A Weather Bank

I wish we had a weather bank in which I could deposit the all the lovely hours May has generated. When Maryland’s summer arrives, I could withdraw enough cool dry air to keep my charm from depleting.  

On our evening walks I smell honeysuckle and magnolia; I almost need a sweater.  The unseasonably  cool weather this month has made longer days a delight.  

Walking 

Walking in the evenings remains our most consistent exercise. 

The British Journal of Sports Medicine (Feb.28,2023) recommends an 11-minute moderately paced walk could cut the risk of an early death by 23%.* 

At our ages, “could” being the operative word. (My Inner Hamster Rules)

Painting

I am just glad to be able to be out and about and painting most days

paintings from the porch

.  

Good books are still the best companions on the porch.

Inspired by Matisse or somebody

I finished two more Matisse-inspired paintings, listening to Lord Peter Wimsey, a biography of Tim Keller, and The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Off the porch, I read Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson by Rebecca Boggs Roberts. 

If you read enough biography and history, you learn how people have dealt successfully or unsuccessfully with similar situations or patterns in the past. It doesn’t give you a template of answers, but it does help you refine the questions you have to ask yourself. Jim Mattis 

Sidebar: A few weeks back I painted, listening  to The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico —- Just wonderful! He penned Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, which was a recent charming movie. 

 Since before our move back from Texas,  I have made  cards from my paintings —in the era when writing letters or notes is as  passé as fountain pens, and postage is expensive. 

My Own Hallmark Gallery

Timing is everything . . .  eh? 

Now, if I just could invent a weather bank . . . before this May departs . . . But I want to start another painting!

*ON HEALTH, Consumer reports, June 2023

You might like a former post: Moonlight and Magnolias