Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Azalea Afternoon

Azalea Afternoon
Oil on canvas, 8x24

Call me at 860-442-0246 or email me
if you are interested in buying this painting

The other day, I felt compelled to go out and rake the streams of tall cut grass that littered our yard after Peter mowed, two weeks too late.

I grumbled and grrrrd and thought plenty of dark thoughts until it occurred to me that, instead of just doing this one stupid task and letting myself slide into grumpiness over it, I could make it part of a plan.

As soon as I got that idea, the task lightened immeasurably.

So the plan is this: Get up, do my morning dog, cat and dishwasher chores, and then, before I do anything else, before I open the computer, before I have breakfast, I will go out and work in the yard for one hour. Set an alarm, start a task, and stop at 60 minutes.

Every year, I do my yardwork and gardening in big, unhappy gulps. I am always late, always weeding a patch that is so weed-filled that the task is impossible, always planting a month late, always tackling the impossible. No wonder it makes me crazy!

Today, I spent nearly an hour weeding my little shade garden. In the remaining time, I transplanted a couple little evergreens that I felt sorry for, after yanking them out of the shade garden.

Tomorrow, if it's dry enough, I will begin enlarging my new rose garden. If it's still wet, I will prune the overhanging branches that keep slapping me in the face.

Meantime, the Kinney Azalea Garden is still in bloom and lovely.

Thanks for reading!

3 comments:

patrice said...

So often when I read your posts, I think we must have been twins separated at birth. Yes, how else to explain our identical patterns of behavior?

I am my own disciplinarian. I first try to cajole myself - and then resort to plea bargaining to finally make a deal with myself. That one hour thing in the morning is way too familiar!!

Since the only person I have to boss around is me, sometimes it even works out.

And by the by - I love the "chaos" of this little painting. Very abstract and great paint textures.

carrie jacobson said...

I think we were separated at birth, too. Or we were friends or sisters in another life.

I, too, am my own disciplinarian, and while I am lax with myself at times, all too often, I am a total bitch, driving myself to the point of exhaustion. This is almost always followed by a period of incredible laziness.

So far, two days, the hour has been workable. I have tried to get the stupid TV commercial jingles out of my head, tried to listen to the birds, to my heart, to my higher power, and just focus carefully and without pushing on the task. Weed, rake, be tough, be gentle, and try not to get pulled away from the day's main task by the hundreds of other issues I find while I'm, say, walking to get the rake.

So glad you like the little painting. I do, too. Love the colors and the abstraction and the wild feeling of spring

James Parker said...

Hi, Carrie! I haven't been by for a while, and shame on me. I've been browsing thru your past posts and see you have really been busy with some delightful work. I really like these azaleas...so-o-o colorful.