View in a Painting

Our neighbor, Bettina Lesieur, an accomplished artist in town, painted our view for us (the photographs in my previous posts). Isn't she talented? When I was young I attempted to paint, bought a box of acrylics and oils, but succeeded only in making a mess. I had an easel, but stopped at that; fortunately, I donned no beret. Despite a lack of talent, it was fun to try to imitate "art". I think everyone should try, whether or not there's untapped talent somewhere within. It's fun to have hobbies. I enjoy reading and writing. Walking. Traveling with my husband and kids: Nantucket in summer, North Conway in winter. It took me five long years to write Unrest, and I have begun my second novel--a mystery this time. Just after I published Unrest I stopped writing and began to read again. When I was in the middle of writing Unrest I'd begin to read someone else's book and concentrate only on sentence structure and dialogue -I couldn't concentrate on the story. It is nice to have my hobby of reading back. Now that I've returned to the pastime of writing, I've promised myself to continue reading for fun.