SNOWY NIGHT / SUNNY MORNING

4 a.m.:






















7:30 a.m.:

















8:30 a.m.:

Work Table February 2009 / Memory

February 18, 1970 -- from R in Vietnam:

















Thanks to Solitary Walker for the link to Loreena McKennitt singing "Dark Night of the Soul."

Do-Wop / Talkin' Fish Blues

and:



Thanks to Mouse Medicine for the inspiration!

Talkin' Fish Blues reminds me of Richard Brautigan and TROUT FISHING AMERICA. Reminds me of R, too. He could make me laugh like no one else.

Today is one of those rainy late winter mornings that looks better in black and white. Can you hear all the birds singing anyway?

CONVERSATION

For the last three days, I've been able to sit down at my painting table for short periods of time late in the day to do more work on a small watercolor block painting I started in May of 2007 but didn't finish. The last painting in that series I started in early March of 2007 is here.

Although I did a series of "trackpad drawings" in December 2007 and January 2008, this is the first time I have used my gouache and watercolor paints since May of 2007. Above is a detail of the still-unfinished painting tentatively titled "Conversation Between a Blue and Green Place and the Sunrise." It didn't have a working title until yesterday. Holding a brush in my hand and mixing paint with water and applying the paint to the paper on a watercolor block feels good.























My sister who lives on the Gulf Coast in Mississippi asked me if I could identify this large bird. I can't.

On Wednesday, after talking with my next-door neighbor who had also seen hummingbirds on her porch, I put my hummingbird feeder up. Yesterday I saw a single hummingbird on two occasions. This morning the surface of the pond is frozen again. but the bulbs on my porch are a little more above ground each day.

CROW AGAIN

Thanks to all who've left comments or emailed me recently. I'm well but am entering the last few months before it will be a year since R died. Haven't had my usual energy.

Although I've heard the story about this crow in Japan before, I was reminded of it again today. Even if the story isn't true, it rings true to me and makes my heart feel light and find hope. I love to see crows skip along.

A daily practice of three questions to ask at bedtime and record in a journal:

What surprised me today?
What touched me or moved me today?
What inspired me today?

These questions are from The Will To Live and Other Mysteries, an audio book by Rachel Naomi Remen. I bought that audio book in October of 2001 after visiting with R, who had been given a terminal cancer diagnosis. He lived until April 20, 2008.

The sunrise and clouds to the east are spectacular this morning. I'm going to get some breakfast and then head for my painting table, promising myself a walk this afternoon.