The Rule of Three Brings a Great Day!

So we had another snowstorm,a  surprise one, several inches, wet and heavy, but not traffic stopping.  And later this morning, after the sun had started to slide the snow off my car, I went out with trusty shovel, and pushed the rest of it onto the road, then trotted back and forth pushing a lot more out to where the plow would collect it. 

And suddenly realized I was doing the snow shoveling just as in old times, no pain, no stress, and was a great moment it was.  I didn't go crazy doing it, but just to be able to was a treat.  After a certain age you can't help wondering if any injury will ever really go away, and now it seems that my shoulder, for the most part, has decided to play nice again.  Yay.  So that was Great Thing One.

Then after shoveling around, I went to the mailbox and among all the junk mail was a local tax assessor's notice. Oh-oh.  Got it home, to see what this year's reassessment, first in many years, had done to my budget.  And discovered, to my astonishment that they're predicting a reduction in real estate tax!  this is a total first in all my years of owning property, unheard of.  This state has the highest real estate taxes in the nation, and for them to reduce the rate, well, I read it twice to be sure. And that was Great Thing Two.

And the beech tree, what a gift out there.  To see more, go to http://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com 

But here's a preview, beech tree, trunk wet from snow, sun coming out and creating shadows and shapes

This was Great Thing Three.

I rarely talk about exactly why I do these blogs, because it often seems self evident, but recently a question reminded me that maybe it isn't.  This was the question I've had many times: why do you just blog? why not convert it into an illustrated book?  it would be lovely.

Well, from the practical standpoint, eight years of blogging, even with editing for current interest, would, translated into paper, fill a small bookcase with volumes.  And kill a lot of nice trees. But from the standpoint of art, it would not be the form I'm working in.

The idea is that, aside from the permanence of the blog material, since, compared to printed volumes, it never goes away,  it's an artform in itself.  It's the way a writer and artist, that would be me, breaks through what people in the theater call the fourth wall.  That's when the actor turns and addresses the audience, bringing them into the action breaking the fourth wall between audience and proscenium stage.

In my case, the dimension is that of time.  You can continue reading this as it comes. You can look back, but you can't look ahead as in a book, since it doesn't exist yet.  I haven't written the future posts yet.  And this is a continuing artwork, given to you as a gift.  That's what the art blog is all about, a continually evolving form, where you're invited to come along, step in and out, read, or comment or not, respond or not. But it's being written by a person who is changing as you read.

Books have their place, as you know from my own large reading habit.  But the blog is a different form entirely, and stands for itself. It's not a Thing that you can shelve and maybe read or not one day, and meanwhile have to dust.

And blogging is the best way to celebrate a Three Big Thing Day!