I might have to start taking my heavy ,but good camera out with me as I missed getting a shot of a sheep trying to climb an olive tree.

Sometimes I wonder where the person I am now was for all these years. I always thought I was timid and shy and so did everyone else. I was on the verge of punching the next person who described me as “quiet and thoughtful” as I reckoned I was merely polite and scared to interrupt while they never shut up.

Today when I saw the sheep and then the lamb I was so excited and happy. It reminded me of my childhood, it was unexpected and it was quite photogenic.

These days I get excited about lots of things. About beautiful views, interesting shadows, sunlight in the morning , the bin men actually taking away my rubbish, interesting wild flowers, my stove lighting first time , finishing paintings, the postman bringing a parcel, my breakfast, lunch and dinner, every new flower, getting a chocolate egg, finding a new Rebus audiobook, getting a surprise phone call, and lots more.

Now I admit to dancing round the kitchen often for no particular reason and always when the Happy Song is on the radio.

But, back to the sheep. It was a surprise to see it on my way up the pink brick road and at first I didn’t notice the lamb. I had just said ” Buon Giorno” to the nice lady from the little grocery shop and told her I was taking photos to paint.

One of the blessings of lockdown has been noticing little things. And now there are a sheep and a lamb to add to the cows, the donkey and the black horse.

I carried on up the hill stopping to take photos and it was when I looked back I saw the sheep trying to climb the olive tree. Unfortunately my phone doesn’t take clear enough photos to show it.

I was quite excited about that too.

I had a lovely walk looking for pretty corners to photograph and then paint. I was lucky with the light and in almost all of them I could say that I will be painting sunshine .

(Am a bit distracted right now as there are hailstones hitting the ground outside my door and a river running by. Rain is generally quite dramatic here. )

The highlight of my expedition was returning to my street and with the light hitting it just right it looked like a painting. It was beautiful.

I’ve spent the rest of the day organising , cropping and printing photos and now have 8 ready to paint. I won’t paint from the photos , but it’s a lot easier to measure and draw where everything is from a photo than on a screen.

Now it’s wine time again. The hailstones have stopped for now. It might rain off and on for the next 3 days , but I have lots of work ……and next week the temperature is to be above 20C.

Cheers🍷🍷