Yes, here in the southern hemisphere–or, at least, here in Argentina–September 21st is celebrated as the first day of spring. Everywhere we went, people were handing out fresh flowers. In addition, today is Student Day–there was no school and students packed every park to picnic with their friends. As it turned out, today was a beautiful day–and apparently this is unusual for Spring Day–so you could feel that whole spring-is-in-the-air thing.
I’ve painted six canvases this week and have three huge ones I will play with tomorrow…and plan to buy more. The art club/supplies store ladies think I am some sort of crazed artist working day and night. They also think I must be terribly experienced. HA! Little do they know this is my first week as a painter. But hey, you should’ve seen me get those canvases to my apartment. Yes, it’s only two blocks away, but I had to get a taxi for the second trip because the canvases were so big.
In the US even small canvases can be $20 each, but here, they’re really reasonable. In fact, I bought the biggest canvas in the store–over 3 feet by over four feet–for US$20. Quite a big bang for the buck! And hey, a cheap way to cover lots of wall space.
The girls are being quite patient with me. They haven’t complained about the plastic all over the floors and dining table, the canvases stacked all over, the smell of paint, the paint brushes drying next to the kitchen sink….
And today, quite unexpectedly, some workers showed up to remove the glass panels from our balcony railing. The recent hailstorm actually dented the metal bars and they are being replaced. So now, in addition to the paint paraphernalia, there are glass panels leaning against the living room wall and workers’ footprints all over the wood floors. I guess it’s a good thing I haven’t put any pots or plants on the balcony yet or they, too, would be filling the living room.
Ah, well. Who cares? It’s SPRING! 
