Did I mention it was hot down here?

When I was a little girl, I loved visiting my maternal grandmother.  My grandfather died when I was four, so my memories of him are very vague.  But I had many wonderful years with grandmother, who lived to see her 94th birthday.



My grandmother was a woman of leisure.  But she spent that leisure in some very creative pursuits: knitting, crocheting, and painting by number.  I still remember a trip we took downtown to Woolworth's one Saturday.  We did some window shopping, ate lunch, and then picked out some new paint by number kits.  Her favorite subjects were dogs and scenery, mine, horses.

I can smell the oil paint and linseed oil even now.  There were always leftovers once the picture was finished, and grandmother would let me take the tiny bottles home to paint contrasting manes and tails on my plastic "little cowboys," figurines of Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Bullet the dog, and many poses of Trigger.

Or, I would use the paints to "soup up" my collection of plastic cars that came as prizes in cereal boxes. At one time I could name the model and year of every vehicle on the road.

I suppose my interest in painting comes from that initial introduction to colors and drawing.  If anyone in our immediate family has a real talent in this area, it's Principessa, who majored in art.  I just play with it,  and since we have all this vacation time down in Texas, I've been playing a lot! Only now the medium is watercolor.

Here is an Amish scene back in PA.



My fondness for horses lives on.  But I think what I like most about this picture is the dog.

I like the conversation between these two Amish women. I suppose when the horse is doing the driving, it's safer to take your eyes off the road.



I love this farm house. I want to walk right up to the front porch and sit down and have a conversation with the people who live there.



But my favorite is this peony.



Hmmm. If I'm down here in Texas, why are all these watercolors Pennsylvania themed?

I confess, they're not watercolors at all. They're Photoshopped digital pictures I had uploaded to my Flickr page awhile back.  So, what's going on in Texas?  Heat, heat, and more heat. 

Did I mention it was hot down here?
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License plate update. It's not too late to get in on the fun. So far, these are the plates identified. AL, PA,MD,NY,FL,SC,ME, GA,ID,NC,NJ,DC,DE,IA,CA,WV,IN,OH,VA. Do you have any to add?