Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, Volume 62, January 10, 1939

January 10 – Friday –

Strong gale from the S.W. in the night, a little snow, but the wind made it seem like a lot.

Work in the studio, even on albums seemed out of the question so I brought all the unmounted photographs of pictures into the house to sort by periods (or decades rather).

At the same time Bertha did some preliminary work on getting ready for Peggy and Dave who were to come over after school and take down the Christmas tree.

On account of this work, I said she should not have to get lunch, and she agreed, and we went to the Lodge where were had delicious blue pike dinners.

Home, then, and looked over the mail – then to the dentist’s for more work on Bertha’s tooth –

It was wonderful to go out into this riotous January day, snug and warm in the car – great nimbus clouds (such as generally come in late autumn) filled the whole southwest sky; through the openings the sun sent great rays and flashes – the fine snow, flung by the wind in great ragged banners, caught the sunlight in a blinding glare (as if the sunlight was tossed to and fro by the wind) – at times all things were blotted out by the snow as it drifted over the road from ice-hammocks edging the highway… A world of bewildering, wild beauty –

On the way back we picked up Peggy and Dave (Dave not home from school yet, so we waited for him outside the school – in vain! Finally Peggy went in and got him. He confessed that he had forgotten, and was just “fooling around.”

They accomplished the work with great efficiency – No one would let me do anything, and I did not put up much of an argument. When they were done, I drove them home – we were just in time to see the last glow of what must have been a spectacular sunset – rich rusty orange sky at the horizon (again the feeling of autumn) with ragged blue-black clouds drifting northward across it.

Late evening music – Haydn’s quartet – the Lark – and his 82^nd Symphony.

Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, January 10, 1964

[January 10^th has a great significance. It was on this day in 1967 that Charles Burchfield and then in 2013 his son C. Arthur Burchfield passed away]