Crayons Are My Hobby

THIS morning I got a thrill from these words in a Christmas thank-you letter from a friend: "You s-m-a-r-t thing! I love my barn. How did you find your talent?" No, I didn't build her a barn for her farm, but had the unmitigated nerve to send her for a Christmas present a framed picture of a red cow-barn cuddled among the trees on a Connecticut hillside--a picture I had created in pastels, copying from an original watercolor my friend had admired.