Spring and Home

Finally it seems that the snow is melting. Temperatures are finally above freezing during the day and the sky almost looks blue. Its enough to make you giddy after a long dark winter.
I find that lately my artistic endeavors have taken a back seat to other aspects of my life. I don't make resolutions in January (which is a horrible month for me personally) I make them when the weather changes. So what is my resolution for this year, to discover what it means to be home.

I have lived most of my life in two very different areas. I have spent most of my life on the praries but I was born on the east coast. The contrasts of the lifestyles, pace of life and the scenery are dramatic.

When I smell the change in the air that accompanies spring I seem to long for different things. I want to run away and play my harp in the Cape Breton highlands, walk along a beach with my husband, search for ladyslippers in the woods on PEI. In short I long for home.

Ironic that I long for the home of my early childhood. We moved around A LOT when I was a child but it was always within the province. Then we moved out west. It was a shock to the system to instead see cool blues and greens and greys of the ocean coast you now saw the yellows of the grain and the browns of newly turned earth and the golden orange of the leaves as they turned colors. I have always hated earth tones. I can't wear them they make me hyperventilate when I use them in my house. Interesting isn't it how color can affect you.

So, how does someone with salt water in their veins make a home in a landlocked province? How do you make peace with the fact that the only sand is at the playground (and you don't want to walk barefoot in that....ewwww) Good questions. Hopefully I will find a good answer I just don't have one yet?

In the meantime I continue to hoard color at my home. Lots and lots of green. I put a pool up in my backyard as a temporary measure (my kids swear I'm going to rip out the basement and put in an indoor pool) and long for the sound of the sea, the smell of the salt and the seaweed, the cries of the seagulls and dream for a bit of where home should be.

Artistically you can see my focus is back to the cool blues and greens. One day maybe I'll work on some more prairie colors...maybe....just not today. For today I would rather play in Neptune's Garden and dream a little more.