It’s nearly 9:00 on Monday evening. I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. Is there a better feeling than the total exhaustion after several days of having fun? I don’t think so.
It all began on Friday. Josie came home for a visit and we had a small dinner party of old friends we hadn’t seen in much too long a time. The weather, which hadn’t been great all week, cleared up in the morning and all the deck furniture was dry by late afternoon. It turned into such a beautiful evening, in fact, that we were able to eat outside. It was our inaugural dinner on our new dining set. Jay made us a fabulous dinner and we sat out under the ash tree, talking, until the first mosquitos of the spring drove us into the house.
Saturday, Katie and Adam dropped BoopityBoop off here around noon. They left me the car with the babies’ seats in it and took my van off to do some grown up things. It’s important for the parents of any new baby to get some time off together. It’s twice as important when your first baby outnumbers you. Zack and I played with the girls and gave them their lunch. Then I packed them back into the car and took them out to Tyler and Megan’s house. Ty hosted the First Annual John G. Invitational golf tournament early in the afternoon and everyone involved was coming over for dinner afterwards. It was another spectacular, beautiful May afternoon. The babies continued to be delightful and Xena and Babalouie were happy to spend time with them. We all had a good time.
The Golfers and the rest of the family started coming in around 4:00 and by 6:00 the place was rocking. The food was great, the company was fun and the evening couldn’t have been lovelier. At dusk, a family of deer appeared in the corn field behind the house, right on cue. The horses ran up and down the pasture, as though they knew how beautiful they were, backlit in the sunset.
Sunday, Josie drove the car home after Mass while Jay and I walked. It was the third beautiful morning in a row. Sunday was a strange day: banks of clouds kept moving in but then they’d leave and it was a warm, nice day. Katie brought the girls down and we met MJ and the kids at the lake. It was quite windy but still wonderful. We had two strollers in our little parade and marched around the lake.
Nanners told us about her presentation at school: she’d given a report on Amelia Earhart. She wore rolled up jeans, an open shirt over a tank top and goggles atop her head. She sat on her desk, upon which was a palm tree. She told the class about her life, ending with “I didn’t make it. That’s why I’m telling you this, sitting on the beach of a desert Island, where I crashed.”
We took a very long time to get around the lake. I didn’t think that would be a problem but my class at the Arboretum had been moved up from 5:30 to 5:00 because the weather was supposed to get bad later and that would give us the best window to paint. I figured I’d be fine if I left home at 4:30. Imagine my surprise when I got back in my car after the walk and saw that it was 4:29!
I buzzed home, changed out of my denim shorts and big t-shirt into my paint clothes (a different pair of denim shorts and a different big t-shirt. Yes, it makes a difference), scarfed a bowl of cereal, grabbed my bag and hit the road. There was very little traffic heading west at the hour. Pretty much everyone who goes to the Arboretum on a Sunday is already there by 5:00. I got there on time.
We planned on meeting at the iris beds. There’s a parking lot right there so we wouldn’t have to haul our supplies very far.
It was a good plan. How were we supposed to know that there was a wedding at the Arboretum that night? Who gets married on a Sunday?
The parking lots were packed.
Eventually, we managed to find spots and get to the iris beds. That’s when I realized I’d forgotten to pack my brushes.
Had my paint, three canvases, portable easel, solvents…I even had a plastic bag for trash and cardboard to block the sun coming through the back of my canvas…all to no avail, since I wasn’t about to try to finger paint in oils.
I was saved by the kindness of my fellow student: she lent me a pair of brushes.
The sun was lowering over the pond beside the irises and we were happily painting away, trying our mightiest to catch the deep shadows of the trees and the reflected sky in the pond. Oddly enough, it was the scum on the pond that was the brightest value in the scene. Many Arboretum guests walked past us and commented on our work.
It’s one of the harrowing aspects of plein air painting: kibitzing. It’s hard enough, standing there, trying to interpret what’s in front of you without total strangers peeking over your shoulder and muttering “what the hell..?”
They were all very nice.
I wasn’t at all sure I had mine under control until I took a break and stepped back a few paces. Then, I was pleasantly surprised. I had nailed the values!
I remembered years ago, in class, where our teacher, George Herman, was critiquing a fellow student.
“It looks better if you stand back a bit.” She defended herself.
“Well, I hope you have tree in your back yard where you can hang it.” he said.
Naturally, we all loved George.
Rick is just as funny as George but never says stuff like that. He’s his own brand of brilliant.
After an hour, Nature turned off the light. Another of the day’s cloud banks sprang up from behind the trees and blotted out the sun. It wasn’t enough to wreck a beautiful outdoor wedding or chase anyone enjoying the gardens inside, it just robbed those of us who were painting of our value range. We went from deep shadows and bright reflections to suddenly everything flat and dull.
So we switched out our canvases and painted irises instead. I’ve painted hundreds of canvases of irises in my career: I love them! So, I was not at all intimidated by the idea of sketching them in class.
Two canvases later, those irises kicked my ass. I couldn’t get anything down that looked even remotely like flowers, much less a specific type, much less these particular blooms.
Oh well, it was still a fine night.
Sure enough, the rain hit not ten minutes after I’d headed for home. We really had a perfect window to paint. For the next half hour, it was rain, thunder and lightning.
Monday dawned overcast, windy and much cooler. I got a lot of work done and then Ty brought the kids in and we had dinner together. The sun came out later in the afternoon but it remained cool and windy. After dinner, I took Xena and Babalouie down to the park, where Babalouie’s head nearly exploded with joy: there was baseball practice going on on no less than four diamonds. Soccer practice was happening on another field and the skate park was full of kids with skates, skooters and boards. The basketball and tennis courts probably had games going on, too. For a sports-crazy kid who lives with horses, this urban oasis is his idea of an exotic Heaven.
After the park, it was time for ice cream, a hot bath, jammies and home to bed.
No wonder I’m so tired.