When Art Finds You

I updated my iPod music list today, adding the Chemical Brothers, 'We Are The Night' album and the latest Bob Dylan album, 'Modern Times.' Honestly, I bought the Chemical Brothers album for one song...the Salmon Dance, but I do like the rest of the album. For those of you who haven't heard the Salmon Dance, I highly recommend it. It also has a brilliant video with lip-syncing fish. The actual 'Chemical Brothers' are the divers at the very end of the video.

As for Amy Winehouse, until recently I wondered what the all the fuss was about. Surely people were over-reacting. I hadn't heard any of her music, but how good could she be, rrrreallly? Then my friend put on the song, 'Rehab' and I thought, 'oh okay, yeah, now I get it.' The rest of the songs on her album, 'Back to Black' are great too.

I created a new playlist called 'Jump Around' and it has had me doing that all evening long. I've been preparing the ingredients for a killer lasagne that I am going to bake up tomorrow. The music has greatly moved this effort along.

So for a killer lasagne, you need killer cheese. So earlier today I visited the Canterbury Cheese Mongers off Victoria Street in Christchurch. My friend Annie turned me on to this place and now I'm hooked, just as she is. I was greeted by Martin, one of the owners and I told him the specifics of my cheese quest. He took me into the humidity-controlled cheese vault and proceeded to slice off heavenly bits of cheese for me to taste.


I found a couple of amazing Parmesans, plus a Swiss Gruyere to die for, and a Curio Bay Pecorino. Oh and I also picked up some authentic buffalo mozzarella and fresh ricotta for the lasagne.

So, how could this day get any better after visiting Cheese Heaven? I didn't think it was possible. All I had left to do was run a few errands at the South City mall...how seemingly uneventful.

I arrived and walked briskly into the mall and right past an exhibit of original paintings innocently arranged in the middle of the mall. I didn't think to look at the paintings because in the past, when I had paused to look at these mall exhibits, I found the paintings to be not to my taste and/or (sorry artists), somewhat cheesy.

I had already walked past on my way to the pharmacy, when some tiny, quiet voice inside me whispered, 'turn back.' I wheeled around and looked and immediately made contact with a painting. It grabbed me and sucked me in...I was defenseless against its pull. It was love at first sight.

This is a oil painting of South Bay, Kaikoura on the east coast of the South Island, north of Christchurch. It is by a 70-something woman named L. Logan Smith. I think Kaikoura is one of the loveliest stretches of coastline in New Zealand. When the sun is out, the water is the most unreal shades of milky aqua and green and seems to glow in an almost unnatural way. This painting captures that effect for me.

I told the woman tending the show that I wanted to buy the painting, but could she please hold it for me while I did a bit of shopping? No worries. She took it down and started wrapping it up. When I came back she said that another couple had asked her where the painting of Kaikoura had gone. She told them it had just sold. They were really disappointed. Had I waited only a few minutes, I would have been too late. Sometimes you just have to full-body-tackle an opportunity, or it might be gone, just like that.

I had been searching for a piece of art for our living room for nearly two years. Nothing I have seen has done the trick. I have been contemplating creating an artwork for that space myself. Today my search ended. It totally pulls the room together. I love it!

Oh gawd, it's 1am...must go to bed!