Maple Leaves & Music

It's a good thing that I did my leaf paintings a couple of weeks ago, as the leaves are falling so quickly.  I've made my maple leaf painting into a print and it is now available in my Etsy store.

On Saturday, I was having a cup of coffee while staring out the front window and the leaves were falling like giant red, orange and yellow raindrops.  There was no wind.  They were just letting go, one after the other. It was really quite extraordinary to watch.  It was very cold the night before and I guess they woke up and said 'That's it for us. We're out of here.'

Meeko and I went for a walk this morning.  He really seems to enjoy this time of year.  It becomes more interesting with leaves covering the ground everywhere and I think the smells must be different in the cool, crisp air. He is an alert, curious dog. While we were in the park, some municipal workmen arrived to put up the wooden frame for the outdoor skating rink.  I guess if I needed confirmation that winter is coming soon, that would be it.

I've mentioned before that I love music and I was really lucky to see two fantastic concerts in the past week.  I don't go to a lot of concerts so to see two of them in three days was crazy and wonderful.  I saw the English band Mumford & Sons on Thursday. And then I saw The Civil Wars on Saturday night. Both concerts were absolutely amazing.

Mumford & Sons played in a huge venue (where the Montreal Canadiens play hockey) but managed to fill the big space with warmth, enthusiasm and heartfelt singing, guitar and banjo playing.

The Civil Wars played in a smaller venue but it was just perfect for their beautiful, spare music.  Two voices and a guitar.  They filled the room with their wonderful harmonies.  They also have a nice sense of humour and had a lot of fun with each other and the crowd. If you don't know them, I encourage you to give them a listen. They are getting all sorts of attention and press lately and have just announced a whole bunch of new concert dates. They also brought an incredibly good young band from California as their opening act:  Milo Greene.  The audience actually gave Milo Greene a standing ovation at the end of their opening set. You should have seen their faces.  It was a special moment.  When The Civil Wars came out afterwards, they joked that Milo Greene had obviously not received the memo about opening acts being supposed to suck.  :)

Well, I need to put some music on and get back to work creating more Etsy prints.  I'd like to work on a painting or two as well. Enjoy your week.