Weekly happenins'

Last Tuesday Olivia's friend Dania came to visit for three days. Dania lived in Marseille last year but recently moved away. Tuesday night I taught the gals how to make zuchini bread and banana bread, both of which they really liked. As a random sidenote, "zuchini" is the first word that I taught Olivia in English. On Wednesday we drove out to a small town on the coast called La Ciotat, where we picnicked by the beach and watched the sunset by the rocky seaside cliffs. I might be able to post some pictures of that in a day or two. Thursday we went to see Pirates of the Caribean, which I liked, but they girls hated. I did think it was a bit drawn out, and I missed some of the plot since it was in French with no subtitles, but overall it was just what I expected and I enjoyed it. I'll probably try to see it in English if I can while it's still in theaters. Olivia and I spent the weekend being lazy in her appartment. On Sunday we got out her painting gear and I tried my hand at my first landscape (my first painting of anything for that matter.) I started with an orange and red sunset, added some mountains, and then put in a green valley with a river. Pretty standard as far as landscapes go. Olivia touched it up and made it look decent. Just when we were about finished I thought I would be brave and try something courageous. Taking my cue from Bob Ross, I added a friendly tree in the foreground, which ended up taking up about one third of the left side of the canvas. My tree may be friendly, but it's also ugly. Overall, I'm satisfied with my work, considering that it was my first time and all. Who knows what great masterpieces might spring forth from my brush in the years to come?