Sunny Saturday: Weekend Wandering

After another week of frigid, bone-chilling, huddle-up-indoors-and-stay-warm weather, the last day of February dawned sunny and bright.  As the morning air temps slowly edged out of the teens, my crazy kitchen thermometer picked up the heat of the sun on the glass like this:

Maybe that window glass captures some ancient sun-wisdom that our winter-weary bodies cannot yet perceive?  Funny how we react to this little dollar-store thing:  it beckons us.  It orders:  "Get out and explore the world around you!"

The Lakota Sioux call the Sun "Wiyo ate" and say "The light of the sun enlightens the entire universe, and as the flames of the sun come to us in the morning, so comes the grace of Wakan Tanka, by which all creatures are enlightened. It is because of this that the four-leggeds and the wingeds always rejoice at the coming of the light. We can all see in the day, and this seeing is sacred for it represents the sight of that real world which we may have through the eye of the heart." Black Elk   [There are lots of animal tracks in the snow, and my feeders and pine trees are alive with singing birds these days!]


The beauty of local farm and nursery fields under the cloudless, electric blue winter sky is  too vast to memorialize on camera.  And parking behind the big piles where plows have been blocks the view of this sketcher and the patience of my hubby.  So we drive on, in silent awe and appreciation of the scenes around us, bathed in beauty and light.  

Locally though, the old stone lion at Broadfield Manor (a country-house-turned-nursing home complex) seemed to be roaring to life.
 

[How about the glow of that stained glass at the front door?!] 

The big stone finials marking the drive were giving up their heavy caps of blizzard-borne snow to the sun as well.  I'm going to try and paint the blue of that sky for today's sketch (as taught by Prashant Miranda) -- it is absolutely breath-taking!

Meanwhile, across County Line Road, a local guy created this ice-castle and its resident monster in brilliant color.   Clearly, he likes to have BIG FUN and amuse his neighbors!

Creation has many interpretations!  What a study in contrasts, from the ancient peoples' understanding of the universe, to the historic structures and stone monuments, to one man's energetic efforts to use the cold, dark winter to amuse himself and us as we pass by.