Back in February, I mentioned that I have an addiction to slo-pitch. I played casually and horsed around in my early years, but really came to love the game later in life. Now I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time - Willie Stargell put it this way "I found myself in a race with Mother Nature to play as much baseball as I could before she forced me to stop". So I play almost 5 times a week on five different leagues - three are all women, one co-ed and one seniors league (one of only two women players - but we're working on that!)

Hard to pick a favourite league, but Friday nights could be the one - haven't played there the longest, but I've made some of the best friendships of my life... all women, all playing levels, all ages (well, over 25 at least) - nothing super competitive, but make no mistake that we all want to win our games! So I was honoured and humbled (and completely, gob-smackingly, shocked & surprised) when I was elected as a kind of 'Miss Congeniality' a couple of weekends ago at our annual, mid-summer tournament. Now I have to wear a crazy costume and behave myself at league functions (no getting silly over too many beers!) but I couldn't be prouder to be placed in the same company as some of the best women I've ever known. The story is a whole blog post in itself, so more on previous Miss M.I.S.T.s later.

Now to think of something good to contribute to the costume... every year since 2003 the current 'holder of the parasol' has added something to the ensemble - they'll need a steamer trunk to carry it around in another couple of years...

Drawn on black card stock - I can see how those paintings on black velvet that I used to be so enamoured with when I went to The Ex, would be fun to do... it hurts the brain a bit to figure out the lights before the shadows, but once you're in the groove of it, it seems to work out nicely.

I'm a bit of a wimp about colour, but went wild and added some orange, brown and green to the lit areas... I like the result, but feel I really need to stretch more.

Visited a long-time friend yesterday who has been painting and drawing consistently for over 40 years despite some very serious health challenges. Her work is imaginative, thoughtful, colourful, skillful and above-all completely authentic. She paints from her imagination using reference if she needs it and the results are stunning. I was fully humbled at what she's accomplished over the same time that I've been frittering away!