Life is a great big canvas. Throw all the paint you can on it. ~Danny Kaye
Have you ever done any painting in a purely artistic venture? I’ve done plenty of painting but most of it on flat walls where no individual expression is needed or wanted. Uniformity of color is what was desired. I suppose I did some watercolor painting when I was a kid and have painted a few swirly pictures with my grandkids. You know, from those tin cases that had little squares of colors and a brush. By the time the grandkids came along the cases were plastic and the colors were a little brighter.
I once did a paint by number picture too. A cat. Must not have been any dog pictures available. Those painting sets had tiny little plastic tubs of paint with numbers so that you could fill in the numbered spaces and end up with a work of art. Some of those teeny spaces were very difficult to fill in without getting over the line. Tedious is a word that fits nicely. And it took forever. When I could have been reading a book!! But I persevered and finally got that cat painted. It was interesting how the colors combined in those little numbered areas and ended up blending into the right look for cat fur.
I was inordinately proud of that paint by number picture. I put it in a frame and displayed it in my room. I probably still have it somewhere although I have no idea where. Maybe I did throw it away in a weak moment. Oh, the organizers and de-clutterers among you are saying the weak moment is when you keep something you should throw out. Of course, you are right. I have more than my share of that sort of thing cluttering up my closets and shelves. Maybe my memory too.
It’s fortunate when you have a picture to remind you of those moments in memory that make you smile. This picture can do that for me. These kids were trying out their artistic talents on walking sticks. If a person is going hiking on the farm, they might need a walking stick. A purple, pink or blue walking stick. Or perhaps all those colors in interesting patterns. The joy of throwing a little paint onto the canvas of choice.
Right now, many of us feel our “life” paintings are in a strange kind of limbo. School is suspended. Many work places are closed. Trips are canceled. Visits are discouraged. A pause button has been pushed. It’s as if we’ve gotten this far and now we’re running out of paint. But no, that’s not true. Life is going on like a stream running underground. Some of us are fortunate enough to be able to continue our work at home while we keep our social distancing. Others are not and face more difficult struggles dealing with closings and cancellations and loss of work opportunities. But life does keep happening even as we hope and pray things will return to something nearer to normal.
We do have social media to keep us from being so isolated. We can gather information. Share news and encouragement. Post pictures of spring turning the world green once more and decorating the green with flowers. And we can keep having fun with things like my caption game. I have enjoyed all your imaginative captions for the pictures I’ve posted and look forward to what you’ll come up with for this last one. If you leave a caption suggestion here on my blog post, you’ll be entered in a drawing for winner’s choice of one of my books and a grab bag book. I’ll pick two winners on Wednesday. Deadline to enter is midnight EST on March 24, 2020.
You all came up with fun captions for my picture of the girl taking the dachshund for a ride int he wagon. Paula made me smile with her “wiener mobile.” Many of you put words into Sumo’s mouth as to why the girl wasn’t going faster or why she was stopping. Then there were the “he followed me home, can I keep him” captions. Dachshund lover Geraldine said that he might have short legs but he was long on love. Dachshunds have very dedicated fans. Sumo did give his owners and his many friends and admirers plenty of opportunity to splash some happy colors on their life canvases.
So what caption do you give the picture up top?
Thank you for reading and for playing my caption game. I look forward to your splashes of words and wish you patience and joy in these trying days of uncertainty.