The year ended and the new year began and I had not heard back from Margaret which I hadn’t given much thought being busy with the end of year holidays and all, but the thought was there lurking in the back of my mind, I would really like one of her paintings. So at the end of February, I sent her a message saying that I was still interested in one of her paintings if she had one available. She was very polite and apologized for not getting back to me before and sent me some photos of prints of her paintings that I might like

She then suggested she call me to discuss more about what I was looking for and a couple of days later we talked. On the call I explained I was looking for something about 4 by 4 feet in size for my living room wall. She told me more about limited edition prints of her paintings, some were about the size I was interested in and they were quite nice, but I said what I really wanted was an original painting, not a print. I had done some research on her paintings and knew they were quite pricy, particularly the larger ones, so when she asked what my budget was, I gave her a number and she said she might have something and would get back to me.

The next day she replied that she had a couple of paintings at the “top end” of my budget if I was interested and she sent me a message with photos of some of them, and then she suggested I come to her home and look at the paintings, so we arranged a time a couple of days later.  I was quite excited; might I actually get an original Margaret Ross Tolbert painting.

On the day of our meeting and I drove over to her house which is in the old Golfview neighborhood. Golfview was built in the 1950’s alongside a golf course that is now owned by the University of Florida.  I was familiar with Golfview, or at least where it was. Growing up we lived a half mile west in Golf Club Manor, another neighborhood built about the same time. As it turned out while Margaret was living in Golfview, my brother and I lived half a mile down the road in Golf Club Manor. The only time I had actually been in the neighborhood was in 1972 when I went to a party at a girl’s house who lived there. It was one of those parties like in a movie, her parents weren’t home, beer keg, swimming pool, we were all “of age” for the drinking age was 18 at the time. Her backyard opened onto the golf course and under the full moon we all went out onto the golf course and laid on the grass looking up at the moon after which we returned to her house and went skinny dipping in her pool.

I drove through the stone arches at the entrance into Golfview, winding my way through the neighborhood, found Margaret’s house, parked on the street then went to the door and rang the doorbell.  Margaret opened the door and warmly welcomed me in. What a sight, the house from the entry way, living room, and even the kitchen was filled with her artwork, paintings, mixed media and more. Everywhere I looked there were paintings, smaller ones hanging on the walls, six-foot high paintings leaning against the walls and dozens of sketch books piled everywhere. She asked if I would like a cup of tea, saying yes, we went into the kitchen, also with paintings everywhere, she made tea. Returning to the living room we sat on the couch and had a most interesting conversation about springs, art, and her work in Turkey and I told her about my trip to Turkey. I mentioned that my brother said she painted outside and she said she did because the light was better and we stepped out into her backyard where she showed me a large painting she was working on.

Returning to the house she showed me the paintings she had told me about. They were all beautiful, but I pretty much had decided on the one I liked the best and told her it was the one and she graciously agreed to sell it to me. The price for the painting was more than the range I had told her, but I was prepared for that, and when would I have such an opportunity again. We returned to the couch so I could write a check, and I asked for a receipt which she said, “of course” and she picked up one of her sketch books from a stack of a dozen on the coffee table, looked through it, and then ripped out a page upon which she wrote the receipt.  I thought it was the nicest receipt I had ever received, it was a piece of art itself.

 

The reverse side of the receipt also had a sketch on it with something scribbled underneath which I couldn’t make out. I puzzled about it for several days when a thought occurred to me. I held the page up to a mirror and read “Striped Bass at Silver Glen." I remembered that Margaret was left handed, she had written in mirror image, something that Leonardo Da Vinci also did.

 
Mirror image of writting below

I thought that was the nicest receipt I had ever received, it was a piece of art itself. She helped me carry the painting out and load it into my car. I thanked her and hugged her goodbye.  I couldn’t wait to get home and see it hanging on my living room wall.

Updated: 01-10-2026

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