08/15/2026
Yesterday, the ever lovely Onna Moniz-John called me with a spur-of-the-moment question: would I be willing to come down to the park today and paint a rock for the 35th Annual East Providence Neighborhood Day?
When a woman who has spent decades giving so much to so many people asks you for something - and so rarely asks for anything herself - you show up if you can. ❤️ HeARTspot is in break mode and I happened to be free. 😉
We really didn’t have a plan. Maybe I’d paint something myself, maybe we’d make it a project with the kids…we’d figure it out when I got there. Then I spotted the big 35 Mylar balloons decorating the event and thought, THAT’S IT. 🎈All Onna knew is she wanted the words “PARK ROCK” on the stone.
Three very hot hours later, it was DONE. 😂 I painted the lettering to look like shiny Mylar balloons, leaving plenty of room on the other side of the rock for kids to add their own handprints, which is where we left it. I’m just hoping that if the kids do it today, they don’t place their palm right over a letter. 😂😂😂
At any rate - It turned into an unexpectedly great afternoon painting something completely different from my usual canvas, running into old friends, meeting new people, and enjoying the genuinely wonderful vibe of a community coming together. It was wonderful.
And getting to do it in a park named for Onna, on the 35th anniversary of an event she has poured so much of herself into over the years, made it that much sweeter. 🥹💗
Sometimes the best projects you do? They’re the ones you had absolutely no idea you were going to make 24 hours earlier. ❤️🎨🎈😂

