Independence

Happy Independence day! Today I wished my Swiss office buddy Pierrick a happy Independence Day. He said, oh, thanks. Then he said, "But it was the 1st, wasn't it?" Pierrick, my very patriotic Swiss friend, your Independence Day is August 1st. Ours is July 4th. I think we've got it all straight now.

A song for your 4th of July:



It has very little to do with the holiday, except: Fireworks are my favorite part of the 4th of July. Fireworks are red. I'm wearing a red dress with ruffles in honor of the land of the free and the home of the brave. Red dresses with ruffles are romantic. This song is almost too romantic for me to like. Therefore, this song fits the 4th of July.

And, gee, this reminds me of my favorite joke: Know why the firetruck is red? 


I'll tell ya later.

Painting in Tuscany

I'm recently back from Tuscany, where I attended a PhD summer school for 5 days, presented my research context to peers from around Europe, met a pretty cool Portugese cartoonist professor who encouraged me to read in the non-verbal cognition field for direction in my project, and where I spent 3 extra happy days drawing olive orchards and Italian streets. I'm slow at painting, so I didn't finish anything while I was there, but here's one that almost done (upper left corner is mostly done...everything else still needs some work. I'll post a new picture when it's all finished!):

Plus, a lot of inspiration for more paintings from Cortona: