Admittedly, this winter has been one of the mildest in recent memory, but it also has been one of the most erratic, thanks to El Niño. One day the temperature’s in single digits and the next day it’s a balmy and spring-like 60 degrees. Unruly winds and uproarious thunder punctuate each transition period. To hear tornado warning sirens in January and February should be odd, but it has become commonplace.
While winter’s (hopefully) last hurrah pummels the Midwest with rain, ice and snow (all in one day!), it’s comforting to know, as Camus says, “an invincible summer” lives within each of us. But it also helps to know that somewhere, spring, too, is alive and well, and, eventually, on its way here.
Check out this video of the “super bloom” happening in the deserts of Death Valley, Calif.:
The Atacama Desert in Chile experienced a similar phenomenon last fall (spring in the southern hemisphere). Follow the link to see a video of that super bloom.
Reportedly, heavy rainfalls caused by El Niño that flooded many areas are also responsible for super blooms—a reminder to us all to be careful what we curse.
Speaking of California…
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| Apartment Therapy |
The Apartment Therapy tour of the mountain home and studio of sculptor, photographer and cinematographer John Frame and wife Laura in Wrightwood, Calif., will warm you up as well. And if the weather’s lousy where you are, just pretend you’re tucked up there.
The sculpture pictured above is one of the few pieces of his own that John displays in his home. But not to fret, there are all his collections of other people’s work to see, as well as one of the warmest, most story-filled mountain cabins I’ve seen.
And his studio? Well, it’s a curiosity cabinet all its own.
Speaking of art…
Mashable chats with artist Missy Dunaway, who illustrates her travels in Moleskine journals with acrylic inks. After you read her story and get a sampling of her art, check out her blog and peruse the prints for sale in her Etsy shop.
Speaking of journals…
If journaling intrigues you, you won’t want to miss “16 Famous Designers Show Us Their Favorite Notebooks” on Fast Company Design. My favorite of the favorites profiled? The journal of Raul Gutierrez, founder of Tinybop, shown above.
Speaking of hands (what you draw and write in those journals with)…
“Hired Hand: A Day in the Life of a Parts Model,” which ran in The California Sunday Magazine left me chuckling a bit and counting my blessings. Only in California, right?
Speaking of hands, here are 5 ways to use yours to spruce up your digs…
Here’s hoping something in this post helps you tap into your ‘invincible summer’…
Or at least, your determined spring.
And as the snow continues to fall, now is perhaps as good a time as any to read that quote AGAIN, THIS TIME in its entirety, which seldom makes the meme cut…
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger—something better—pushing right back.”
—Albert Camus