Last night in Florida

The sun melts silently into the sea on our last night of vacation. it leaves behind pink ribbons of clouds and golden shafts of light that cut the sky into day blue and violet night.

We had a wonderful vacation in Bonita Springs, Florida jthis year. The kids are old enough to enjoy the beach, and pool without Mom perched like a vulture watching woon to be carion. No, instead, I made myself relax and discovered that the lifeguards were there. We played "aminal golf", mini-golf with lifesize fiberglass safari animals, about four times during the week. The kids loved it and my older son is getting to be an expert putter. Generally, the kids played well together and it was only at the end of the trip that they started to suffer from too much vacation.

We also got to visit with family. It is great to reconnect. My sister-in-law has recently returned from a few years in Naples, Italy and prepared us a wonderful three course Itlaian meal. She has a large, loving cat named Ivan who is like a cat/dog. He'll perch on his back waiting to be scratched on his belly and behind his legs.

And me-- sun, sand, family. I sketched a lot on the beach and got a lot of illustration ideas. Edited all of my novel, Family Recipe. Yea! Now I have to rewrite it. I can feel it coming along. I'd love to start shopping the novel around so I can focus on the new one. I am setting a goal for August with that novel.

Now back to the studio.