Dreary Day Brighteners

This flamboyant artwork is on the side of a small building here that I know well, Fourth Corner Frames. You might catch a glimpse of it as you drive by the store, but it's not until you turn in to park in the small lot at the back, going right by this wall, that you really get to see all of the details.

The energy, subject, and colors are quite a contrast to life in The City of Subdued Excitement, to say the least! On a day like today, which has been uniformly dark gray, it instantly brightened my mood.

It's not that it hasn't been another good day, because it has.
* I tried a new recipe this morning, cocoa-spiced nuts; they were both easy and tasty, but not very photogenic.
* Phil and I took his (now our) new friend Ruth out for a Thai lunch and enjoyed sharing life stories. Hers was by far the most interesting, and included a stint of teaching in Newcastle in the 1950s. Once she gets some computer glitches sorted out, she'll join us on Blipfoto.
* We stopped in at Fourth Corner Frames to pick up a newly restored and reframed family heirloom and to take Sheri, the store owner, some homemade cookies to say "thank you" for all of her help with family art and photographs that needed restoration and framing this year after my sister's untimely death.

Now for an evening of present-wrapping and maybe doing a first draft of our Christmas New Year's letter...