February, The Longest Month of the Year.

Despite my non-sequential approach to the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge, I had a ball. Started painting small, then went much, much larger. Which was great, because I was using parts of my brain and some of my muscles that had been dormant far too long. Kudos once again to the brilliant Leslie Saeta, who manages to keep us all on our artistic toes by organizing such things! She is such an inspiration to me.


My new mantra is "every day that passes, we are one day closer to Spring". 

I foolishly thought that the Farmers Almanac had gotten it wrong this year.  
It forecast heavy snows for us, yet we made it through December and January,  
(or so I thought) without much more that a picturesque dusting of the white stuff.  Today I sit looking out at about 36 inches on the ground and another 12 or so  predicted. It is beautiful, but in a city like Boston and a town like Milton, there are only so many places to move it to. Walls of snow and plowed up gunk are everywhere. Sidewalks have vanished and all of the conversations you have are one note. Snowblowers are the new status symbols, the bigger the better. And this year we actually bought our very first one. Not for the status of it, but because the fellow who plow(ed) us out has moved on to bigger and better jobs like churches and office parking lots. Truth be told, we are enjoying our independence. We prefer moving snow on our schedule, not the plow guy's.

In every dark winter there is something to be discovered, and this year I have discovered The Pioneer Woman. No, she is not living on a compound somewhere in the desert. Nor does she ride shotgun on a Conestoga wagon.
She is a food blogger, Food TV personality, and she refers to her husband as Marlboro Man. What's not to like?

Thanks to PW, before heading into the studio to paint this morning, I whipped up her recipe for the best iced coffee. 
Note; this was after I bought the 2 gallon containers, cheesecloth, mason jars with handles, and some NYC roasted Zabar's coffee. (The Zabar's coffee was my native born New Yorker's addition, natch). One sip and somebody please, cue the angels singing. OMG! 

I'm obligated to share her genius with you:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/?s=iced+coffee&submit=

I'm off to paint. 
Because the prediction for snow was just upped to 16 inches.
(Someone, please turn February OFF!)

Margaret

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