Bravado...

I am trying to be lazy on this Saturday morning, but I don't know if the dog will let me. I have let him out back for a piddle and he has eaten a bowl of food, but he may want to go for a walk any minute now and that means I will have to change out of this comfortable bathrobe into my regular clothes and I so don't want to. I need at least another cup of coffee and several more cigarettes. Darn, I need a certain amount of my vices in the morning. Two cups of coffee isn't too much to ask for.

The second painting at creative therapy is going well. So far, I'm very pleased with it, but it does help to have some very white paint handy for when I go over the lines. I can't wait for it to be Monday so I can work on it again. First I have to get through those two long days of the weekend, of which Sunday is the longest day.

When I came home at 12:30 in the afternoon yesterday, there was a watercolor pad laying on the dining table and I knew right away that the Exfactor had put it there, so I called him to thank him for it and he said that it was not the present that he wanted to still give me. I'm completely in the dark now about what it could be, because I thought he maybe was going to buy me a sketch pad. This one says it is a sketch and watercolor pad.

I can't wait to begin to use it, but I feel that I must develop some other style or technique and I need to do a little bit of pondering about what those could be. I have tubes of paint, so I could be painting also. I must give it a long hard think. Something abstract maybe. I only have two art books and maybe I can find something to inspire me in them. There's an acute shortage of art books, I would say. Time to hit the second hand bookstore.

My afternoon with Von was nice. We had cappuccinos and tea at our regular outdoor café and they were accompanied by some Italian cookies that were so hard that they were impossible to bite into and we could have done each other some serious damage if we had thrown them at one another. Usually, we get pieces of soft nougat with our beverages and I hope that they get rid of those cookies and return to the nougat or pick something else that's more digestible. At one of the cafés on the big square you get a cookie and a chocolate, but I think that Von prefers this smaller more intimate square.

We saw two bridal couples outside the ancient basilica and both the brides were dressed in ivory colored dresses with bouquets of red roses. The church bells rang especially for them. It was quite festive and we think it was a double wedding. Love was in the air and everybody was happy. It was very sweet to see and made you long to be that young again and have a wedding of your own (but, of course, have the wisdom that you have now). If only you could trust those grooms!

We walked around downtown and I pulled a croquette out of the wall at Snackson's over by the big square and Von had a big paper cone of fries with mayonnaise. We ate that while walking down the street, which is half the pleasure of it, because women our age are not supposed to eat in the street. It goes against convention. You're supposed to find a suitable place to sit down to consume your food. Of course, we had to lick our fingers, because as usual there were no napkins, as that is considered too much of an investment and wasteful.

Today I've got to do some grocery shopping and I'm not looking forward to it at all, because it will be busy in the store and I never like that. I do so like it when there are lots of places to park my bike and lots of shopping baskets and no distracted shoppers in the aisles. I guess I need a store of my own, or I need to go at 8 o'clock in the morning. Fool that I didn't think of it. First I better check my bank account balance to see if there is any money to shop with.

I think, other than the shopping, I will declare this "take it easy day," as I have few chores to do and I may as well do those tomorrow when I'm bored because it's Sunday.

Have a terrific Saturday everyone. Think of me when you load your groceries in your car, as I wobble down the street with mine.

Oh, for privacy reasons, I have changed my name on every website I frequent. I realized I didn't want to be so much of a public figure and have all of the details of my life out there and have them directly attached to my name. My name is now Nora Ibsen and I would appreciate it if you would address me as Nora from now on.

Thanks,
Nora