Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Scribble Picnic - STORM

I think it might be a tad bit odd to bring a STORM to a picnic, but that's what we've been asked to do.  Yesterday we had quite a storm here.  When the temperature drops from 89º to 69º or less you know that cold front is coming through and bringing the thunder with it.  Luckily I was indoors during the heat of the day and got home before the skies opened up.   Yes, a good storm complete with wind, sideways rain, thunder and lightning.  Thankfully, the lights only flickered once and didn't go off.  Compared to conditions a little further northeast of here, we dodged the worst of it.  

Anyway, my STORM comes in another form this week.  My office mate has a couple of horses and one of them (on the left in the picture) is named STORM.  The other is Baxter.  This watercolor was inspired by a photo that someone took of her horses last fall that she posted on Facebook.  


When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston last September, our teachers, along with our student leadership group, organized a Walk-a-Thon.  Our Stony Brook Huskies raised over $12,000 for Northline Elementary School in Houston.   Our students and staff walked laps around our playground calculated to be the distance between our school and the school in Texas.  Storm and Baxter came that day and were ridden by my office partner and her husband in the center of it all.  Our principal wore a back pack filled with coins collected from lunchroom change during the two weeks prior to the walk.  It was over 50lbs. of coins.  Several days after the event the students of Stony Brook and the students of Northline Elementary met via a skyped assembly.  It was a great feeling to be able to help them replenish things that were lost in the storm.  


What's been a bit odd here is the intensity of the "greenness".  Rachel came up from Delaware on Sunday to take me to lunch for Mother's Day and remarked how everything looked so unusually green.  We've been having a lot of gray overcast days lately and I think the lighting has something to do with it.  Right now, looking into part of the back yard that's now missing my favorite oak, it's mostly ombre green.  The daffodils are done, and the redbuds have lost their magenta buds.  The peonies are not ready yet, but just out of the picture on both sides there are a few white dogwoods adding a little lightness to the greenscape.  Mother's Day weekend and after are when the annuals go in.  HWNSNBP will be busy with that - under my direction of course.


Well, enough rambling on.  Time to get over to the picnic to see what other STORMS are brewing!  You can join me by clicking here.  And make note that we have a couple of weeks off.  Our next picnic isn't until 6/6.  


9 comments:

  1. Hi Lorraine :) Your yard is BEAUTIFUL and so green!!! How lovely! I love your Storm!! Horses have my heart, they are wonderful creatures, thanks for sharing that story. Your scribble is just wonderful!

    By the way, maybe check back on Michael's page? Your link didn't work for me, but I have you in my blog roll. It could just be me, but I wanted to let you know. :)

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  2. Interesting about your Storm painting, it does look so green there.

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  3. OH my, look at that lush greenery...lovely! I also love your take on the prompt...a great name for a horse and you did a great job of painting them too. :)

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  4. What a great wonderfully stormy post! I so admire anyone who can draw horses well. Mine seem not to have changed since the way I drew them in grade school.
    And I love how your school had such a great and interactive service project!
    Green equals Spring, and we're loving it!

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  5. Love those horses! And the wonderful shades of spring green - always my favourite. So wonderful what your school did to help out.

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  6. Wow, Lorraine, it IS seriously green! These next few weeks is the only time we have all year when it is green here due to being high plains desert actually.

    The school sounds really great with all the things you do there. Bravo.

    You know, aside from the horse being called STORM, it looks like a storm could be coming in the distance which I love the idea of, actually. A peaceful pastoral scene and then the storm for contrast. It's a BEAUTIFULLY done watercolour. Very impressive. That would make a fab gift to its owner. Love it. Thank you so much!

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  7. Your watercolor is very nice. I like that you chose to paint STORM the horse - brilliant idea! I love storms too - not while I’m driving, but cozy home listening to the sounds seeing the lightening - magical

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  8. Green is a wonderful thing after a long winter of brown grass and only an occasional beautiful snow storm. I loved your story about the school in Texas. It was a wonderful life lesson for the children and adults in your school and a hard lesson for the children in Texas. Your thoughtfulness will remain a memory for all of their lifetimes and teach them the value of kindness and giving. I am so impressed, Lorraine ... what wonderful thoughts to get me through the two week break in the picnic. Hope to see you on June 6th ...

    Andrea @ From The Sol

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  9. Not rambling, I really enjoyed reading about the school fundraiser; what a heartwarming story. I feel a bit sorry for your principal with that weight of coins to carry, though. And your drawing of Storm and Baxter is lovely. I felt that Paris was greener than I've ever seen it, and that was under sunny blue skies, not grey. But certainly lighting makes a huge difference to colour.

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