Last year at this time I was in China. I spent the month of July there, teaching conversational English at a University to a classroom comprised mostly of university teachers. They were quite literate, but were not very conversant at first, because they hadn’t spent anytime practicing with native English speakers. (My only qualification for such an undertaking was that I am a native speaker, plus my experience teaching people how to draw!) It was the greatest adventure of my life, and it still amazes me that I got to go. I made some wonderful friends, and every day was interesting, truly interesting!

Across the way from my apartment in Weihai, there was a dorm painted in a weird combination of pink and yellow. My first thought was “Yuck!” or something equally ungracious. After being there a few days, the mimosa trees in front of the building burst into bloom and suddenly what had been Yucky became Ohhhhh! Hmmm, another little life lesson. . .

So while painting at S’s, I was looking out the window at her mimosa trees in bloom and it made me a little nostalgic for last year’s remarkable experience.