The dark weather is coming

Rain, cold fronts and the unexpected hurricane always show up in August and September.  For the longest time, I had not seen lighting.  I had not felt my legs hurt with a change of winds.  More changes are coming in the next days that will be a relieve from the horrible heat we have right now but I know I will miss it once its gone. 
The mesquite trees are the only ones that do not get affected by any change.  They stay green throughout the whole entire year.  Everything else dries easily here because of the heat or cold weather.  There are times that I hear people say how they wish the valley would change colors...the leaves fall and become all white.  There is no change here and I wonder if this is a good or bad.  I wonder if the young prefer change and the old prefer stability. 
The Rio Grande Bravo has changed in the course of years.  People say it was prettier back then when the water was cleaner.  I still say its a marvelous monster that makes you feel tiny and consumes your life for a moment.  We might have changed it but I wonder when it will change us because after all we cannot control it and never will.  We might use it to our advantage but once it gives up on us what will it do to humanity? 

 

The Rio Grande Bravo is unique because it has been used for unnatural purposes.  It is a body of water used to separate two countries that has been filled with bodies and drugs which are things that have stained its image.  I had never gotten close to until someone about three years ago wanted a painting of el Chalan.  I had the opportunity to cross the Rio Grande Bravo without a bridge and without fear.  I remember looking at the sky and all around me realizing for the first time it was a river, one that was beautiful.

This time I remembered a phrase my mom used to say when the cold weather would come "el cielo esta aborregado."  I will not try to translate not because I can't but because it is useless.  Meanings always get lost when they travel through languages.  I rather explain it.  People use this phrase when the sky has clouds carrying ice.  These clouds form the shapes of sheep and from there comes the word "aborregado" from "borrego" or sheep.

In my first and only visit to el Chalan, the sky was "aborregada" and this is why I realized that I had never painted the Rio Grande Bravo when a cold front was coming in.  Cold fronts always make me think more about the water.  Is the water cold?

I still need to define the painting more but here is the start.