Lagniappe from Paris

This colorful oil painting depicts a scene along the Place du Tertre in the Montmartre district of Paris. The painting is very old and belonged to a favorite great aunt of mine, Aunt Wynn, who was truly one of a kind. She lived to be 96, but remained young at heart, full of life, and sharp as a tack right up until God called her home. She and her husband Dan lived in Paris for a while, and loved their life there. It was during that time that she bought this painting, probably from one of the street artists who lined the square. Several years before Aunt Wynn died, she gave me the painting which had a post-it note on the back on which she had written: "For Janie and Norm ... Place de Tetre in the Montmartre Section of wonderful "Paree." Hope you will someday go and 'step in my footprints!' Love, Wynn." Isn't that sweet! As I said, the painting is very old and the frame was not very complimentary at all ... in fact, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but the frame was downright ugly. We were pleased that Aunt Wynn thought of us and wanted us to have her painting, which probably brought back many fond memories of the happy time she and Uncle Dan spent in Paris. But, to be honest, I really didn't like the painting (mainly because of the ugly frame), and it has been in our attic for several years. This past weekend, I was in the attic and showed the painting to our daughter Whitney. As we looked at it and read the sweet note on the back, I decided that I liked the painting itself and could paint the frame and find a more befitting home for it than a box in the attic. I took it outside and gave the frame a couple of coats of Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint, and voila!— as they say in Paree' — it now has a new home in one of the guest bedrooms upstairs ... I doubt we'll ever make it to Paris to "step in Aunt Wynn's footprints," but the painting will always be dear to my heart because she wanted us to have something that obviously meant a lot to her and brought back sweet memories of an especially happy and memorable time in her life. Rest in peace, Aunt Wynn ... we miss you.