I hadn’t painted since I was an undergrad. Unless you count the painting I did alongside my kids when they were toddlers. So it as with a little bit of trepidation that I accompanied Leslie out for our painting date. I had campaigned pretty hard to get her to come down to Urbana—but it was mostly to enjoy her company, no so much the actual painting. We scouted for sites at the big prairie park, but it was boiling hot and too sunny for the prairie. We settled on the cool shade of the Japan House gardens at the UIUC arboretum, and the coolness of my own front garden, under trees. Those fabulous pots of paint, and the astounding magentas and brick reds! The shared conversation and quiet intensity of looking closely—what a lovely thing that was. Bliss.