Artist Reply: And where I live in Virginia, not everybody cares for art they don't see anything in, but here somebody found the rattle snake skin (do you?). They don't lack humor entirely, though. One feller asked another how he thought I got a rattle snake to stand still [sic] long enough to paint it. Coming in then, I said, no problem. I just held it by the tail, dunked the whole creature in the old can of paint, and then rolled it across that area. It wasn't too happy then, but I assured it of becoming a famous painter now and he could brag to all his sneaky friends. At that, they all shook their rattles in snake applause (they can't clap for want of hands, you know). I could hear them through the fence, and one warned a lady rattler to watch for that guy because he'll just hiss and tell! So that's what's been going on around here, friend Nira. I've gotta be looking around for some animal for my next painting. Peace, etc., Bruce

Artist Reply: Hi, Ruth, And thank you for the nifty words of encouragement. Recently I used the word, "nifty," in replying to something about something. I received by return click a message something like this: "Oh, WOW! I haven't heard the word "nifty," since CHARLOTTE'S WEB!" Hmm. I was tempted to write back saying: "Well twenty-three skid doo to you!" But of course you surely know that I am more cultured and couth than to say something rude as a jay bird to a worm-eating robin. So I'm glad that "cool" has been "in" so long -- even chill couldn't displace it. And so I'm writing this to you to thank you for carrying on this long standing tradition, rather than something whatever, such as "hot," or "groovy," or "whatever!" And so, since this word, "cool," still is "in," I'm going to move my easel over by the refrigerator, open the door and begin painting some really cool art. I'll have to use oil because acrylic will dry too quickly in the draft. I'll just take out this prepared salad and other food stuff here, and stick in the tubes of paint and the brushes. I'll start out painting ICE CUBES STILL IN TRAYS (what's a more perfect place and setting for "dead nature" than in a fridge?). Next I may dump some of the cubes out, maybe put them in various glasses. You know there really is no end to what I might paint there as well as IN there! Perhaps someone with ingenuity will coin the term "Refrigerator Art." And I'll be on my way to fame and riches! So, Ruth, I want to thank you, and Emily, for both inspiring me to a new style of art, and thus my fame and fortune! And I want to say to both of you about your own skills and talents, that I welcome you to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. You can just open your refrigerator doors and paint cool! The three of us can be the first of the new movement. Nifty, huh? I wonder what Charlotte would have said. And let me throw in to both of you another Thank You for the encouragement not to hang up the easel yet! Peace, etc., Bruce