Rain, wood, arts

Yesterday was cool with periods of rain that continued into the night. About three this morning a more intense rain storm came through, though without thunder and lightning in our area.I was awakened, however, and did not manage to get back to sleep.

Finally about 4:30, I got up, fed the cats, made coffee and breakfast. Tom was up, too, but he planned to go back to bed when I headed out to the gym. There was mist and some fog on my way to and from the gym, but little traffic that early on a Saturday morning. Later in the morning we got more showers. That and the wind shook down more leaves, which have been falling like those that Milton, in Paradise Lost, wrote "strew the streams in Vallombrosa." Apparently, the trees in Vallombrosa are chiefly pines and do not strew the streams with autumn leaves. Still, it is a phrase that has lasted.

Despite the damp and cool, Dave and Carl both came to cut wood today. Tom was delighted. He could not help, of course, being still in recuperative mode, but he enjoyed talking with them while they cleared some dead growth.

Early afternoon, some people from Little Eagle Arts Foundation came by to pick up art supplies that Tom is donating to them. They got a large bin filled with acrylics and brushes, two large easels and more than a dozen large canvases. It was good exercise for me, helping haul things upstairs. The real challenge was keeping Tom from hoisting things. He kept an easel and just enough materials to (maybe) finish a painting or two. 

Mainly he wants to be able to stage his studio in case we wind up putting the house on the market next month and need to show it to prospective buyers. Helen introduced him to Property Brothers on HGTV, and now he is all excited about getting to set the house up to lure potential buyers. I think he may be slightly disappointed if our present prospect gets her financing and he doesn't have a chance to play interior decorator.