My eyes burst open at 5.24am
My brain started rattling
And thought best if I just rolled out of bed
To go do something useful 
And catch a nap later

There my painting from the nite before
Stood staring at me from the easel
Something's not right about it
I don't know squat What!
So I went about fiddling and fixing it

I heard some flutter of wings
Looked out of my window
And awww.... saw a mallard and his bride
Had come to swim in my pool
I smiled and went back to my impossible painting

Then I heard this  Quack Quack
Awwww... they're communicating...
Communication is important in a relationship, I mused
But then the Quacks escalated
They got louder and louder 
Till it blew to a full 2-duck choir of incessant Quacks
 
I found it hard to concentrate
So I went to tap on the window 
And I hissed, spat, I don't know what I did in as controlled a lady-like manner I could muster
To communicate that:
They were welcomed to use my pool for their morning rendesvous
Even if they may leave deposits, I was willing to tolerate

But to encroach on my sacred space 
With a stupid, ever downward spiralling  quarrel about nothin'
While I was trying to birth an amazing painting
Was beyond what my unravelling  nerves 
Were willing to endure

They stopped short 
Looked at me after I tapped, spat and hissed...
I looked pleased that they got the message so rapidly..
Waddled back to the easel to resume my process

And I heard a fluttering and a flapping 
And  it sounded annoyed
The 2 birds flew away wing on wing

Sigh... So Sensitive! I muttered to myself..

Next time I'll try better to put up with that nonsense

For I do love the look of the love birds in my pool............

My heart went pitter patter
Anytime I had sensed you were in the air
I kept lookin for your face in the crowd
Everywhere I had treaded

What do you think was the matter
That I should have felt that way...

A rainbow appeared into view
As soon as I heard your voice
I saw myself whirling onward to the sky
And hopscotching from cloud 1 to cloud 9

The grass seemed to be a more intense green
The sky seemed to be an even more vivid blue 
The flowers seemed to have been swaying 
And winking their eyes at me
My footsteps had  hovered above the ground
Every time your image came into view in my mind

But alas... it was not meant to be 
You were made for someone else
And to be in a different place
And I was made for me........

Thus is life...full of encounters, some more memorable than others
But with each one, I am enlightened with some gift
That becomes a  part of me
 
For that I am thankful for every friendship I've ever had......
And EXCITED for the ones yet to be forged.!!

The model held this pose for 20 minutes before he started playing which made it more difficult to paint when he was moving. Nearly wanted to give up trying to get the cello right. 

When the initial sweat eased a little, I thought how blessed I was to listen to hauntingly beautiful music while I painted. My heart pained for the children and people of Syria and elsewhere who are living in constant fear. I so treasured the feeling of peace and security I was entrenched in at the moment...

You're drawing me in
With the attention you're giving me
Do I open up or do I rein in......

You put me on a pedestal
I have never dared climb 
You make me feel alive and awakened
For a flicker of a moment
I felt I could really fly
Can I  really believe your heart  beats for me

Then I realised
I have to look within
To give myself these same beliefs about myself...

I managed to squeeze in a portrait of my water nymph in the last 45 mins of the session with the model... a little disappointed I didn't get the likeness but glad I l went for it as a practice shot...


ABOUT A YEAR
I bumped into a friend of mine
Hadn't seen her in a while
She said she had moved away
Her husband had passed on
After a month long of sudden illness

I looked into her eyes
And from the quietness in her voice 
I could tell she had been through a lot

Shock, adjustments, decisions made 
With her spouse no longer by her side
The one thing she wished 
As she sees retired couples grocery shopping 
Was a taste of that retirement life together

As she spoke my eyes a brimming
While she had no tears, no tears
She said it is because she's tired of crying
It had taken her a year to get to this point
This day I bumped into her
Was the first day she had ventured out

As we bade goodbye
I turned around and I don't why: I felt my tears spilling

Okay... it'll take Mom and I
A year before we'll start feeling better
About Dad not being here....

I'm out painting everyday
While my houseplants start to droop
And cobwebs gather
In corners unlit
Last week's groceries 
Have not all been put away
While the pantries are getting bare yet again
My painting room is about to self-destruct
Admidst all the canvases and paints

Dinners are now ready at 8pm
When I used to insist that people be seated by 6pm
Arriving within a hairline for appointments
Keeping long suffering friends awaiting

But most times,with heart smiling and soaring 
And invisible wings on my back flapping
Sometimes uncontrollaby excited
Many times giving in to being scared
Not knowing where the rest of my life is leading
I envision it galloping into the crimson sunset and bright, sapphire skies
While I stand in the dark underneath the stars a gazing, a dreaming..........

Come dream with me.... would be way more fun doing it with you

I've painted this house, home to the Bronte Historical Society two times( 8x10, 11x14) before. This time, however I attempted  a much bigger canvas ( 16x20), something that is sometimes discouraged because it would take longer to complete under nature's ever changing light. Well, I just used a broom to make bigger strokes....but the ever flipping light between grey skies and smiley sunnyness nearly did me in....


I rather be  slapped 
With a truth from you 
Than to be kissed 
With a lie...

May sting like lemon juice 
On a fresh cut for a while 

But it'll be better in the long run
It'll make me fiercer and strive harder
It''ll only fuel me to catapult higher
Till WHAM, I've ascended high enough 
To high five with the highest cloud


So thank you for being courageous enough
To tell me the truth


Thanks for being an honest friend ......


IF EVER,
 I am not in the receptive mood, please wait awhile and kiss me with the truth again...