Sam and I had a very special day today... On a recent ferry trip, Trish encountered a very dapper elderly gentleman who turned out to be a former professor in pedriatrics turned hobby animal artist. Over the course of the journey, she waxed lyrical about "her dog Teak" and he requested a photograph to paint from. Now, several months later, we visited Mervyn Schwartz's house in Mill Valley - beautiful, high up in the treetops - with a view to die for. Mervyn's daughter Debra showed us around and we collected the scans of the final painting which he has been pursuaded to sell us for a donation to the local animal shelter! Mervyn was out, but she desperately wanted him to meet Sam (partly because he pulled out Nanna Doreen's camera and asked if he could photograph the 'sculptures' - two hand made ceramics beside Debra's bed!!). So we headed over to the Tiburon Library where Mervyn met us outside wearing his camera round his neck so that we'd recognise him. He and Sam clicked straight away as "fellow photographers" and Mervyn was so kind (you can tell he was a pediatrician); he let Sam choose a book to borrow from the library and Sam shared it with him. Sam even took Mervyn by the hand when it was time to leave - beautiful. Mervyn wants to paint the kids with Teak so I have sent him another photo which he thinks will be a great challenge! Stay tuned for the next installment...
