My friend Debbye Hughes was fighting cancer when she got me into art. She was creating watercolors, actually giving me a couple, and got mad at me when I oohed and ahhed over her work, wishing I could do something like that. She glared at me, saying, “What’s keeping you from it, Linda? You have no excuse. YOU have the time. YOU can practice until you do as well as you can. Who cares if your paintings don’t go anywhere but your own refrigerator door? JUST DO IT!
When I went to her funeral several months later, there were two huge bins on either side of the chapel door. At the end of the service, we were told to take a handful of the daffodil bulbs from a bin and plant them. The idea was that we would think of Debbye (just in case we didn’t remember how special she was by herself) each spring when the daffodils bloomed. I had never heard of anyone asking this and loved the idea.
I planted mine all in a bunch in the front yard, hoping that when they came up, they would form a kind of daffodil bouquet. This picture shows you that the idea was pretty successful. Just an added reminder of the wonderful lady I had the opportunity to know, and a reminder not to give up on trying to create art.
When I was out walking Amber (she’s now clamoring for me to take her out again, putting her head under my arm and bumping my fingers off the keys over and over while ‘complaining’ in her dramatic whine) and saw the sun shining through the greenery and flowers in this group of daffodils in the back yard. I hope that Mother Nature doesn’t send crushing cold through here, freezing all the nice blooms that have come up all around the yard.
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