments of paper first. . . . . . . . . . . If you stop 

by over the weekend you'll be welcome to add your personal art to my 'table cloth'.