When...

Autumn Bur Oaks

I don't believe I would ever make it in the Pacific Northwest. I do think it'd be a cool region to visit - don't misunderstand me! But I need the sun to touch my face most every day. I also need that cerulean blue of the Earth's sky to overtake the clouds and create a wonderful back drop...a relief for the eyes and spirit.

The past week has been miserable! Overcast each day, cold drizzle each day; the coldest October on record so far for our region. Still no Indian Summer.

Our raspberry crop stopped producing over a week ago; a hard freeze put an end to it. But that's OK, just ask Georgie. She picked (with a "teenie" bit of help from me) a pint for every day of the year this past season. Ya, 365 pints! Whoa! We finally broke down and bought a small freezer - it's impossible to eat a pint every day of the year! Even though I love raspberries!

Usually when the raspberries stop here, we get Indian Summer. We're still waiting...it may happen yet this week but it's usually here by now. That's my favorite part of autumn; when the air is crisp and delicious, as are the colors around us...nothing quite like the flaming yellow of cottonwood with the clear blue sky as a supporting back drop. Or the Bur Oaks when they turn that subtle burgundy. That hasn't happened this fall here...most everything has just turned brown and withered. The exception has been the prairie remnant here and in the area; I mentioned that in my October 9th Prairie Autumn blog; the
prairie never lets us down!

Yesterday afternoon was our first sunlight for many days so Georgie and I took off down the road to work on the Watchable Wildlife website project. We are getting closer to finishing the first leg of the 70 new location agenda...once we have footage and photographs of these 70 sites, I'll be adding them to the website this winter. It's been fun this summer; nice to get some new material for future paintings too!

This was the first real work I've accomplished since the Artisans Road Trip weekend. I'd be the first to admit I have stretches with a lack of direction or attention. It's hard for me to describe, but any artist, writer, or song writer knows what I'm getting at. Keeping the creative self moving uninhibited is hard and I personally have never been as good at it as I care to admit. I find myself just poking through things as if I've lost something...I'll go through books, old magazines, drawers, etc. The other night I rediscovered my "Black and Yellow" boxes. These are my Kodak boxes of old cameras and photography memorabilia. I know this is a distraction but it takes my mind off having an empty one (mind!) at the moment! There is a kind of melancholia I experience when handling old cameras...thinking back on those days when things were made of bakelite instead of plastic and were so much less complicated I guess?

Last night Georgie and I were listening to a neighborhood Great Horned Owl hooting from the north grove. It was still daylight and we walked out into the back yard when Georgie spotted it. We watched it watching us for a few minutes then went back inside. Later, before turning in, we walked out and sat on the studio deck and stared mouths agape at the Milky Way and a quick obliging meteorite. What an amazing sky when the moon is absent!

I tried starting a new painting last week...ended up tearing up the canvas. This too shall pass. When? When it does...it's as simple as that. But for now, I'm so happy to see the sun and my favorite color of blue...