watercolors and chinese arithmetic

I am sure there are more difficult subjects to tackle but Branch used to always say something was harder than Chinese Arithmetic. This is painting with watercolor. I just finished a workshop in Boone at Cheap Joe's with Don Andrews. He was a wonderful artist with a flowing loose, colorful style and was a good teacher also. We had demos in the morning and after lunch and then we tried to paint. I am anxious to try some of his techniques now that I am home and can take my time. His philosophy of painting is so different from other teachers I have had but it makes for a beautiful painting.
The class went to Chetola Restaurant again and it was just as good as it was before. Outstanding steak, salad, coffee and Baileys Irish Cream Cheesecake. Yum. The scenery was serene with a pond and swans, beautiful landscaping and nice cool weather. It does not get better.
I stayed in Banner Elk with some people I had met at a workshop two years ago. They are from Louisville, KY and invited me to stay with them in a condo on Sugar Mountain. One afternoon I took off after class and drove through winding roads to West Jefferson. I later found out I could have gone on a straighter road. I wanted to find St. Mary's Episcopal Church. I had heard about the frescos which had been done there. It seems as if the church just about disbanded for lack of a pastor when a young man was sent as the vicar. His enthusiasm revived the church and through a friend he met an artist who had just come from studying frescos in Italy. The artist volunteered to do the frescos for St. Mary's. There are three. On the left is a free standing fresco of Mary as she was expecting and on the right side is John the Baptist. Behind the altar the artist bricked and plastered the wall and created a fresco of Jesus on the cross and behind him Jesus, the risen Christ. As you enter the small church you can push a button to play an audio telling the history of the frescos. They are well worth seeing. I understand there are some more in some churches to the south of Boone. What treasures!
The cooler weather is certainly welcome and the rain is always a mixed blessing. I am not sure why weeds can grow so much faster than flowers.
I am going to Snead's Ferry to visit friends for a few days and we will go to Wilmington shopping. Surprise! Hopefully we will eat at Havana's in Carolina Beach. It is my nephew, Pete's, place and I have not seen him in a while. The food is terriffic.
Just found out the first year of "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" is on DVD. Now that is one of my favorite reads. The series begins with the above title and I think the last book was number 8? The author is Alexander McCall Smith from Scotland. The books are delightful, insightful and restful. If that is a word. They are about a lady in Botswana whose father worked hard to save and buy cattle so when he passed she could sell them and use the money to buy a business to take care of her financially. She decided to buy a detective agency. HBO made it into a series and I don't get HBO so I will have to find that DVD.
"God's will be done, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else." I heard this quote recently and sometimes it is the only way I can make sense of things. It seems as if bad news is everywhere.
Sally