The Rousseau Bathroom and Nate the Plumber

Yesterday while I was swearing at my computer trying to make my 1000 blip, our water heater and one toilet were being replaced in the little bathroom right next to my studio. The panel that covers where the water heater goes was sitting in my room and I had never really looked at it separately before. It looked like a painting complete with toilet paper! I painted this bathroom shortly after we moved in (late 80s) in the manner of Henri Rousseau and his painting "The Dream" which I had seen at MOMA in NYC. I thought it was fascinating that Rousseau never left France but based all his exotic jungle pictures on what he saw at the zoo and the botanical gardens and I had good fun with the creatures and plants. The baboon on the blip (beloved by all the grandchildren who sat on that toilet) must have been from a different painting as I don't see it in "The Dream". (artistic license) I had some conversation also with Nate, the plumber, who emigrated from Russia to NYC when he was 30 and didn't know what work he was going to do. A plumber neighbor invited him to be his apprentice and he learned the trade. Not sure what brought him to Seattle. Well I also learned that yesterday was his 50th birthday, and he had quit smoking 3 days before! We had some pink valentine cake left over from the girls on monday, so when he was done and the toilet was in, I brought him a piece with a candle and H and I sang Happy Birthday! He was touched and wanted me to take his picture on his phone for his wife, so I got a shot too with my camera and I would certainly have blipped him yesterday if I hadn't spent the time to get my 1000 picture, and had just posted it. If you want to see Nate sitting on his toilet with a candle in his cake, and one other picture of what one would see of the bathroom if one was sitting on the toilet, you have to look HERE. :-)
(I just couldn't pass it up.) Good to blip it anyway, as it's time for a makeover after 25 years!!- I'm going to paint the whole bathroom elephant grey and put up many of my wonderful elephant pictures, somehow, from our African adventure last fall.....(You might notice there was one elephant here now...)

And a huge thank you for all those nice words and wishes for my 1000blip yesterday! I'm making an effort to go to everyone personally, but will take me a little while!!

The gloom and doom for today from my Ocean class: At the present rate, 50% of the earth's coral reefs will be dead and gone by 2030!!!!!