Sheer Sketch and Memories

I pondered over my sketch this morning.  What was a good way to show "sheer" for the Hunt.  Several ideas came to mind.  I remembered I have the gray markers from Blick Art Materials.  

Number 7, sheer - curtains in my studio.  I used the gray markers, a white GellyRoll and the Micron 02 pen.  I sketched on the bottom of a page in the Ohuhu mix media sketchbook.  For Scavenger Hunt from Life 61  https://creativespark.art/threads/scavenger-hunt-61-mar-15-mar-23.5266/

Farm to Market
Oil 16 x 20
La Paz, Bolivia Mt Illimani in the background

Achocalla
Oil, 16 x 20 inches
Near La Paz, Bolivia

Remembering is sometimes like looking through sheer curtains.  Some things stand out and some are a little hidden. At our age, the good memories stand out the most.

We had some sad news.  Felipa, our maid, from Bolivia passed away.  She was my age.   She started working for us in 1974.  The secretary in Gene's office hired here before we got there on a trial basis.  She ended up becoming part of our family when we were in South America and went with us to Chile and Peru.  She was with us 16 years.  We have many good memories of Felipa.

Felipa had a third grade education but was so responsible and caring.  She cared for our children like they were hers. When I would scold the kids, she felt scolded, too.   She was independent though, and a good friend.  

She went with us to Santiago and went to school there to be a beautician.  Felipa went to England and Spain and worked there for a year when we came back to the States. It was quite an adventure for her.  Fun stories.  She worked in a restaurant in Spain that served escargot.  She said they would bring them into the kitchen in gunny sacks and dump them in tubs of water.  They would escape and crawl all over the walls.  The chefs would just get them off the wall and prepare them for the customers.  Creepy crawly!  Is that a redundant statement?

When we went to Peru from Lubbock, Texas, (another foreign country) we needed a maid.  Overseas a maid is more like an assistant.  They know where to shop and local information.  We did not want a live-in maid and we were having trouble finding one that fit our family well.  My mom died when we first got to Lima and I was having a hard time adjusting.

Gene suggested a trip to La Paz for Thanksgiving.  We still had friends in the Embassy and our Bolivian friends to visit.  We had a good time, seeing old friends, eating in our favorite restaurants, etc.  On the plane coming back, Gene told me to look back a couple of rows.  A big surprise for me.  There was Felipa!  Gene had contacted her, arranged her visa and papers and she was coming back to Peru to work and live with us.  That improved my life in Lima 100%.  Gene is so good to me.

Felipa couldn't read English but I only had to tell her once about items (like labels on food or cleaning products).  She raised her two children long distance, they were with their paternal grandparents and father.  She provided for them and put them through college on her meager salary.  

Our last posting in Bolivia was 1994 and of course Felipa was with us.  We kept in touch over the years.  In 1997, Jennie and I returned to Bolivia and got to visit with Felipa. 

Our last visit by phone was at Christmas time.  Sadly I don't have any photos of Felipa, they burned in the big Bastrop fire of 2011 when our house burned. 

The loving memories will continue as we think of Felipa, con cariño.