Pictures of you

I have posted pictures of this painting on social media this week but those places all move quickly, and blogs a little less so, so I’m posting it here too. This is a painting of our daughter and my mum from a photo taken in 2006 (when we lived at the address I wrote about back here). The painting is called ‘Heather and Margaret’ and is the work of our very talented artist friend Scott Henriksen.

 

The positive reactions to this painting so far online have been exactly what it deserves – it is an amazing piece. It totally captures the relationship between these two people and how relaxed they were with each other – the simple, uncluttered love of people who are either too young or too old to give a damn about the nonsense that fills up so much of our lives. Living in a multi-generational home has its challenges (my mum lived with the three of us for last six years of her life, 2004-2010) but the benefits for everyone can be huge too. 

 

Next week there will be new photos because that little girl (now 22) graduates from university (and ‘university’, as anyone who knew her would recognise, was possibly my mum’s favourite word, well up there with ‘sherry’ and ‘cake’ – she’d had a tough start and took no prisoners regarding the odd bit of snobbery and unadulterated enjoyment in her old age). Also, just as Margaret would have been, we are very proud of Heather, marvellous young woman that she is, even if the complications of life and parenting sometimes make that hard for her to feel or believe. The past few years have been a weird time to be a student, it’s affected a lot of her favourite things and given her far too much time with her tiresome parents, but she’s made it through to the other side and who knows what’s next? Whatever it is, big grandma-style hugs to you, best girl, and much cluttered and uncluttered love xxx