TY Jan

My friend Jan recently moved to Arizona, and her gift to me was some Arizona treasures.  The saguro cactus is a ring holder.  Very pretty ceramic and very Arizonian....if that is a word.  I'm using it for my fitbit when I take a shower or bath,  She also sent me an amazing scented soap.  I love it in the bath...it is fragrant even when I'm not using it.  Plus, it is a very swirly colorful bar.  Thank you Jan.

TY Nancy

Nancy sent me a very beautiful Raku medallion that features a dragonfly.  It is so beautiful and then on the back it says "I am Joyful."  In my case, that is true.  Things like this do bring me joy. It was fun to make this painting and use my iridescent gold watercolor paint.  In real life, the medallion is more coppery than gold...but so beautiful.

TY JEFF

I'm continuing along with my thank you note project.  It is a lot of fun.  This is a thank you to my brother Jeff.  He was in DC for the Christmas festivities and then re-joined us in California for the wedding of Erik and Jenifer.  Nice!

While in DC, he always likes to buy me some wine from our local wine shop D'Canter.  He bought two very nice red wines--one from Italy and one from Spain to remind me of my favorite travels!  And he also gave ne an Amazon gift card.  I can always use that!

Then he went with us to Mendocino County on the Northern California coast for the wedding of his niece (my daughter) Jen and he walked her down the aisle.  Nicely done, Jeff!  We had great weather and also got in some very nice walks.  It was a great start to the new year.

Thank you Sophia

Sophia knows how I love games and she does, too  She and I sometimes go together to the Capitol Hill Village games group and we have a good time.  It is mostly older people, but she gets right into the game, and they love her and her very spirited participation.   Sometimes she even brings friends.

For a Christmas gift, of course Sophia gave me a game.  It is called Arboretum.  Yes, it is about trees.  Very diverse trees, such as this purple one called Jacaranda.  I have to admit that I haven't played it yet, but I did read the rules and it sounds intriguing.  You have to draw cards and play them in such a way that leads you through a path in the arboretum.  Maybe Sophia and I will play it the next time she is at my house after school,

Thank You Nadia

While I was in California for Jenifer and Erik's wedding and festivities, my cat Jerry was all alone.  Our friend Nadia came every day to feed him and attend to his litter box.  He was happy to see me when I got home, but obviously had been cared for while I was gone.  Nadia did a great job.  I hope to deliver this card to her tomorrow.  I think she'll like the cat painting.

Thank you Griffin

This is a little different.  Griffin gave me some cookie cutters for Christmas.  Actually, he gave them to me a couple of weeks before Christmas so that I could make some cookies.  I traced around them to make this design.  They shapes are gingerbread boy, gingerbread girl, heart, Oregon state and star. It was fun to make the cookies and fun to make this crazy little painting, too.  Thanks, Griffin.