On the Sunshine

What with the lashing rain today, and the downer of the mining museum yesterday, I wanted something cheery to blip. When Ella is good at nursery she tells us she is "on the sunshine". Her mum on the left, and Auntie, represent my sunshines.

Here is my painting of them on our idyllic, remote beach in Zanzibar, relaxing after our very busy self-guided trip around Kenya and Tanzania 14 years ago. We hired a small jeep and some camping stuff, and had many adventures from Nairobi to Naivasha and Nakuru, then across the difficult terrain of the Mau escarpment to the Masai Mara. In Tanzania we travelled using public transport so after a month we were ready to relax here for 4 days. There were only 4 basic little huts, (beds, cold shower and a loo) - 2 for us, one for a woman writer and one for the owner who cooked us spinach and rice for supper. All there was to do was swim, play cards, chat, read our books and beachcomb. In the foreground I have placed some of the shells I collected, on a bit of cloth I bought. It was wonderful.