Body Art

Since we have an open-door policy at our home, sometimes we get unannounced guests.

Keeps life interesting, that.

Some of our most welcome guests are family...

My youngest daughter, Kari, travels often for work and puts in lots of windshield time. So does Sean, her husband... sometimes together, sometimes not. As such, I usually keep the guest room ready and know they will stop in for a few hours or a few days whenever they are in the area.

On that note, there are clues when they will visit with my granddaughter, Abee. Often, a few days prior to their arrival, packages start appearing in the mail. Kari is sending ahead some craft or other that they want to try.

Recently delivered... tattoo pens and henna and stencils. Body art!

When I was a wee child an uncle came home from the navy and had pictures of birds and stars and a beautiful dancing girl!

On his skin!

Pictures that didn't wash off!

Thanks to Lucy Bellwood, I now know what old tattoos mean!

That's when I fell in love with body art.

Body art... tattoos or hair color or hairstyles or piercings or nail polish or stickers or make-up or ... all wonderful forms of self-expression with a certain place in the world.

But I digress... back to the present... after Kari and family arrived and got settled, out came the recently delivered packages.

Abee and Kari

We spent hours drawing on each other and laughing and practicing pictures.

Abee expressed her creativity with her color choices using the stencils.

Some of Abee's handiwork

And during the few days of their visit, we also made lots of free form drawing...

Abee's favorite from Kari

Some were fantastic, some, not so much. That they were all ephemeral art, rather than permanent, made them all the more precious.

By the time they left, I had "tattoos" on my legs and arms and wrists. Each picture a memory of laughter.

Going to the zoo that Wednesday for my Docent time, people wondered. A couple of friends asked if I had experienced a mid-life crisis that week when no one was looking.

With a big grin, I explained and showed off Abee's artwork.

Oh, and one more thing before you go... Seedsofimaginationcards.com has a special holiday Thank You coupon code for readers of my blog. Enter the code (CCBLOG15) at checkout to get 15% off. Code expires December 31, 2021.