Thoughts About Keeping It Simple

I had a thought yesterday about what I was going to post. After deciding on a post title, I search the Internet to make sure the words aren't being used in some way. Nowadays, with so many millions of people online, it is very difficult to find a genuine title you create that isn't in some way of wording, being used already by someone else.

Thus, the title I chose was tossed because it is the name is too close to a television series title, The Edge of Everything (HBO).

Ink drawing 2001

Anyway, the thought is about how being on the edge of an idea or on the verge of something, I feel that we can get lost in adding too much detail. Keeping it simple isn't as simple as it should be. Nobody, methinks, likes forgetting something important. The plan should be thorough, the best it can be.  

Is there a trick to keeping it simple? 

If minimilism is the theme, then simple is easy.

If not, then struggle city we go.

For down sizing aka simplifying life, I decided to only keep the books that fit on my bookshelf, the pans I cook with, the dishes I use, and, the clothes I like that I actually wear. I wish myself a lot of luck getting that done.

For This Week ...

There are no flowers on the table.

Time to buy another bouquet.

Looking in another container, envelope, closet or drawer is reaching its peak with me. Thus, this week I will be doing more things like changing passwords, checking old email addresses, transfering info to a new address book, and, overall, getting outdoors more.

There is only so much sorting a person can do at home before wanting to run away from it all feels like a good idea.

The biggest project this week, however, is to sort old costume jewelry.

Second, is to sew up a few things.

Third, take at least 3 walks outdoors.

In between all that will be art and naps.

Does your week go better when you plan it out?

Art In Autumn Redux

Autumn in Vermont 2019

I was undecided about going on an foliage excursion this year until I took a look at what I have posted in the past. This year's tours will range from walking to going into the mountains.  Weather permitting. 

What do I want from autumn is the theme. An important part of the season is not just the foliage. It is also the many people that gather with the common desire to embrace the beauty of Nature while harvesting the experience that with others, they build the autumnal community of leaf peepers. People smile at each other. License plates from all over. Pumpkins everywhere. Apples galore. And, touching my heart, are some of the best fall jackets in the world. 

Vermont, New England, Upstate New York, the whole Northeast region is pure magic in the fall.

Reposted from September 3, 2020, Art in Autumn (edited)

Notes for Autumn Art Excursions

1.    Write down pictures that I want to take. 
2.    Use a perspective frame to focus on composition. 
3.    Of the same scenes and subjects, draw ink, pencil, watercolor and color pencil sketches.  
4.    Set a schedule for hours of the day and specific locations. 
5.    Seek out the best spider web on the planet, but don't get too close. 

6.    Sketch leaf people scenes and buildings

7.    Splurge on a good coffee to fill the thermos from home

8.    Don't harvest locations like apples. Spend time embracing the atmosphere of one place at a time.

9.    Include early foliage as well as post peak foliage photographs when possible

 Are you planning an autumn excursion? 

Lincoln Road, Bristol Vermont 2020

Thoughts on the End of Summer

Autumn Gold
Lumberville, Pennsylvania
24x24 inch oil

Fern Coppedge, 1883 ~ 1951 

American Impressionist

Yes indeed, those autumn colors aren't far away. Signs of fall are already being seen here and there in Vermont at this lower elevation near Lake Champlain west of the Green Mountains.

Fern Coppedge's winter snow paintings are a favorite. I learned about her in an art magazine I bought at a library sale many years ago. 

The backyard landscape in the photo has a familiar feel because that is similar to where us kids played in the backyard days of stay off the steps and don't climb the trees.

And so goes the longing for a few days of summery weather before the autumnal equinox on 23 September 2023. Time to consider scheduling a flu shot, putting away the sandals, and deciding if there will be a foliage photography tour. After summer's plans were wiped away by rain, I hesitate to put my heart on the future season. An improviso approach feels more comforting and practical.

Lincoln Gap Foliage 2021

Thus, taking in the days as weather and health permit is the pace of fall this year for me. 

Week 15, Day 101 of April 2023

Pals Hanging Out In the Sunshine

Near mid April 2023, the temperature outdoors is on the rise. Planters wait to be filled. Sandals are at the ready. Summer plans are scribbled down via spring's enthusiasm for possibilities.

Are you a planner? Do you make lists, pack up brochures, surf the Internet for information? Plan your wardrobe? 

In my old spiral notebooks, (before removing the wire to add to a lampshade form), I can read a few years worth of summer fun ideas. Revising them is bittersweet because too many plans sadly, didn't happen. The pandemic created too many pauses in my daydreams.

This, I believe, will be the first post pandemic summer starting on 21 June 2023. Masks, hand washing and such will still be part of our lives, but on a less urgent level. Taking precautions is wise living.

Now there are other viruses, bacteria, diseases, bugs and so on to be very cautious about. Oy vey!

Reflection Monday February 2020

 Ambition, goals, objectives

One late January 2020 day, 

I set off to take photographs of the Adirondack Mountains covered in snow. 

There is snow, but in the lower elevations, not as deep as I hoped. 

Not all is lost...good coffee, pleasant people, beautiful scenery.

On the way home, as I'm getting closer to

the Addison Four Corners Store, that has homemade donuts

on Monday, Wednesday and Friday,

I realize, it is Wednesday.

 Snowy peaks in the higher elevations of the Green Mountains of Vermont