Today’s post was written by Ilsa, age 10 and 11.5/12ths.
This is what I miss about Mauritania:
- The good old Sahara heat!
- Not wearing seat belts.
- Going to the beach every week, and the water actually being warm.
- My friends! (Hi Bethany and Haley and Aidan and Esther and Matthew and Erik, etc)
- My school–I miss my nice teacher from last year especially
- Throwing sand-balls at the boys
- Weston, our dog
What I don’t miss about Mauritania:
- I do not miss the jellyfish at the beach
- I don’t miss the boys throwing jellyfish at me while I’m trying to eat my sandwich. Also dead fish and fish bones. We took revenge, though.
What I like about being in America this year:
- There’s delicious candy
- Halloween.
- Christmas presents that don’t break the second you touch them
- my friends here
- there are better puppies and kittens here; cuter and different kinds
- good old air-conditioning!
- And now, heat.
- Fireplaces!
- Hot chocolate w/o skin!
Here is a still life I drew with my pastels. I used a creamer and sugar from the 60s with a really fun shape, and I added fruit and drew a frame with patterns copied off the china. My dad scanned it:
Edited to add: In wordpress, this shows with a complete frame. I can’t figure out why the blog itself shows it cut off. *frustrated sigh*
Planet Nomad 
21 comments
February 18, 2008 at 6:47 pm
jean
Ilsa, great job with the pastels. And I’m sorry you miss Mauritania. It must have been hard to leave and come back to the States. I hope you get to enjoy some warm/hot weather here. I know it was almost 60 here today in NJ. So summer beach weather will be here before you know it. At least that is what I keep telling myself.
February 18, 2008 at 7:22 pm
suz
GREAT Blog Ilsa..we are so glad to have you home in the USA!..wonderful drawing,,!!
February 18, 2008 at 8:13 pm
slouching mom
I don’t miss the boys throwing jellyfish at me while I’m trying to eat my sandwich. Also dead fish and fish bones.
Ilsa: I wouldn’t miss those things either. Not one bit.
I like your drawing very much!
February 18, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Kelly @ Love Well
Beautiful picture, Ilsa. I love the colors.
But you’ll have to tell us more about the hot chocolate without skin. I’ve always had mine with marshmallows. Do they serve it with skin in Africa?
February 18, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Jeanne A
Oh how I hated that ‘skin’ on the milk that we had when I was growing up in Africa. I’d sit in the cafeteria trying to get that glass of milk down until the bell would ring and it was time for school. Boiled milk! Blech!
I still miss my home country that I grew up in, very much. I hope you like Morocco and make good friends there, too.
Love your painting.
You’re the same age as my daughters! One is 10 and 4/12s and one is 11 and 3/12s!
February 19, 2008 at 4:46 am
ShackelMom
I would never have guessed that still life was done my a girl your age! Wow! Keep up the good work! We also live overseas and we have noticed that there are things we like and things we’d rather live without pretty much wherever we live. Knowing that makes it easier to look for the good stuff everywhere!
February 19, 2008 at 4:59 am
Kit
Hi Ilsa,
I love your still life – beautiful warm colours and a very fine border – it looks like it’s got a touch of Africa in it!
I’m glad you’ve made good friends in the US too. We live in South Africa and go to the beach but the water is freezing cold because we have a cold current from the Atlantic. We do make our children wear seat belts here as there is a lot of traffic on the roads, but lots of people ride in the back of cars and bakkies (pick-ups) here without seat belts too.
February 19, 2008 at 9:56 am
Rebecca
There is very little better than skinless hot chocolate!
February 19, 2008 at 1:26 pm
AnnMarie Johnson
I love the drawing! The problem is your blog settings for the width of the post. When I saw it in bloglines, which doesn’t have the restriction, I could see the entire picture. The frame or column is probably set to a specific number of pixels, and the picture is simply a larger size. If you shrink it, it’ll probably fit.
February 19, 2008 at 2:51 pm
The G-Ma
Ilsa, your painting reflects a genuine talent. What I particularly like is that you incorporated the patterns on the creamer and sugar into the dark background frame. That was inspirational. I rather like that the frame is sort of askew on my computer screen. In fact, the more I study your painting, the more I like it.
I am an artist too, Ilsa, and knew I liked to draw when I was about four years old. So keep looking, keep studying how things intersect each other, and keep painting (I think it’s “painting” even if it’s crayons or pastels.) Artists are a blessing to the world. They interpret the world to others and produce beauty and truth.
February 19, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Wacky Mommy
We miss you, Ilsa!
Wacky Girl & her mom
February 20, 2008 at 9:53 am
gretchen from lifenut
Hi, Ilsa! Great post. I really like your still life and the fact you appreciate the shape of the pottery. And what a great idea to incorporate the pattern into the frame.
I agree with you that skinless hot chocolate is the best!
I have a 10.75 year old daughter who loves art as well. I am going to show your picture to her when she gets home from school.
February 20, 2008 at 10:35 am
LIB
Wonderful post and wonderful drawing. As others have mentioned, the use of the patterns from the china in the background is really nice!
February 20, 2008 at 10:47 am
nan
Wow, Ilsa, you are a creative girl! Your art is great. But… The skin on hot chocolate? It’s the BEST PART!
Were they the pale, lightbulb-ish jellyfish that make you itch for days? If you ever find almonds on a beach, the whole green fruit makes GREAT ammunition, and leaves quite a welt. Revenge!
February 20, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Carrie
Hi Ilsa! Thank you for the great post! In all those times at the beach, I never knew the boys threw jellyfish at you. yuck! I am glad that you (and, I am guessing, the other girls) were able to get them back. 🙂
I am also very glad that you are still drawing! The pattern on the pottery and the frame reminds me of the patterns on those wooden boxes from Mauritania.
oh, and I miss the beach, too! (but not the jellyfish)
February 20, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Jolyn
Oh, Ilsa! Are you going to write for us more often? And post more of your beautiful drawings? Maybe you should start your own blog! That way you can keep up with some friends in Mauritania — and in Oregon when it’s time to move on from there! (And you could dish out secrets on your mom — like, is she the reason you miss your “nice” teacher from last year? hee-hee)
February 21, 2008 at 6:02 am
Stephanie
Ilsa, you did a wonderful job blogging today. You’re a terrific writer and artist. I have twins that are 10 years and 6 months, both boys. Maybe your mom will let you vist my blog so that you can see one fo them play Star Wars on the piano.
I agree, I like air conditioning, too!
February 21, 2008 at 9:19 am
meredith
Hi Ilsa, I liked your post. My girls have been known to throw dead jelly fish at each other and they don’t like skin in their hot chocolate, either. We will be visiting the USA this summer and eating lots of American candy is on our program of good things to do 🙂
February 21, 2008 at 10:39 am
Debbie
I have just one word for you: impressive!:)
February 21, 2008 at 11:51 am
Pieces
Ilsa, great blog post. I love the list of things that you like about Mauritania and about here. And I love your still life. Very impressive!
February 26, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Cheryl
Gack, gack, and double gack…I was just playing a geography trivia game and realized that I have been (FOREVER) mixing up Mauritius with Mauritania. Thanks for not sending me a scathing email making fun of my ignorance!