A person who meant so much to me in my pig-tailed days is coming to visit my studio on Thursday!  Once upon a time, he was the hired man on our 100-acre farm.

Bert Kempster, tall with black wavy hair, loved to ride horses, drove a Model-T Ford, which had a rumble seat, and was ever so patient with my four sisters and I.  He had a marvellous way of recounting anecdotes!

Most exciting of all, he chewed Dentyne gum!  Back then, we tykes had never heard of such things as germs.  Unbeknownst to Bert, when he was out, my younger sister and I snuck into his room, pried off some gum he thought he had hidden on the back of his metal bedstead . . . and chewed it!!

Although I haven’t rode or exhibited horses like Bert has, I do share a love for them, and have painted four, fascinated by their intelligent eyes and graceful form.