Saying yes...

I forgot... it's still February in Chicago...

Summer Blogging in One Post!

Garden. Garden. Flower. Butterfly. Fucking rain! Dog. Dog. Dog. Lake. Grizzled. Garden. Lamblet. Lamblet. Lamblet. Driver's Ed. AHHHHHHH! Lamblet. Hot! Too chilly! Wet! Where's the rain?!?! FUN!!! Woo-HOO!! Grrrr! WTF?? Still can't access any of ZRM's many blogs... 3B's! What contest?! Garden. Garden. Painting. Painting. Grrrr. Life is good. WTF??? Dick joke. Dick joke. Thought-provoking post. Dick joke. Garden. Animules. Painting! Grrrr... painting!!@!1 FRUSTRATION! In the zone. Fireflies!! Ah, summer smell. Butterflies! Orbs!!! Orbflies!! Thundra. Von. LOL! Garden. Dogs. Frustration. Satisfaction. Good. Bad. Love everyone. Hate everyone. Weeds. WEEDS! BG!! Lake. Reading. Thinking. Anniversary. Snag. Birthday. Cicadas. School? Already?

Snow Orbs w/ Thunder for Thundra

This was looking out the front door in the wee hours, thundra... lots and lots and lots of orbs. One of them appears to be saying, "STOP!", but they didn't... they kept on coming... covering vehicles... 2 of them.

We had lots of thunder and lightning last night as well. I think it was announcing the arrival of the orbs... 20+ inches of orbs...

FYI Thundra...

Just in case you don't know how cold it really is...

Who knew the dog in "dog days of summer" was a Husky...

It is 63 and raining again... and it’s July 8th. WTF??

While not a fan or the scorching heat and oppressive humidity that often accompanies a Midwestern summer... this eternal Meh is bizarre. My heat-loving annuals are losing the battle to the cold and moisture-loving weeds.

Non-Post #3 or #4... Or Something...

It's June 10th and there's a windchill... it's 59 out, but feels like 53. Did I mention it's June 10th? I thought the weather in zone 5 was not allowed a windchill after the full moon in May. It's June 10th. No more windchill, ok??

Speaking of June 10th, it's insanely bright in the wee hours during this time of year which is nice since I'm usually awake in the wee hours. It might as well be light out. Tomorrow is the youngest lamblet's b-day (It's also aif's b-day. Happy early B-day, aif!!!) and since today is the last full day of school, she took her b-day treat with her today. She decided that she needed Dunkin Donut Munchkins which was fine with me. Our school still allows homemade treats so I was actually happy I didn't have to crank out 24 monkey cupcakes ala last year. Munchkins it would be, but I knew I had to get them first thing... I wanted them to be fresh and wanted to get them before the run on donuts began. Since Grizzled and I were wide awake by 5... did I mention it's insanely light in the morning during this time of year... we ventured off to the DD to make sure we scored enough Munchkins. I expected a line, I forget that not everyone is wide awake at 5:30. I was kind of worried ALL MUNCHKINS WOULD BE GONE!!! I forgot we had an advantage by being early risers. There were only 2 other cars in the parking lot, one of which was a police car... there oughta be a law...

But enough about Munchkins... I'm currently working on some sketches for some paintings. The ideas for these paintings came about during a side conversation and actually have nothing to do with the final subject matter. Anyone looking at the final work will have no idea what the initial seed looked like or what the initial conversation was about. The final paintings will be images of a metaphor, but no one will know but me (well, and a couple of other people). It had me wondering though if as science, etc, advances, if there might be a way for us to find out. Could you grind up the painting, put it into a solution and then break down the componentswhich would also ultimately reveal the original inspiration?? Wouldn't that be interesting? Pretty soon museums and galleries, etc, could show not only the original work, but the original idea that led to the final piece. Who knows what you'd see! And I wonder how many of the original seeds would have absolutely anything to do with the final piece? I'm guessing very few.  And of course, ultimately the original idea means nothing to the viewer because the viewer is the final "decider". The viewer is the one who decides what it means to them. The rest may be interesting, but doesn't really matter.

Still... I can't help, but wonder if the original idea that led to these paintings will affect how I go about them. Will they look different than had I approached them with a different thought in mind? Will that original thought be perceptible on some level that we aren't aware of?? Will there be some cell, somewhere in the viewer's body that can pick up on the subtle path from start to finish? Or does it just matter that they are finished and connect with something in the viewers mind...

I'm finished. End of non-post. I need to find a sweater.

When life gives you snow in April...

...make snow bunnies.

Okay, I've had a little chat with the snow and we have mended our rift. It's overstayed its welcome, but I still love it and it has promised (again) that it won't stay for long.

I snarled at it, I rolled my eyes, but eventually, it had me outside frolicking in it. It's excellent packing snow after all. Who could resist.

... and I'm not certain, but I believe I heard the crazy strains of Lou Reed come wafting through the air.

Gack...

Updated below:

This is what I woke up to this morning. It shows no signs of slowing down at least for today. I had taken out a restraining order on snow. It was not supposed to come within 3 states of me until November. Apparently snow answers to no one.

April showers bring May flowers... I'm not sure what April snows bring... maybe woes or mental lows...

We have confirmation of April snows bringing woes. I dropped Grizzled off at the train station at 7:10 this morning. 1 hour and 50 minutes later he is on a train that is moving and all live power lines that were previously on the track have been removed.

Everyone talks about the weather, but...

... no one does anything about it or so they say. I was just discussing the weather with various people. One reason is we're having weather that is a little more intense than usual, another reason is, we all have weather in common and sometimes you just don't feel like digging for interesting tidbits of conversation.

So... on with the weather! It's still cold, but we, unlike many other areas, did not luck out on a second day of no school. The call came in dark and early that school would be in session and that only people who don't know how to dress were calling it off. We know how to dress. We may not like all of winter wear, but we've learned. My kids are still learning. I had to mention hats a few times this morning... I gave the old, "You lose the most heat out of your head!" talk. My kids have lots of hair and weren't buying it. I got them with the story about my grandfather and his black, molting earlobes. Hats were put on, gloves were put on, a long list of "most likely to be frostbitten" body parts was given. Maybe next time I won't need to use gore to convince them to dress appropriately.

Today, we also have snow... lots and lots of snow. It is coming down at a rapid pace which amazes me since it's about 3 outside. I seem to recall the old notion that really cold air does not contain a lot of moisture and therefore if you get really cold weather, it won't snow, or won't snow a lot. It's snowing A LOT and the snow is plenty wet and slippery. It's gorgeous though. It's covering up a multitude of my dog's frozen sins that he (okay, I) left out front. It's hard to keep up after a dog when it's that cold. Things freeze, things stick... fast...

Well, I seem to be segueing out of the weather category into just plain gory. I think I'll stop here.

If you're in a cold area, stay warm. If you're in a warm area, stay cool. It is what it is.