Creative Every Day’s theme for February is Home. Today I took a few minutes to look over one of my homes. We all have so many: the walls that surround and contain our house is what we most often view as home. Yet our homes go deeper as well as wider. We can be at home in our bodies, spiritually home in our souls, comfortable in our own skin – but we can also be at home in our neighborhood, our city, our state, and so on up the continuum. Today I took a little tour around the neighborhood I call home, and it was indeed a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
We have rural areas about a mile from our house. The almond trees are in full bloom – so beautiful! Obviously, Saturday morning traffic was light.
The blossoms are so delicate and lovely, and the fallen petals look like snow. If you check out this link, you can see last year’s orchards, which I used in a collage, Burro Love. You’ll have to forward through to picture 32. And if you stop at picture 24, Grounded, you’ll see the background is just almond petals. I used that as the background for the lotus flowers and the Buddha, photos I took in China. The background is enigmatic: no one was able to recognize just what it is – almond petals.
The almond trees whisper to us that Spring will once again visit this corner of the earth. It won’t be here long – in Bakersfield Spring quickly turns to Summer – temperatures in the hundreds, dirty air – but for now, Spring is so hopeful that it doesn’t seem to matter.
The grapevines, however, remind us that we do have a ways to go yet.
We have this to look forward to – leaves of the newest green, deepening as the grapes grow, and finally ending with blazing fall colors, only to go dormant again.
So it was a beautiful day in my neighborhood, a place I call home.
New find for the studio
I became aware of these dish drying mats at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I’ve been using them in the studio to wipe paint brushes on, etc. and I just pop them in the washer from time to time.
They’re about $10 each – but they sure save on paper towels. I use them for the dishes, too.
