Sunset, Monday, 4 May 2009

Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on paper, 16 x 20.At the very last minute, a weird cloud space opened up in a resolutely cold blue-gray sky – I guess meteorologists or pilots might call it a new cloud deck – with unexpected colors. The sky behind the streaks was not open as it might appear here but a sort of flat high yellowy silver.

When I was out with Flint today – my six- or seven-mile walk, his more than 10-mile ramble – I saw the blackberry blossoms were just barely beginning to come out. It was tempting to think the chilly wet weather of the last three days might be a case of Blackberry Winter, but it’s still a bit early for that here. Usually, in Virginia, it’s one to three days of 50s and even 40s while the blossoms are really out, which means, it’s a bit of a come-down for Spring. Last year we didn’t seem to have a Blackberry Winter at all. In other parts of the South, of course, the blossoms come out much sooner, and the change in weather can be very serious, as I found out today from a blog by someone in the Ozarks.

I want to note an addition to my “Friends I Do Know” list, and that’s Minás, which is the name of a wonderful artist as well as the name of his boutique and gallery in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore. Hampden’s the home of the annual Honfest, which is coming up on June 13th and 14th (hon).

To those who checked my post for last night’s sunset before this morning: I’ve added a link so that you can see the Hassam painting I mentioned, the one whose “rose tone” stayed with me for so long.