Jelly - The New Security Risk

I have just returned from a delightful weekend in Georgia.  My (much) older brother was celebrating his 70th birthday - it was an opportunity for me to reconnect with family and friends that I had not seen for many years.  The 'gathering of the clan' took place in a formal way at the lovely party on Saturday night  - what fun to see cousins with whom I had not spoken in a long time and to meet LOTS of folks who think my brother is something special.  There is something about 'older brothers.'

Now, here's the thing, there is also something pretty great about a younger brother...   I stayed with him.  He and his wife hosted a brunch on Saturday for family - that is, nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews...  This was an informal time to 'meet and greet' - a delightful combination of young and old.  Being a Saturday, it was nearly impossible to get everyone at one time - when you compete with two different soccer teams and a swim meet... well, you get the idea.  But, by the end of the day, I had been able to spend time with everyone - what a treat.

OK, here's where the jelly comes in...  the wife of one of my nephews (recently married, I had not met her) arrived with a gift bag for me of beautiful looking jams and jellies that she had put up. (Thank you, Olivia) When I was packing to come home, I very carefully put them in a plastic bag and cushioned them with soft things in the suitcase so they would not get broken during baggage handling.  I then threw in everything else - lastly all the chargers for my nook, camera, and phone (lots of plugs and wires...).

I thought nothing more about any of this until I got home and opened my suitcase to unpack.  Everything in the suitcase was out of place: the jars were scattered all about, wires helter-skelter, cosmetics in the four corners - you get the picture.  There on the top of everything was the TSA notice that said the suitcase had been searched as part of security precautions.  I guess they scanned the bag and thought the jellies and wires we threatening - don't you love that?  I feel safer, what about you?

Pastel Class Project

I don't know how I get so busy - I have been away from my blog for a month.

This week I had my last pastel class for the fall.  It has been such fun - four weeks of 'still life' and then five weeks of 'face and figure' - great instruction and very challenging.  For the past four weeks we have had models in class, but this week we were working from photographs.

We were to bring in photos with people...  I spent some time looking through my picture files - it seems I have literally thousands of pictures - and found several that I have wanted to paint.  I finally settled on this one.  I did the drawing and underpainting before class and then worked on the pastel painting during class time.  There is still some touching up I want to do, but I did have fun with it.

This adorable little girl is now twelve - how is that possible?