My Art made someone cry…

Now, that sounds like a bad thing…. but in this case, it wasn’t. Cindy (wife of Millie’s ½ brother, Tony), out of a conversation I had with her a couple of years ago, has a thing for angels. And she got one of the 4 (now 5, but more on that later). She couldn’t believe that Millie and I remember that conversation… and that she actually got one of my angels. She said it was the best present ever. She had tears in her eyes. So sweet. Cindy got the gold angel and just out of happy coincidence time, they had repainted their house with a lot of yellow, so the angel would fit right in with the color scheme. Even the frame matched their wood furniture. Pretty awesome to have that kind of effect on someone

Mary (another aunt) also liked her green angel. Turns out, unbeknownst to me, that green is HER favorite color. So the angel line of gifts, here in Puerto Rico, have been extremely successful.

But the real kicker, and I will get pics up eventually, probably in a few weeks, is that last night, we were sitting around digesting Xmas dinner and a nephew, Arial (sp? Its a He, not a she) arrived with 3 ninos (kids) that he has sorta adopted. After showing some art, and while the grown ups talked, I amused the kids with pencil drawings done for each one of them. The first was the young boy, who liked the Hulk so I did a quickie sketch of the Hulk. The next was a young girl who liked horses. Horses are really tough for me, but I did a horse and rider, the rider being a vague impression of the young girl herself.

My best drawing of the night was for a beautiful young lady who is about to go off to college. I did her portrait. She blushed when I said I was going to do it. And it came out pretty good. I was a bit out of practice in life drawing, so it was nice to dabble and get some practice under my belt. The two youngest never budged from the table as I drew, asking questions, which Millie translated, even while I was doing the oldest portrait. I was impressed by their concentration and patience.

After the kiddos left, Millie’s parents told us a bit about them. Turns out that these kids are very poor, don’t have a solid family situation. And were really pleased with their drawings. They don’t get much like that. Again, warm fuzzies for me! The people in Puerto Rico are so warm and inviting and it makes it so easy to be a blanco-gringo outsider like me to feel comfortable.

Best leChon ever!

Btw, last post I talked about the food at La Platanar and how great it was. It fell short of the best pork i’ve ever eaten. Turns out that Millie’s folks get, like 12 pounds, of a young, roasted pork. This was seasoned so wonderfully and cooked so beautifully… it was a gastronomical heaven. By far, the best pork I’ve ever eaten. We are still eating three days later (as it was procured for Xmas Eve victuals).

Best Morning Yet!

It didn’t start out so wonderful. Millie and I got up at 5 am so we could catch a ride to Ponce while Millie’s Pop took Millie’s sister, Merchie, to work. Both Millie and I were feeling a bit ill to the stomach, not surprising, due to our recent diet of rich puerto rican cuisine. The reason for such an early start was a chance to get tennis lessons with Dimas, the tennis pro at the Hotel Hilton Carribe. Now, I’ve played tennis since I was 8. Self-taught, or Uncle-taught. I had a chance to hit a lot with a woman who taught high school girl tennis. And I worked for 3 years at the Travis Point tennis and golf club in Ann Arbor, Mi. Where I played, worked with and listened to many tennis pros.

But I’ve never had an actual tennis lesson. Til today. Millie’s tennis resume was a wee bit of high school tennis and being taught by what I’ve learned in bits and pieces over the years. We’ve played for about the last 3 years together. She has never had a lesson.

Watching her play, RIGHT now, with a smile from ear to ear. Priceless.

And the upset stomach, well, sun, sweat and adrenaline has taken care of that! I feel great. As soon as Millie gets done with her lesson, I get to play a set with Dinas. I’m feeling pretty wiped from my lesson already, but I will give it my best.

Love to y’all!