The rain that had been forecast for every single day last week finally arrived on Thursday night, more than 48 hours after we finished putting the second coat on the deck. It was a fairly typical spring storm: it blew in quickly with a heavy gale and a black sky, rained like crazy for about twenty minutes, then went on its merry way, leaving a lovely, freshly watered world behind.
In the house, having battened down the hatches, Jay, Zack and I were discussing music as Jay mixed our nightly Manhattans and we toasted Uncle Mickey.
Turns out, if you substitute the Rye Whiskey in a Manhattan with Scotch, you’ve got a Rob Roy.
We used up the last of the Rye and Jay had a couple of bottles of really good Scotch, so we tried Rob Roys.
Even more delicious than the Manhattans!
When the rain passed over, we took our Rob Roys and a towel out front, dried a couple of the chairs off and plopped ourselves down to watch the sunset over the park. The sun never fully made it out from beneath the thin layer of clouds the storm left behind but the sky turned several shades of pink and orange and the Rob Roys were delicious. I had three and managed to get completely hammered in about a half an hour.
On a Thursday night.
Well, why not? I was at home, it was early and we were listening to Prince on the front hill in the sunset. I felt great and it was fun! I don’t get drunk very often and I’ve never been falling-down-drunk in my life. I did slide down the front hill but it’s because the grass was slippery (I was trying to pick some storm debris out of the grass) and I made it back up the hill under my own steam.
I was done drinking by 9:00 and managed to down about a half a gallon of water before I went to bed so I was fine when I awoke early the next day.
I had to be: we were meeting at the Arboretum to paint all day! Woo hoo!
It was a blast!
I felt perfectly fine when I awoke at six. It was a crystal blue morning but the haze in the air hinted at the heat and humidity that were gearing up to pour out over the cities by noon.
There were only three of us painting. We originally met by the hawthorn trees but a lack of shade and the weather forecast prompted us to move to a different location. We ended up at the Japanese garden near the front of the three mile drive, painting the coy pond, which is surrounded by azaleas in every color under the sun and the hosta garden with its accompanying
forest.
I chose my subject with no concern for the arc of the sun overhead. Rick, our fearless leader, has tried to instill in all of us an awareness of the passing of time and the movement of the sun. It’s important to take all these things into consideration when painting outside. You don’t want to end up trying to paint in 90 degree heat without a hint of shade, with the hot, sticky sun beating down directly on your canvas.
I forgot all his sage advice. One look at the reflections in the pond and I said “That’s pretty!” and an hour later found myself squinting at my sun-baked canvas, blinking away the river of sweat in my eyes.
After our brief lunch break, we all moved into the Hosta garden, which grows beneath a thick forest canopy. It was delightfully cool in there. My second painting was much more comfortable to work on. I learned a lot.
There aren’t many ways to spend a day better than painting at the Arboretum. Or any place that beautiful, of which there are thousands here in the metro area. Yes, we know we’re lucky. Long, dreadful winters (which are also gorgeous) are a small price to pay for what we get here. But don’t tell anyone: I’d rather they didn’t try to move here.
Hey, our taxes are as extreme as our winters!
The rest of the weekend passed with just as much fun as Friday. We got the deck all dressed up with furniture, Josie spent Monday afternoon helping Jay fill the planters, Boopity spent an afternoon with us while Boop accompanied her Mom to some luncheon party, we visited my Dad, who is progressing by leaps and bounds with his physical therapy, we grilled all sorts of delicious things and ate our dinners on the deck…
So far, summer of 2018 is shaping up to be a beauty!