Snowstorm dreams

 

Snowstorm...9" x 12" watercolor

Kilimanjaro 140# paper

It's still snowing outside my window where I paint...and this is the view...in my imagination, where I am sitting in a wool sweater at a small oak table, kerosene lamp flickering away while I paint and write and read and dream, with a full coffee cup and an empty chili bowl nearby. The fire in the potbellied iron wood burning stove keeps the cabin toasty with the crackle and smell of pinon and aspen. Freshly cut wood fills a box beside the stove,  and the coffee simmers in a metal coffee pot on top.  Black cast iron skillets, a couple of pans and an enamel wash basin hang near the stove. A buffalo skull hangs on the wall  above a book case, next to my paints. In the corner is my bed with a wool Mexican serape as a cover. By the door my coat and hat hang on a  peg, above my boots,  ax and the canteen  I use to  get fresh water every morning in the creek out front that trickles down the mountain, almost frozen over but not. Above the door is my 30-30  in case I need it. My dog is snoozing on a small rug over the wood plank floor near the stove. Outside, the snow gets deeper and deeper...the sounds of silence.