Is Winter Over Yet?

It’s too cold out to paint the landscape. I’m just not into snow. We have had so much snow in NY so far this winter. It has to stop. Now. Man, it’s cold out.

Painting the landscape has it’s own challenges. Just leave me alone about snow. All that whiteness and sparkle is too distracting. I’m having enough distractions in real life. The weather is forecasting more snow this week. Um, no thank you, I’ll pass.

Cold weather under 32F is too cold for me. I’m the person who needs temperatures in the upper 80’s to be comfortable. And no, I don’t want to move somewhere warm. Those places have other things I like less. Florida has big bugs. California is sliding into the Pacific Ocean with every earthquake. Arizona has coyotes and gangs. I like Las Vegas, Nevada, but I’d probably lose my shirt if I lived there.

I like my New York weather. Soon enough springtime weather will be here and then we’re on our way to heat and humidity! I can’t wait.

Luckily I held on to these vestiges of summer and fall. Shells, beach pebbles, and autumn leaves. The wackiness of life, and people, and junk go to the outer edges of my thoughts when I look at these things. I can forget, for a few moments, and drift away to the last time I sat on the beach to paint the broken shells with my apple.

What’s Left of Fall (c)2011
Okay, so I’m really at the dining room table! For 20 minutes I can make believe I’m walking in the warm sun on a late September day. Twenty minutes of daydreaming can work. Another 20 and maybe I can be done with this. I wish I could be done with winter the same way.

Thankful for a Sunny Day

What a relief the sun came out today!  I was really worried winter was here already.  Thank goodness for autumn, at least it’s a warning that the cold weather will be here so get it together!  If it wasn’t so wet and soggy in the grass I’d go sit out there and paint.

The white Montauk daisies in the front garden are blooming nice and big among the lavender asters and pink Knock-out roses.  I usually don’t cut down the liatris, echinacea or black eyed Susan’s so the birds have seeds to peck at.  The purple chrysanthemums are starting to show off now too.  I’ve noticed that people buy new chrysanthemums every  fall, plant them, only to pull them out of the ground before winter sets in.   Why is that?  I plant these and every year they come up prettier than the year before.   They’re perennials for goodness sakes!

People are weird, and don’t we know it?