What could be better to lift one’s spirits than dramatic blooms like these that magically grow out of a bulb that was a gift from a kind neighbor? It’s a kind of miracle, and things that are alive bring lightness to my tired soul — from these stalks erupting into dramatic blossoms to feisty finches at the feeder to cormorants diving for wiggly little worms. Focusing on the natural world is a wonderful and encouraging distraction. I’ve been watching this stalk of green grow up out of a ceramic pitcher in my living room for several weeks and — voila! Big showy white flowers! Another stalk is also ascending so maybe a second act is on its way. Such simple, glorious beauty growing out of a bumpy bulb (my experiment with growing sunflower sprouts has been slightly less successful). I’ve been watching the stalks grow, itchy to paint the flowers once they popped. I was happy to get my watercolors out today after a morning of sadness, followed by the lovely news my sewage outtake hose had disconnected outside my home (all fixed now; again, Angela’s kindness via a phone call alerted me to the yucky problem she discovered while walking past my house; Vern to the rescue!). I’m fairly snugged in now, warm and comfy as the rains come and the winds start to pick up. Yet again I am saved by putting one foot in front of the other even when my insides are roiling with grief. A story on NPR today helped as well — about people hitting the “pandemic wall” as we desperately hope this terrible virus will someday fade into the background though now it continues to hunt us and scare us and keep us from each other. I have hope but my dark moods I’m sure are part of the state of things we humans now struggle with. We’re all hanging in there. And we will keep doing so. We just need to keep paying attention — to our feelings, to each other. How lucky I am to have warm and kind humans in my life!

10″ x 7″ watercolor, pen, acrylic ink on paper = $90