Listening to the Rain

"What a thing it is
to sit absolutely alone,
in the forest at night,
cherished by this wonderful,
unintelligible,
perfectly innocent speech,
the most comforting speech in the world,
the talk that the rain makes by itself all over the ridges,
and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows!

Nobody started it,
nobody is going to stop it.
It will talk as long as it wants, this rain.
As long as it talks
I am going to listen."

(By Thomas Merton, quoted in Lost in Wonder, p. 54)

Last Storm of the Season?!

Spring has been a long time coming - but finally it's here... or so we thought! This is what our front yard looked like on Thursday. Most of the snow had melted and I even raked the front flower bed.

Yesterday (Friday): More snow!














But I guess it could always be worse: We could, for example, have a black bear roaming around our neighborhood. One was spotted - and photographed - in a neighborhood a few kilometers or miles away!

Scrap Quilting

I've been working on my first scrap quilt project from the book Sunday Morning Quilts.



















 It resembles a traditional log cabin - but with a colorful scrappy twist!














I read somewhere that scraps cost just as much per yard (or meter) as other fabric!















But they weren't factoring in time! If time is money, a scrap quilt costs a lot more!

When I began to put the quilt together, I wasn't sure I'd like it... it seemed so... wild!

But I am enjoying the sense of accomplishment... using up scraps... And the surprise I get each time I finish a square. I never know how it will look!

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Sorting through my bins of quilting fabric scraps, I often come across pieces from projects begun - and then abandoned!

Like these blocks I cut out years ago for a "Garden Brick Wall" quilt. I'm not sure why I quit. Maybe my inspiration simply dried up - or I ran out of time. But now I'm trying to salvage what I have by using it in some new project, inspired by my new scrap quilting book!

Similarly in painting, things don't always go as planned. A few days ago, trying to create a botanical drawing of these dying roses, I quickly discovered I was in over my head! Intricate, delicate, velvety rose petals are very difficult to paint. The whole thing looked awful! (And I realized how much I have to learn!) But rather than abandon my attempt completely, feeling terribly inadequate, I decided to try a different approach - and a style more natural to me.



















It's not what I started out to paint, but I hope it conveys some of the sadness I feel when flowers I love inevitably turn brown and die.

The Ducks Are Back

Melting snow is creating ponds in our neighborhood...

 And this attracts ducks!














This pair were enjoying their own private pool when another male arrived.














A relative? we wondered...














Apparently not! The male of the pair quickly eyed him... then took off after him, chasing him away!

(You never know what drama you'll encounter walking down the street!)

"Silver Tea"

I remember rolling my eyes when my mother told me she sometimes drank "silver tea" - hot water with nothing in it!

But one cold morning recently when I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything (besides water) before heading to the lab for a routine blood test, a cup of "silver tea" did warm me up a bit. (I'm not ready yet to make it a regular habit!)

Painting... a Rotting Onion?!

I'm a person who has a hard time getting rid of things. I thought I was improving - but my problem may be getting worse, according to this recent domestic scenario:

I'm going to toss out this onion. Terry informs me. It's getting soft and sprouting.

Wait! I reply... It's beautiful! Wait until I paint it!...














(And eventually I do - three days later!)



















This is how Billy Showell's book, Watercolour Fruit & Vegetable Portraits, has affected the way I view vegetables, even rotting onions. (And it's given me yet another reason to put off getting rid of things!)