making hay while the sun shines

Mid July and all the wonders- and heat- that come with it.  It wasn't quite so hot on Friday morning so the windows were still open at the back of the house from the night before to let the welcome cool in.  As I cleaned and tidied the bathroom, the dull hum of the ceiling fan seemed to  get louder and louder. Before long I began to wonder if a helicopter was going to land in our back yard, and then I saw...

a tractor roll on by...

 

a lovely blue tractor  dragging...

 

a hay mower behind it, spewing haygrass behind it

 

I watched him as he rounded the end of the field to our left and head on down the slope

 

Then I turned and found another busy worker inside this yellow lily

 

I went to inspect another blossom

then turned to watch the haymow carry on to the next part of the field

 

and come 'round again on a third pass

 

verbena on the deck

 

Later that evening the hayfield is completely mowed

 

the sky celebrates with a pink-lipped kiss

 

as I turn and look above, I see a pink grid, another crazy Nova Scotia sky

 

in panorama

 

the heart of a lily

the same yellow lily with the honeybee, now distorted to orange as I tried to bring up its texture

 

Orange was the theme for Friday evening. Wally came home from work with great intentions to paint his orange work apron for a contest entry. He'd been talking about it for weeks, and had bought the white gesso he needed to create a "ground" on which to paint. But one week turned into the next, and before long a month had gone by.  He came downstairs from his little studio that night crestfallen and no amount of encouragement could cheer him up.

 

But somehow he pulled a rabbit out of his hat!

 

He managed to paint the Bluenose, the famous Nova Scotian sailing ship, in OILS

on SATURDAY AFTERNOON and have it dry in time on SUNDAY MORNING to deliver it to work (keys in hand and ready to leave) to make the deadline!

 

Blue Nose on Orange Apron

The original Bluenose was launched as a Grand Banks fishing and racing schooner on 26 March 1921 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It is featured on the back of the Canadian dime.

 

Sunday morning was much warmer the hayfield looked corrugated in the morning sun.

 

 

Wally returned home and began to cut the grass. I thought this shot gave a good sense of the proportions of our soon-to-be out-of-control hedge for one thing, and the hayfield,

 and the trees beyond where the ravine lays.

 

 

My latest Artist Trading Cards.

If you are interested in having one please see my trading information listed in the previous post.

 

This is one of the sweetest summers I've had since childhood. The pressure is off to produce as I once did in the "old days", but that doesn't mean that I don't realize and care for those who are ploughing through much heavier workloads. I encourage keeping cool, keeping one's cool, being cool and above all

 staying in one's

 centre

 

peace