Home Again -and favorite painting of the trip

I thought I would post the painting that made the biggest impression on me of all the thousands of paintings I saw while I was in France. This painting by Vincent Van Gogh titled "Church at Auvers" from 1890 just blew my socks off. None of the reproductions I have seen prepared me for the luminosity that this painting has. It just GLOWS! Van Gogh's work MUST be seen in person to really appreciate his brilliance as an artist. Honestly! Whereas the Mona Lisa is pretty much 'what you see is what you get' there are a number of artists that need to be seen in person to be fully apprehended. Another is Pissaro -each of his brushstrokes must have at least 5 colours in them. And I could name a few others, but right now my brain is MUSH.

Right now it is 3am Paris time (which has become my time) and I am writing this from the airport in Toronto where I have a 5 hour layover until my flight leaves for Calgary - to arrive Friday at 1:00am Calgary time (9am Paris time). Now don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be back in Canada, where the Icelandic volcano can't keep me stranded any longer. But I can't sleep on airplanes, so I have been up way too long. Sorry if this all sounds like drivel, but I thought I would use the time waiting to make this post.

Thanks so much to all of you who prayed for our safe flights; and for those who were rather sarcastic about our being stranded...well, I will leave that for another day.