Another sunny day in Virginia

Yes, the leaves are turning brown, the grass is toasted and the ears of corn whither on the stalk--another sunny day in Virginia. It seems that each day has an endless afternoon parade of white fluffy clouds across a French ultramarine sky.

The end of summer is coming soon and I hope for some variation in cloud formations and light. This brain-shaped cumulus shape floated toward the northeast at about four o'clock in the afternoon. The strong afternoon sun was just out of the composition to the upper left and bleached the cloud edges to a blaze of light.


The bright light seems to have bleached my brain into a headache. I'm trying to imagine John Constable with his painting easel and kit, wearing a summer hat and squinting at the shimmering landscape around the River Stour in Suffolk, England in 1822. I bet he got headaches, too. Perhaps I should bathe my temples with vinegar and sit in a darkened room. Or, choke down some willow bark tea sweetened with honey. That's how I imagine headache may have been treated in the early 19th century.