these days

We have had some really beautiful days here in Fredericksburg.  For about a week at the end of October there were these trees that were like candles ablaze with light that fell all over the sidewalk and lawns.  Here is a little poem for you:

Remember finding four leaf clover

along the driveway?

Bent down, fingering through the green

round leaves.

Those were days of sitting while

you played in the sandbox

and chased fireflies in the semi-dark. 

I want to sift through and lift them out

to comb the half forgotten,

flattened out picture show

tangled maze of memory.

Pull them out and dust them off

the miracles.

fragments

Painting

Sometimes I feel like each canvas

is a piece of the puzzle.

And if I could paint enough

it would all make sense.

Where the Artist paints in the perfect medium

completeness in motion,

I paint in finite, stop and go

with brief brushes of transcendence

as momentary as a leaf fall in November.  

Belmont

Gari Melchers was an impressionist artist living in Stafford, Virginia.  He had several outbuildings constructed around his grounds that are very picturesque.  Perfect for painting pictures of!  The main house and gardens are beautifully maintained- it's a great place to go sketching!