Ah, The Signs Are Changing

This morning, I woke to the brilliance of a newly risen sun and when I stepped out the door, I caught just the faintest whiff of springtime. I mentioned, a few posts earlier, a vague description of this very much desired time of year. As I stood there, I listened. At first there was nothing but silence and then I became aware of the soft sighs of a light and warm breeze. I heard the unmistakable decay of a nearby snow bank giving way to the insistence of a 40 degree day. There was the sound of birds singing as they foraged in the nearby branches. And, I caught the unmistakable aroma of fresh earth warming. It was absolutely wonderful just to stand there and soak it all in. Of course, the reason I was in the yard was to put my suitcase into the truck. Yes, the time has finally arrived. We're headed to Florida in the morning for Spring Training. Remember, this isn't a vacation. I'm working! It's my hope to get a couple of good images of key team members or maybe a manatee or two. I even have plans for a beautiful sunset taken by air boat in the Everglades. Wish me luck. And who knows, with some of that luck, the snow will be mostly gone when we return on the 17th.

Show Calendar Begins To Fill

And just as the subject of this post mentions, I have begun to fill in dates on my web site calendar as to where I'll be displaying my work this year. In fact, April is already fairly well filled in. If you'd like to check up on my whereabouts so you can view new images, just click on the link on the right side of this blog which will take you to the monthly calendar.

And another search engine has done it's job and found my blog. I'm still amazed that what I write here can be detected by others who may be looking for me to type in a specific word or phrase. I was contacted by The Boston Globe reporter, Mark Levenson, who was doing a piece on The RED SOX and how difficult it is to get tickets to the hottest club in town. I guess I should have been less shy about calling him because although I gave him plenty of material by e-mail, he didn't use any of it in his very interesting article. He did catch up with my very good friend, Bob Kidder, another fan who has even had his tomb stone etched with Red Sox sentiments. I'm a fan but he's way more than that. This reminds me to watch what I say about whatever I may be wanting to write about.

Spring Training = Spring Fever

We're not planning anything elaborate in the way of trips, photo excursions and vacations this year. We are, however, headed to every baseball fan's ideal of the perfect way to spend a week. We're headed to the warm weather of spring training to watch my favorite team, the Red Sox, get ready to defend their 2007 World Series victory. We leave on March 7th and while we're staying in Fort Lauderdale, most of our time will be spent driving across Alligator Alley to Fort Myers, the winter home of my boys of summer. We'll watch two or three games on their home field and also get to visit the Dodgers and the Twins in Vero Beach. My husband and I even have tickets to a basketball game between the Miami Heat and the LA Clippers. I'm currently working on something sportsy to fill in the only free day we have, Saturday the 8th. At the end of the week we'll climb about the Royal Carribean Majesty of the Seas for a short but restful cruise out to the Bahamas and back. Our respite from all of this year's bad weather will come to an end on the 17th when we return to reality.

Wintery Weather

By the time February roles around, the back of Winter is pretty nearly broken, as a rule. When I say this I mean the super harsh cold of sub zero January is past, the days are beginning to lengthen and you can usually find some signs that the change of seasons is approaching. Maybe it's a super warm day that gets the skunks moving about. You can smell them in the air. Maybe it's a slight color change in the bark of the poplar trees. During the dead of winter, the bark is ash gray but with the first flush of sap corsing through it's veins, the bark begins to take on a greenish tint. Maybe it's a small patch of dried grass that has finally fought it's way through the drifts to appear in the sunlight. That's not happening this year because we have been hit with one winter storm after another. In fact, over the past ten days, we've had no less than four major storms. These storms ran the full gambit of natures fury with wind, deep heavy wet snow and even rain and ice. Our snow depth is now more than we've had all winter and as I write this, it's snowing and there is a promise for more over the weekend. I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer for the back of winter to really give way.

Playing Catchup

My apologies to you all. I've been ill since the Friday afte Christmas. It wasn't anything earthshattering but it sure put a crimp in my style for the entire month of January. I'm back now and have a few things to tell you about. The first is that we had an average 2007 show season . With the current economy, I'd say that was pretty good. Most people have limited funds to spend on "extras" because of the rising fuel and heating costs. So to say that our 2007 season was average is a big thing. It could have been a lot worse and that would have forced me to take a serious look at choices that I would have had to make. Those choices would have included the need to tighten the belt by keeping my shows close to home, reducing inventory in the galleries and retail shops or even entertaining the possibility of halting my photographic career altogether until the economy has a chance to recover, giving people the ability to appreciate art once more.

Crunch Time

I'm getting to that point in the year when I have to weigh my options and ask the question; is it best to restock "the shelves" and maintain a full inventory in all of the galleries or should I let my work "sell down" so that my inventory will be less during the leaner months that are sure to come after the first of the year? Each year I wrestle with this bookkeeping practice knowing that I can't sell what isn't there AND that the check book will look better if I don't spend any more money on material between now and those lean times I mentioned. Since each year is different in it's makeup, like children and their personalities who cry out to be treated as individuals, the decisions I make change with the times. The decision hasn't been made on this year, yet.

Last week, we received about 8 inches of snow, enough to make the ground white and give the trees a seasonal overcoat, but not enough for me to haul out my tripod for those beautiful wintry holiday images I've been needing to take. In fact, it snowed every day this week, just an inch or two here and there, enough so you had to clean off the car each morning or sweep the steps to keep the accumulation down. It's what I call a nuisance shower. And, there's a promise for more fluffy inches on Sunday or Monday. I don't usually pay too much attention to the weather forecast because it's just about the only job you can be wrong 70% of the time and still remain employed.

It's just that I need good travel weather on Monday because my printer has decided this is the time of year it will break down and the repair shop is 120 miles from my house. Does the timing for this event strike anyone else as being bad?

Only 24 More Shopping Days

I can't believe it but my holiday shopping is almost completed. Wrapping is another matter entirely. It's just after midnight and I've put the finishing touches on 12 dozen cookies for the Lisbon ARTS Gallery Christmas Fair cookie walk. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, I'll explain. You purchase a festively decorated coffee tin, either the one pound or three pound size and wander down the length of tables filled with all sorts of confections. Choose the cookies you want and stuff them into the can. Pay the attendant and go home with a tin full of home baked goodies to enjoy yourself or to give as gifts. The gallery has it's members saving coffee cans throughout the year and just before the event we all are slaves to the oven. It has proven to be an excellent way to subsidise our treasury. While I'm at the Rocks, Carl will be cooking up a storm at the gallery craft fair. He has caused quite a commotion among the vendors attending our annual event with his version of an "egg mcmuffin" handed to the crafters at no charge while they are getting their displays ready for the public. And as the heading of this post suggests, the Christmas countdown has begun. I only hope we receive an appreciable amount of snow before the holiday decorations disappear for another year. For the past few years, the Lion and The Rose Bed and Breakfast has asked me to take photos of their Victorian Inn with all it's Yuletide finery in place. The sad part is the snow hasn't been there for the dazzling image I have in my head, leaving me with the photo you see here, taken of the establishment during warmer weather. Maybe this is the year, Chris and Roger !