I have to share this story with you. Last week, a delightful family from Chicago visited The Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade and came back to our studio (behind The Blue Pig). There was a young mom and dad (whose homeland is Poland) and a beautiful little girl named Ola. Anyway, Ola started to open up and asked if she could please watch me paint.  Of course, I said.  Since I was just prepping a larger canvas to paint carrots for the gallery in Santa Fe and had "carrots on the brain," I decided to do a small, quick painting of carrots with her helping me pick out background colors, etc.  I have to say that at this point I was totally bewitched by this little girl.  So, we finished the painting and I gave it to her to take home.  She was delighted and then I looked at her mom and she was a little teary.  I thought, "Oh my, what did I do?"  Her mom then said, "I have to tell you why I'm crying."  She proceeded to tell me that Ola's nickname is "Marchewka" (pronounced Markefka) and that in Polish it means, "My little carrot." 

All of this just reminds me what a gift visitors are. And we never know how they might touch us. Or we them.  I don't think I'll ever forget that day and I'm looking forward to meeting more people as they come through the Grand Valley from all parts of the world.  So, come play.  You never know what might happen!