Birthday Presents

As I have previously mentioned, this summer I have been invited to go to Switzerland to attend a big birthday party.  Three of my Swiss cousins will be celebrating their 60th birthday this August.  Two of the cousins, Brigitta and Hans Peter, I already know, but the third one I have not yet met.

I do not know if gifts will be given at the party, but I do not intend to arrive empty-handed.  I was trying to decide what to get for them.  It had to be something that does not take up much room in my luggage.  (I will be traveling lightly and will not take my large suitcase.)  I finally decided that I would make 2017 calendars for each of the birthday cousins.  I went to the "Shutterfly"  website and created three different calendars using my own photography.  One calendar has photos from my trips to Mexico, another has photos from Spain, and the third has pictures of Ohio.

The calendars arrived in the mail, and I am quite pleased with the finished products.

Since my cousin Brigitta has invited me to stay at her house, I want to bring her something else as a "thank you" for her hospitality.  I will give her several bars of artisanal soap that I bought in Mexico.  And, more importantly, I am also painting a picture for her.  It will be of the 17th century church in Othmarsingen, the town where my great-grandmother was born and where Brigitta grew up.   This is the photo, which I took four years ago, that I am using for the painting...

I intended to begin the picture some time ago.  However, after spending hours working in the garden, I haven't felt like painting.  Now that the garden is under control, I stopped procrastinating.  Last night I started work on the painting.

I just hope that Brigitta isn't reading my blog!