We've got Sunshine on a Cloudy Day!

It is cold and overcast and not very spring like today, but we still have sunshine yellow! The Finches have made their transition from drab winter neutrals to the brightest yellow and the daffodils are bobbing in the chilly breeze!

Actually this remind me of a yellow and gray sweater that two customers where "fighting" over at the Sugarloaf Craft Fair in Gaithersburg last week!

But, never fear, I picked up some more yellow fabrics yesterday, so there will be more yellow coming from the studio too!

Home to the Pasque flowers!

For me, the first sure sign of spring is the appearance of the Pasque flowers. They come sometime between the big melt and tax day every year - seemingly out of nowhere. One day the blooms just cover the hillside near our house, and are followed later by the leaves. I was sure that I would miss them this year because of my two weeks out east, but here they are waiting for me to get home!

After almost two weeks of city and highway life, it was glorious to be back in our rural home. While I really love visiting urban life, I did miss my birds and earth!

Once a year Mother nature allows us into the woods behind our house. The rest of the year it is too full of brambles and other ankle eaters and pant rippers, that we let her have her privacy. So today I went to check out this year's changes and occupants.

We see many birds at our feeders, but it is also fun to see where they spend the rest of their time. The woods and surrounding territory is governed by our resident red tail hawk. This is the only time of year the nest is visible in the tops of the trees. The feather in the second picture is probably a leftover from a recent dinner at the hawk home. The right photo is the condominium project in the woods. I can't even imagine how many woodpeckers are living in this one tree!

Along with the Pasque flowers, I found these little blue beauties (sorry I have no idea the real name of them) They are so tiny that from a distance they are just a blue blur amongst the neutral dry leaves and underbrush. They are beautiful, and I don't remember them here last year.

Then there is the evidence of those who didn't make it through the winter. We have many deer around us here, but it looks like one of last year's fawns didn't make it, and some little bunny lost some fur, if not his life, recently.

Children at the National Gallery

I went to the National Gallery with my 23 month old grand son the other day. I love having a theme to guide my looking when I go to museums; sometimes painting technique, sometimes composition, sometimes faces, etc. If you have been following this blog, you have heard this before. So, seeing as I had a child with me, we decided to look at children. Here are some of the conclusions we drew:

Siblings. I sincerely hope the group on the left was a retrospect, painted after all of the children were already adults!  I decided that the group on the right were their generations version of the Kardashian sisters.

Family Portraits. Obviously these painters had experience with kids, and how tough it is to get them to sit still for the family portrait! (except of course for the obedient oldest who is holding the pose while her siblings keep mom and dad busy)

Madonna and Child. No discussion of kids in art would be complete without a look at the most famous mother and child in history. On the left we see an infant who obviously had a Nautilus available in the womb. However the sculpture on the right was done by someone who knows about wonderful baby bellies!

Home Life. If I had to choose to have the childhood of the Dutch peasant on the left or the English future king on the right, the choice would be easy... I would go for the windblown hair, big smile and rosy cheeks. 

Me and My Grandkids. Finally, we found one we could relate to. Here is a painting of me working on a painting of my two grandsons.
It was a fun day. Thanks for the tour, Liam.

and now.... food for the heart.

grandma pile!

Yesterday I updated you on the feeding of my soul and tummy. Today I ask your indulgence as I relate the food for my heart... grand kids! One's own children are wonderful, and raising them is a constant awe-some experience, but then (if you are lucky) comes grand parenting. It is a whole different realm of wonderfulness. My grand guys are Finn and Liam, sons of my son. And at times, when I am with them, I am transported back to when their father was their age.

corn at the fish market

But, they are not their father, and their world is so different than his was at the ages of 2 and 4. They are comfortable with  computers, when Pong was just emerging for their father. I talk with them over Skype with the video feed, Brian's Grandma wrote letters. They eat foods that I didn't even know existed until I was an adult, and so on and so forth. But the basics never change.

"Pay hockey, peeeese?"

The pure and instant laughter that rolls from their bellies is the same. The courage they get when one parental (or grand parental) finger is gripped in their tiny hand as we walk down the street is still welcome. The wonder in their eyes when the merry-go-round horse takes its first lurch forward sparkles again. And the sweet aroma of youth and sweetness is something shampoo will never replace. Blankies are still loved, stories still need to be read, and spaghetti still paints faces.

However, now it is my son and his wife's turn to get up during the night, find the band-aids, teach "please" and "thank you" and make sure veggies come before dessert.  It is my turn to "spoil" now and then. I have license  to flit in and out of these young lives leaving a trail of hugs and kisses, pennies for the piggy bank, and indulgent gifts and treats. Such is the wonderfulness of grand-motherhood.

Food for body and soul!

blossoms at the Smithsonian castle

Today I spent the majority of the day amongst the cherry blossoms, magnolia blooms and tourists in downtown Washington DC. For lunch, we visited the Fish market on the Potomac.

such a pretty pattern!

I must give a disclaimer at this point. I love fish. I love to watch them. I love to swim with them. And, while it may seem ironic or hypocritical, I love to eat them. So I found myself straddling two ideas of heaven today; One resplendent in the smell of hyacinths and the beauty of the aforementioned cherry and magnolia flowers, and the other, an abundance of sea life not normally available to one who is far more accustomed to cows and other terrestrial food surrounding them.

the deadliest catch - east coast style

While one seems to be food for the soul and one food for the body, they both nourished me with beauty. The colors of one soft and creamy and pastel, and the other patterned and striped and far more varied.

no mistaking where I am!

It was a lovely day.