Spring!

 Last week we finally had a spring day and everyone, people and animals alike, were enjoying the outdoors.  I went to check out an outdoor painting site.  The trees were not blooming enough for me to paint there, but I was able to get some great photos of the pond wildlife enjoying the gorgeous weather.

 All of the turtles seemed to be doing a mating dance.

This guy was enjoying the sun and didn't care that a few of us were there taking photos of him.  If you look at the top photo, you can see he was actually posing for us.  

This is the pond.  It's not exactly Monet's water garden, but considering it's in the middle of New York City, it's good enough.  I'm told that if we manage to have some warm and sunny days the water lilies  will multiply.  Can't wait for that!

Downed tree from Hurricane Sandy

The seven days after I took these photos we had horrible weather.   However,  yesterday spring seemed to make a return.  Here's hoping the good weather stays and we can get out and paint en plein air!

Public Service Announcement

As most of the world knows, last week Hurricane Sandy destroyed parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  With another storm on the way tomorrow, people in the affected areas need all the help they can get.  I've been using Amazon Wishlists to send things to charities and organizations that need help and using the wishlists means they get exactly what they need.

If you would like to help, here are two of the links that I've been using:

Occupy Sandy: Occupy has been helping storm victims in the Rockaways, Brooklyn and Staten Island from the beginning.  They desperately need cleaning supplies, personal hygiene products and cold weather clothing. Here is their wishlist.

Liberty Humane Shelter Jersey City:  Liberty is an animal shelter in Jersey City.  They had an Amazon wishlist before the storm, but I used it the other day to send them some cleaning supplies and food.

There are lots of other places that are trying to help out.  My Assemblyman and Councilwoman are both having donation drives at their offices.  You can call your local politicians and see what they are doing.

Last, many organizations need volunteers to drive supplies and people to the affected areas, food prep and delivery, medical personnel, people to sort donations, answer phones and do data entry.

I know I usually talk about fun things here, but with all the devastation that has taken place I felt I had to do my part to publicize ways to help.  I will be back tomorrow with a fun art book post.

Thank you,

Frances

**PS:  To my US readers - Get out and vote!!