This trip keeps getting stranger and stranger...
Had a very strange and eventful weekend...here are some pics to illustrate:


On Friday night, I found myself eating Rosh Hashana and Shabbot dinner with 30 some odd members of the Israeli community here in India. Highlight of the night was definitely the homemade Challah.

Miss Holler and the.....Pink Champagnes. On Saturday night, I sang my first blues in India with a 4-piece band at the 4-star Ashoka hotel restaraunt. The band, the Pink Champagnes, invited me up when I introduced myself as a blues singer from Canada We pulled off a fun Memphis Minnie 12-bar tune, the crowd had a blast, but they don't give free drinks to jammers...still....it was pretty fun!

My mother will be so proud.....here are some of my potato latkes that I made, and they were sooo good! Had some people from school over for a Rosh Hashana brunch, and these were gone in minutes. It was a proud moment to be hosting my first get together in India. So I'm ready for any brave souls who want to venture over here and try some of these!

Meet Chico....he's a small gecko lizard that comes and goes from the house. A welcome guest that's small, quiet, funny and eats all the mosquitoes in my house. Thanks Chico!
My first self-portrait. While looking at my wall of musicians, I thought to myself....what's missing?what's missing?...oh yeah, Miss Holler. It was fun to capture the blue hat.

Went to my first music concert last night in Bangalore City. It was part of a bigger festival called Times Bangalore Fest, featuring artists, musicians and food from Banagalore. Read about it in a local newspaper, picked up free tickets, and last night, I found myself three rows from the stage of a band known for their fusion of musical genres. The singer, Shubha Mudgal was powerful and she was accompanied by both musicians classically trained in traditional Indian instruments, and jazz artists. It's too bad I can't upload video footage on this...it would be nice to share the music with you. A picture will have to do.

As well, I start teaching classes on Monday, so I have been preparing my new art room for the year. On Friday, I finished off my preparations with a large painting in the style of Norval Morrisseau, painted on the side of a bookshelf in the room. In the middle of the painting, I mounted a full length mirror for full freaky effect! Hope you and my students like it....

Sometimes I feel a little homesick...so it's a good thing I brought my sketches of blues and jazz artists from Toronto....a girl can't paint Buffalo and Birds all the time. Here's an oil pastel painting I just finished a couple of nights ago. This one is of Julian Fauth--a piano player that opened for Mel Brown at Silver Dollar on the 24th. He's the 13th musician on my wall, and I'm looking forward to adding sketches of Southern Indian musicians to the collection.

A three day weekend was just what I needed...

This long weekend, I took a small vacation with some new friends to a nearby town about 300km to the west coast. The place is called Chickmanglure and it's known for its many coffee estates and plantations. What a fool I was to think that moving to India would make me kick my coffee addiction and switch over to tea! Southern India is known for its fine, fine coffee....and I can't get enough. Tim Horton's is a distant memory now. Here are some pics from the aromatic station....


From left: Hills at 7:30 in themorning; detail carving from a local temple; sculpture of Nandi - bull companion of Lord Shiva; Choosing a watermelon from a roadside vendor under a Banya tree.

My latest painting of a water buffalo that I see every morning from my balcony. Just getting used to the watercolour medium...thanks again Ilaria!