“When you reach your edge, soften. Soften until you slip through the constraints and can create a new rhythm, a new route, a new release. Water is soft yet powerful. Reach your edge, and soften.” ~ Victoria Erickson
With the weather of late, it was hard to soften that edge that I definitely reached over the weekend. Days of clouds and ice and snow with no change, no relief. No walking out at all for 2 days. Cooped up, climbing the walls. But I did get out for a brief time when the ice and snow was cleared a bit. It felt so good to breathe the cold, snowy air. To walk and enjoy the splendor of nature before the next round of the storm hit.
I am not one to brave walking on ice at my age. I have trouble staying upright sometimes when the ground is flat and dry. But nature did put on a beautiful show coating everything with about a 1/4 inch of ice and then a foot of snow. The poor birds had trouble staying upright on branches because of the ice. And the frigid temps did not help them either.
Speaking of birds we had a few surprises last weekend during The Great Backyard Bird Count. For some reason every year, the birds seem to know we are counting them, and all but a few residents disappear (like this Northern Cardinal). My husband and I joke about it, but it really is astonishing. And we had decent weather last weekend to help coax them out, we thought.
But we did see over a dozen American Robins (pictured at top of the post) visit the native sumac trees to partake of the ripened fruit that has frozen and thawed many times now making it sweeter. These robins were moving north. The robins who spend spring through fall here, as they bear and raise their young, have not arrived yet. But I think they are not far behind their cousins. Choosing to remain south of us in warmer climes until the winter weather breaks again. Hopefully soon.
And the geese were all over moving in all directions and settling in the big pond in pairs. I will believe spring is finally here when I see large groups in the thousands heading north again.
I think the birds are as confused as I am with the weather. So much more ice and rain than snow again this year. And warm spring temps mixed continuously with frigid polar dips. But as long as I can get out to walk most days, I am happy.
The 100 Day Project has opened smoothly with coloring taking place daily for longer intervals than I had anticipated. I have to check myself as I do this project, and make sure I am not headed into the land of perfection which then brings up too much anxiety. It’s best for me to just intuitively choose a color and an area on the page, and then get to it, enjoying the experience without too much time posting on social media. Comparing my artist self to others, and showing my flaws is hard to overcome at my age after having so much practice with these aspects of myself. But I think I am getting there.
Indoors the last of my Hippeastrum bulbs are blooming. This one is ‘Red Pearl’.
My husband bought me red roses for Valentine’s Day. They were stunning and lasted a long time in the vase. I just adored the deep, deep red color of them.
With this lovely vase, I am linking in to the wonderful meme, In A Vase On Monday, at Rambling in the Garden.
All the pictures shared in this post were taken with my Nikon Coolpix or iPhone camera, and manipulated on my iPhone using the apps, Pixlr and Prisma. You can follow my progress with #the100dayproject in my Instagram and Facebook feed.
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