Here Comes the Sun

The forecast for this week is SUNSHINE SUNSHINE SUNSHINE and 65-75 degrees!!!!!!!  Spring is here at last!  HOORAH!!!

Of course, today I am reporting last week's activities, when Spring was still struggling along.  In between the gray and cold and the drizzles, we did have what we northwesterners call "sun breaks", which apparently isn't a thing in other parts of the country.  They happen at odd moments throughout an otherwise gloomy day, right about the time you've given up all hope of ever seeing a blue sky again.  Blue holes magically appear in the gray above your head, and glorious sunshine pokes through, promising better things to come, and then, just when you've convinced yourself that it's safe to harness up the hounds and head to the park, the holes close up again and you wind up sitting at a stoplight gazing wistfully upwards.  Where did it go?  Will it ever return?  Why do you taunt me this way?

So, mostly last week we headed out during the sun breaks.  I think there was one longer sunnier afternoon in there somewhere, but typically by the afternoon I'm done wandering around town hoping for better things and have crashed on the sofa with a book and a chocolate chip cookie and a baseball game on the telly.  Oh, well.

Here we are in Ballard last Wednesday morning, when I was wandering around town hoping for better things.  This is outside a cafe by the Ballard Locks:

And inside the Locks by the museum:

And at the locks proper:

I went to check on the Great Blue Heron colony there, which was not very active at all.  I also wanted to find something to sketch, but it was too cold and there were no sun breaks, so I left.

However, during that one afternoon when the sun came out more fully, I sat in my back garden and did a few little sketches of what I could see from my lawn chair:

That was quite pleasant.

I spent the rest of the week wandering around being hopeful, and not accomplishing anything at all, other than a lot of walking, so at least I got my exercising done.  Then on Saturday, Tina and I ventured off on an exploratory visit to a couple of small parks in Shoreline.

We also visited Richmond Beach Park for a view of Puget Sound.  I've sketched this spot many times, and wanted to do something different, so I drew the trash/recycling cans just for fun.  Not my typical subject matter!

Finally, here are two drawings I did from photos this past week, when it was too dreary to go outside.  Guess I wasn't quite done with lighthouses.

And now, on to real Spring with SUNSHINE SUNSHINE SUNSHINE and no more gray!