Ok, if you’ve been keeping up, you know that I participated in my very first outdoor painting event held at our local nature preserve. And now… the rest of the story. Or at least some of the rest of the story.

As the day progressed, the roaring from the mechanical dinosaur was soon matched by the roaring from my stomach. I was ready for a late lunch. The food truck up at the Nature Center building was calling and not just to me. It was agreed that the three of us in “our spot” were ready to eat more than the snacks we brought. So away we went to join all the others already up there.

When we got to the truck and had placed our orders, I thought it would be funny to tell the person inside that we would be “dining in”. He actually looked around the inside of his food truck to see if I knew something he didn’t. So, with no room at the inn, we headed to the nearby picnic tables. My barbequed chicken/cheese street taco was delicious, the fries soggy, the Dr. Pepper cold. I was happy for all of it. Once finished, I was eager (really eager) to get back down the trail and start my second plein aire painting. I would “make hay while the sun was shining”. Or at least, I’d paint.

However… I learned a long time ago that one should never pass up the opportunity to make use of a restroom (even if your bladder is not quite ready) … especially when you are outside and your “spot” is quite a distance away. So… I entered the side designated for females, entered the stall, and started to assume the position.

“Son of a biscuit!”

I’m not proud to say that I forgot my cell phone was in my back pocket.

I am proud to say that I have extremely good reflexes.

In a matter of seconds I had that cell phone out of the water with one hand, my jeans mostly back up with the other, followed by paper towels flying out of the holder like my life or should I say, my phone, depended on it. I thought my phone was toast… soggy toast. Never to be used again. Oh well. There would be no more photos by me to remember the day.

Anyway, with the phone drying and possibly dying, I finished a second painting. Much later, at the appointed time, I joined the group of happy, hot, tired artists for the showing and judging. I must tell you, the artwork turned in was fabulous. So many talented artists were part of this plein aire event. Did I win anything? No. I wasn’t there for that though it would have been mind blowing if it had happened.

Will I paint en plein aire again? Certainly. Maybe. We’ll see.

I’ll have to discuss it with my cell phone.

By the way… I’m happy to say that after leaving it out in the breeze for several hours (with the temperature at 90 degrees) and once at home having given it a lot of time in a bag of rice and silica packs… the phone survived.