Plein Aire painting in Portugal

I live most of the year in Seville, Spain, in an apartment overlooking a crumbling 18th century church. In recent travels, I’ve painted in Corsica, Portugal, Spain and my native California. My husband and I spend several months a year in San Anselmo, a small town just north of San Francisco.

Rich and I love California and Seville for their zany mix of upscale, downscale and outright loony. In our part of Marin County, there’s a flock of wild peacocks living at the local dump. Our neighbors range from George Lucas to the elderly woman who shows up at the coffee house with a chenille bedspread tied around her head like a burnoose. It’s comforting to know that when I am an eccentric old lady wandering the streets in my bathrobe, no one will mind. When I mentioned this to a neighbor my age, she said, “But Karen, I do that now!” Good point. Why wait?

It’s all about the simple pleasures. The other day Rich and I were sitting in a sidewalk café in Seville when we heard shouts of laughter and looked up to see a bachelor party coming our way. The groom was standing up on the back of a friend’s motor scooter, dressed as a bullfighter, waving his hat to the crowd. As he swept past us, we realized his costume was nothing but an apron, and he was buck naked from behind. The crowd roared its approval. I told Rich this was good news for him, because when he becomes an eccentric old man wandering the streets of Seville without his pants, the locals will take it in stride.

So there is that to look forward to.

I love to travel and often write about my adventures on my blog Enjoy Living Abroad and in my bestselling memoirs.