Winter Bling

One of the brightest but, still, a practically sober spectacle.

A nearby, relatively understated light show.

Back when we first moved down here to Valhalla, simply everyone, every damn house, decorated for the holidays.

And by holidays I mean ALL of ‘em – big and small. Houses were very nearly as blinged up on Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's as on Halloween and Christmas – the two biggies. It was practically Somervillian down here. I loved it!

There may be better way to get through the dark, cold days of winter than with fabulously bright, colorful, ultra gaudy displays but I totes dig all the dazzle, the vibrant lights and inflatable reindeer. They make me smile and laugh – two things in short supply in winter.

I do love the elegant displays like the Commonwealth Mall’s trees all wrapped in white lights and the folks who deck their roofs and porches in nada but pale blue bulbs. BUT it’s the homes that go over the top with the garish flash that really do it for me (though, if I lived next door to one of these homes, I mayn't be too thrilled to have my bedroom window lit up like Times Square all night/every night).

In any case, the light shows will all come down this month, probably in the next week, and that gives me a sad. January and February are cold and dark. There's the inevitable snow and sleet. Blech. I keep thinking I'll go someplace that's, at least, warm in January but I rarely do. Why don't I? I figure I can make it through these bitter, rough two months. I just need to grit my teeth, have a few good books to escape into and paint, paint, paint. I can do this!
Down here on the Neck, hardly anyone tarts up their homes anymore. I wonder why that is.

• Is the festal festooning population just aging – they no longer have the oomph to deck the halls or climb those ladders to string the glowing orbs? 
• Or, with their young ones grown and outta the house, they lack the joy-joy motivation? 
• Maybe, with Bush II’s economy wrecking regime and, now, the Tangerine Dimwit’s disastrous, we're-headed-for-recession  reign of error and terror, the electric bills are just too much? 
• Have the older decorators moved and the newbies just aren’t into it?

Dunno.

I need a plan, a prescription to get through to the relatively bright, warm days of March. Staying busy helps. I'll begin rehab next week and start ellipticaling once more. I'll begin a few new paintings with a different theme than falling. Can I do canvases with a hopeful vibe? Hey now, there's a bright challenge for me!

And maybe I should take my daily strolls a lot earlier – NOT at dusk. Yeah, that'd help.

What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
~ John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Yeah, fuck you, John,

Winter is not a season, it's an occupation.
~ Sinclair Lewis 

Tell it, Sinc!

No animal, according to the rules of animal-etiquette, is ever expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during the off-season of winter.
~ Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows 




Why, oh WHY, was I not born a cozy, indoor living cat or a nice hibernating bear?

Valhalla at Dusk