During most of my sketching life, whenever I leave my house I carry this bag with me.  Well, not exactly.  This photo was taken seven years ago, when it was pretty new.  These days it’s grimy and fraying at the edges.  But it’s the heartbeat of my location sketching.  There are always a couple sketchbooks, a watercolor kit and a bunch of pens in it.

But for the last couple years I’ve lost the habit of putting it on simply because I wasn’t going anywhere and dealing with problems that wouldn’t let me sketch much.  But I’m now back to hauling it around with me… almost.

I met with a friend I don’t see very often at a coffee shop and we spent half a day solving the world’s problems and drinking coffee.  We sat outside where the shop has a bunch of tables.  We said our goodbyes about 4PM and I headed home.

That evening, around 10:30PM, I wanted to swap watercolor kits and  I couldn’t find my bag.  Where could it be?  Then panic struck as I realized that I must have left it at the coffee shop, a shop that was now closed for the night.

To quote Chantal, “It’s gone” as we both realized the probability of ever seeing that bag again was about zero.  The bag itself was very important to me as I’ve never been able to find one like it and it’s perfect for what I do.  Pens and such I carry are worth at least $200.  But most important were the two sketchbooks that were irreplaceable.  It’s funny how my sketches, though not worth much, are precious to me.  Anyways, I had a pretty sleepless night.

I went to the coffee shop at 6:30AM when they opened and asked, without much hope, if they had my bag.  And SHAZAMM…someone had picked up the bag and turned it into the barista.  There was a lot of thanking that followed and I even hugged the bag a couple times.  I’ve got to get my oldsheimers under control.