March 10, 1938 Thursday-
     Another day like yesterday, with less wind.
     AM. Putting in the studio, arranging my notes for the oil I am working on, into some sort of order. I found it easier to divide a picture into “passages” and group the notes under various headings - “sky”- chimney groups - Bridge area - the water with its ice-cakes - the battered part of the house - the extreme foreground with its bank, trees & birds etc.
     PM. To the Hamburg country. Drove to the “Big Sap” Hill where I parked the car. I had a vague plan for my walk but it wasn’t until I had gone a little ways until I form a definite route. The final plan was as follows - walk down a by-road to Abbott Rd, north on Abbott Rd a piece, then cut across to the abandoned railroad bed, back on it to Abbott Rd, cut up hill thru the woods, & thence out to the main road and up over the ridge on a dirt road and back to the car.
     On such a day, a walk should commence at the top of a table-land, so that it would give a wide view over a great valley. A great lift of the spirit came to me as I started on the gentle slope to the Hamburg Valley or Boston Valley as they call it.
     In a field I paused - the warm sun on the dry grass, the melting yellow earth - the intoxicating earthly smells; from the distant farmyard came the homely primitive call of a rooster.