Spring Is Sprung In Ontario

Spring is blossoming in Southern Ontario. Today I walked downtown in a short sleeved shirt, over the pedestrian bridge and the river not cooled at all by the breeze.

It may have been even warmer yesterday. A woman came to the door around one in the afternoon selling chocolates. Overweight, she was panting, sweating and miserable in the unseasonable heat of the sun.

(Here's a Red Bud Tree, native to Ontario.)

It was, in retrospect, a lack of tact for me to turn her away with: "Oh no, I need to lose weight, not gain it." Then I meant to get out in that hot sun, to experience it, but didn't.

But heavens it was beautiful today!

Look at these gorgeous flowers. I took these photos yesterday on my walk downtown. I like to walk downtown every day, but I often get so engrossed in writing a story - or working on an image - that I let the day go by and wind up going when the sun is low and I need a jacket.
Yesterday evening no jacket was needed until quite late.

By the way, I submitted a 2200 words story to Glimmer Train and a 4900 word story to Dirt Press. I'm working on another story - I have over four thousand words in it so far.
But the number of words is irrelevant. What matters is which words are in that story, whether it is skillfully layered or just a stream of consciousness.

I was absolutely lost for four hours on Saturday. I remember noticing that it was two o'clock (I had been working on the story for over an hour.) The next thing I knew, Angus had come in from golf and errands and it was six-thirty. I had no idea that four hours had passed or where they had gone - I had been so engrossed in crafting that story.

I bought a notebook so I can keep better track of my submissions. Keeping track of them via computer doesn't work for me. I need a place to write all the details down, in order - and whether the publishers/contests are open to multiple submissions - so I can keep track of what I've sent out and what I can submit elsewhere.

Tonight, after Angus came home from the driving range, we went out. I bought two pair of pajamas from La Vie En Rose (Finally! What I've been wearing to bed is depressing) and we picked up a few plants for the planters.

Angus was insistent he didn't want anything planted until after May 24 - when folk wisdom says there is no longer danger of frost - but it's been so warm I convinced him frost is very unlikely from this point on - not this year, not with these trends.

So that will be a little project for tomorrow, to get me out in the sunshine earlier.

I've done nothing on the peace collage. Did not practice drawing tonight and it's already eleven. I'm going to bed after I upload a few photos - tomorrow's another day.

There's an idea. I can take photos of some of my drawings from Nicole's class and post them. I told myself that I would draw every day with this class. I did for the first two weeks, but since then I haven't drawn much - had to do taxes, was ill for a week (probably because I hate doing taxes enough to get sick over it) so my improvement has slowed. Still I like a couple of the drawings I did.

Let's see what Rumi has to say tonight - it's been so long since I consulted the poet.

I have turned to the end of The King and the Handmaiden and the Doctor and my finger has landed on the moral of this long poem:

Any love based on physical beauty is not love.

This is immediately followed by:

"This world is a mountain. What we do is a shout. The echo comes back to us."

From page 232 of The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Banks.

Wise words from the eighth century.