Great Start to the Day

I go out to open the dryer vent and take photos. Odd tracks on the deck caught my attention earlier and I want a closer look. Some looked four-toed and others five. In the melting snow, the tracks are a bit muddled. I can’t see tell-tale hind foot tracks. When I let Leo out earlier, he stopped just outside the slider and sniffed at the tracks for a long time before venturing down the deck. I can’t see tell-tale hind foot tracks. A fat gray squirrel down by the brook watches me hang a couple of feeders on the deck hooks. The tracks on the deck are too big to be from her.

At 36 degrees, it feels warm after the days of bone-chilling cold. Instead of hurrying back inside, I stand at the railing letting my senses take in the beauty around me. A couple of tiny ice crystals land on the rail. I breathe deeply the fresh air. The morning is so peaceful! No human neighborhood noises. The only sounds are the whispers in the trees. The scene looking from the back deck is beautiful. I drink it all in. (And take lots of photos.)

Bright snow clings to bare limbs, angled tree trunks, and hemlock boughs. The brook is totally snowed in but for one or two places. The white puffs piled high on top of the layers of an ice-covered rock look to be 18-24 inches deep (as does the snow on my roof). Tracks through the snow leading to the bottoms of trees and circling around old vegetation sticking out of the snow mingle with other depressions in the snow created from clumps dropping from the trees.

A pale sun pushes white through the overcast as the sky begins to clear. Chickadees call, “Phoeeeebeee” in the trees. This is how I want life. Peaceful, with nature, and all the beauty Mother Nature has to offer.

Oh, if every morning could start this way … but there’s laundry to do, writing to get done, and a painting to finish. Oh, and the kitties want play time.  However, I am going to do my best to make each day be as glorious as this morning!

My intent was to get in the studio and finish today, but I also knew that was wishful thinking. I spent about 45 minutes picking at it. I’m close. I almost signed it. There are still things to tweak, though. I’ll have to look at it for a couple days more.

I touched up almost everything and practiced adding raindrops. Not sure how to do those and I just made notes for touch ups the next time I’m in the studio after looking at this progress photo.

What it would look like cropped.

Now I’m also debating whether to leave it this size or crop it. I like the leaves on the left, but is it too much background? And, the thing is, here I’m looking at it close-up, but standing five or more feet away, it looks pretty darn good.