Cannon Beach 2012

Our newish tradition is to go to Cannon Beach over a long weekend in the Spring.  The morning is amazing, all of the clam diggers come out looking for pacific razor clams.

There were hundreds of sand dollars in the low tide sand.

Many of the older houses are made with cedar siding that silvers after years of being in the salty air.

The beaches are famous for the rock formations.

Andrea's favorite artist Cassandra Barney was also in Cannon Beach. We were excited to meet her and see her new book which you can see here or purchase here. I surprised Andrea by getting her a painting from here spring unveiling.

I was totally sick that week - I had laryngitis but I had been planning to get her this painting for Mother's Day. I wanted to surprise her so while Andrea was schmoozing with Cassandra, I spoke with the gallery owner about purchasing it. I could barely speak with my hoarse raspy voice. Turns out that he is hard of hearing too - made for a funny comedy routine of him not hearing and me unable to speak up. All the while I was trying to not tip off Andrea about the purchase. At the end one of his assistants walked over to interrupt Cassandra and Andrea and ask Cassandra to take it down and sign it "To Andrea." I was waving and "yelling" with my whisper voice to have her stop. Fortunately someone dove across the table and intercepted her message.

I made the purchase and we left for lunch and left to explore the town and shops. Her actual unveiling was in the afternoon. When we got back, we took our places to the side as the gallery filled up. Cassandra began her unveiling, discussing each picture in turn. The crowd oohed and ahhed as each picture was revealed. Finally when she got the the last picture, Cassandra told a little story about the background of the picture. The she pointed to Andrea and asked the audience if the heroine in the picture looked like her. The audience murmured in agreement, then Cassandra said "Maybe I should change the name and put Andrea in it..."  Andrea was totally blushing at this time and had this strange "what in the heck is going on" look.

Finally Cassandra said "Andrea this is yours" and motioned for her to come forward in front of the audience. Everyone applauded and Andrea was still in shock for hours.

It is called "In Her Wilderness"

They were sad to part at the end of the day. Andrea just looks like she's trying to poke her own eye, and Cassandra is a better artist than actor... Maybe everyone can blame the director.

This is where Andrea ended up placing it in the house.

The first thing Andrea said about the painting was that it reminded her of my favorite Van Gogh painting, "Red Vineyard"