Sad Story

This is a picture of the painting my good friend Nyra had done for me, and I hadn't seen this picture yet, but I knew it was on it's way. Yesterday, the postman knocked on my door and asked me if I was expecting anything in tube packaging. I said yes, and he asked if I knew what it was. I said yes, and then he showed me that one of the end caps was missing, and that there was a card stuck in the tube, but no painting. (It was a rolled up canvas.) It is unknown whether it fell out, or whether it was stolen, at least, it was unknown at first. The consensus of opinion now seems to be that it was stolen, because Nyra told me it was a very tight fit and there is no way the painting could have fallen out, missing end cap or not. I am heartbroken in three ways; one, because I do not have this beautiful painting; two, because of all the work that Nyra put into it; and three, because I had to give her this dreadful news. I feel SO bad. Nyra says she will paint another one of the same scene and send it to me when she is in the States in the summer. (She won't be coming to this area, but she will be on the West Coast taking a cruise to Alaska.)

This painting stirs such wonderful memories for me. It is taken from a photo taken in the Strahan area of Tasmania, where we were for two nights and three days... an absolutely spectacular place. I have seen this exact scene with my own eyes! And Nyra's painting is so fabulous. I don't think I have ever seen better seascapes or water reflections than in her paintings. I especially love the shade of blue of the water in this painting... it is so accurate, but it must have been hard to get it just so.

In other news, my cold, or whatever it is, is on the mend. I'm still coughing, but it's getting better, not worse, and I am feeling very normal. The weather the last couple of days has been fabulous. In the low 80's, I swear! We go from too cold to too hot way to fast, tee hee.

I haven't played golf yet... could have last Thursday, but was sick. Today was the first meeting of my Tuesday golf league, but the group won't actually start play until next week. Usually after the meeting, anyone who feels like it goes out and plays nine or eighteen holes... but today they couldn't get on the golf course as all the tee times were taken due to the good weather.

Let's hope this good weather continues through the weekend. Mary and her friend Vicki will be doing their first half marathon of the year. Hopefully, it won't decide to rain! (Shouldn't matter -- I don't need an umbrella, right?)