What) Born in Victoria, B.C., Cynthia Nelson is one of six sisters and an elder brother. She was raised in Trail, B.C. and, after attending the University of British Columbia, completed her degree as an R.N. at the Vancouver General Hospital. Nelson has travelled widely, and lived in Montreal, Boston and Oakville, Ontario. Nelson has attended art studies at the University of Toronto and Harvard University in Boston. She has painted individually with many fine artists and instructors in the Toronto area. Nelson is a member of the Studio Artists of Thornhill and has exhibited in Toronto, Huntsville and Grenada.

    Painting with water colours is Cynthia's great interest. In a difficult medium, her use of colour and natural beauty bring much pleasure to the viewer, particularly her interpretation of fresh flowers and trees and landscapes of Muskoka and the Caribbean. She has developed her skill into an art concept which she has expressed in a yet unpublished book entitled Magical Ratios. Nelson and her husband Perry, an accomplished stone carver, reside in Thornhill, ON. They have three daughters, six grandsons and one great granddaughter. They enjoy the company of family and friends, time at their Muskoka cottage and winter weeks in the Caribbean. (1)

    Where) The cabin is somewhere on the shore of nearby Mary Lake

    Why) On May 30th and 31st, Pam (one of the sisters mentioned above) and I were guests at Cynthia's Muskoka cottage.  When I went there, I did not know that I would end up liking Cynthia's latest watercolours as much as I did.  I was really there to settle a longstanding bet I had with Pam.  Over the past 5 years, I had met all of her siblings except Cynthia and about 2 years ago Pam told me that there was no way I could have bumped into Cynthia by chance in my previous 34 years of existence.  I thought it unlikely but not impossible so we decided to make a $1 wager at 1000:1 odds.  Between then and now, I have had fun “scaring” Pam with various fictional meetings between Cynthia and myself.  Today is the day when I find out if any of my stories had a basis in truth.

We found the cabin without much trouble but after Cynthia greeted us I had to pay Pam a dollar.

Cynthia had a number of her paintings hanging from the walls of the cabin and I found myself admiring three of them.

This one is my favourite but Pam preferred ...

... these flowers even though she would prefer seeing that confluence in real life. 

In addition to the paintings, I also found that I liked the cover art on this Picasso biography as well as ...

... this carving that was on the staircase landing.