CHANGE

The temperature was pretty nippy when I went for a walk just before dawn.  First time I’ve needed a hat for months.

The cool weather kept a lot of park walkers home.  Still there were those die-hard runners who will probably be out even when the snow flies.

Another sign of season change is the transforming from bicycles to snowboards in the store window.

The streets were quiet.  University students were probably catching a few extra minutes of snore before running to class.  I was able to stand in the middle of Main Street to catch a shot of the huge Harvest Moon going down.

By the time I was almost home the moon had changed from a dime to fifty cents.

Besides wearing a hat, I’ve also given in and dug out my socks. Erg.  And long pants.  Ice in the bird bath. Yesterday we sent the window unit A.C to the attic to hang out with the Christmas ornaments.  I don’t like to think about it but their turn is coming.

YOU CAN COME OUT OF HIDING, MR. EMPEROR, YOUR CLOTHES LOOK MARVELOUS

Art news is all a-buzz about a painting that had been thought to be a worthless fake and stored for decades in the attic of a Norwegian home.  It has now been identified as an authentic painting by Vincent Van Gogh.

After extensive research, Sunset at Montmajour,  is now considered worth millions instead of being fodder for a yard sale. Alex Reuger, director of the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam (who seems to be almost hyperventilating in this photo) said, "A discovery of this magnitude has never before occurred."

Van Gogh apparently wasn't thrilled with this painting of a sunset, trees and sky.  According to an Associated Press report, he made reference to it in a few letters written the summer of 1888 when he created the work.  He thought the painting flawed.

Yet people are suddenly enthralled with its story, the name, who touched it. So what changed?   It's still a muddy, poorly composed painting. It's probably the result of a bad day with the paint brush, with the sun setting too fast, maybe a bothersome wind and I'll bet there are dead bugs stuck in the paint.  Vincent didn't like it. Neither did anyone else until now.  The emperor is still naked.

However, this was the same summer he created  his masterpiece, Sunflowers.

And one of my very favorites, the Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing.

I guess my take-away is to Keep on Trying.  With every effort something is learned. 

 And for quality control, burn the bad ones.