I wrote this last August – you probably remember our hot spell. I am  back home today.   It was wonderfully cool and beautiful in Maine.

Anyway I will try to come up with some bon mots to rival the Jeff Foxworthy’s You Know You’re a Redneck when——

You know it’s hot when the greeters at Costco backup to halfway into the building.
You know it’s hot when you need gloves to drive your car.
You know it’s hot when your glasses fog up so much they drip.
You know it’s hot when your dog starts peeing inside- in your plants
You know it’s hot when your garden tomatoes burn the mouths of the squirrels
You know it’s hot when the glass beads in your necklace burn a hole in your blouse.
You know it’s hot when your flipflops stick to the parking lot.
You know its hot when Fedex warns of exploding bubblewrap.
You know it’s hot when you don’t need propane to cook on your grill

What would you add on . . .?

Despite the fact that we have been going to Busch Gardens since it opened it never occurred to me to see the park as a subject for my art.

Then through my daughter I became friends with the family that runs the fair that comes to Hampton every year. The  carnival at night was more like the ones we went to as children-rides on a smaller scale, hot dog stands, popcorn, lots of kiddie rides all on a footprint the size of a parking lot. And me snapping away till I had a file full of reference material.

Chinatown started as something else which is par for the course in my painting life. It started as another New Orleans street scene but I guess I must have added a sign with red in it that spoke more of memories of chinatowns in various cities. So if you will forgive my unedited use of  squiggles to represent signage and think more of an impression than the real life street you will have an idea of what I am trying to convey- which is a joyous nighttime street scene.

Bourbon Street Tango is a work that resulted from a trip to New Orleans in February.   I was walking in the French Quarter and happened upon a group of musicians and a dancing couple.  I joined the crowd to watch them perform for the next hour and bought their CD.   I play their CD when I want to paint something that has movement such as these dancers.  I actually dance while I am painting which leads to quite a few water bucket spills and paint splashes on myself my surroundings.

This piece hangs in the  Norfolk Academy until May 8th.  Come enjoy their art show and sale.

Notice all the color and movement

Now that I am getting more familiar with the act of blogging I hope be be a frequent blogger (do I get miles??

I have refused for years to ride the coasters at Busch Gardens- the Alpengeist, Apollo’s Chariot, Griffon. But there we were at SeaWorld standing beneath the riders on this thing called the “Manta” with everyone around me commenting on “how smooth ” it is etc etc blah blah. So maybe it was the heat (94?) but I decided I would ride it but it had to be right then and there before I lost my courage. There were the usual warnings about back pain, pregnancies (no chance there!) and a little scarier prohibitions against people wearing prostheses- what was that all about!!! Will my grandson was just tall enough to be able to ride and Luke was willing so we walked through the cool tunnel leaning to the ride. Amazing- no time to back off. In a heartbeat I was locked into it and tilting facedown then going up very slowly  -high enough to have a panoramic view of central Florida if I weren’t so terrified- and then all the way down twisting and turning and upside down with me screaming OMG! for 2 minutes before returning to terra firma. So I can now say I did it and have the photo to prove it. What next -hang gliding??