The annual henna-and-wine-on-the-dock day!

Once a year, three of my favorite former colleagues join me at my 'camp' for a henna-on-the-dock date, where we ate lunch on the dock, drank some sparkling pink moscato, shmoozed, and painted ourselves with henna. The group consists of the high school art teacher, the current elementary art teacher (my former job) who was the elementary computer teacher when I was still teaching, and the middle school math teacher who used to be a 4th grade teacher.  I previously posted about our henna date in 2013, but we've done it every year!  You can find the 2013 post by CLICKING HERE.

 

The two photos above are the legs of me and the math teacher.  I've told you about her before, and our first experiences with henna, when she was a 4th grade teacher going through chemo for breast cancer.  Over the course of that winter seven years ago, I painted henna on her head on three occasions,  and it was the best therapy imaginable.  You can read more about that by CLICKING HERE. 

Like any group, we grow and change over the years.  The youngest member of the group, the high school art teacher, now has a toddler.  After eating lunch, she painted henna on her ankle, but... after a few smears and her little guy jumping in a muddy puddle, she decided to leave it was safest to leave it as an ankle decoration!  I don't blame her.  But oh, the little guy, with his head of loopy curls, is SO adorable!!  That's her ankle, above.  Below is my leg.  The two different colors are the difference between the parts that are fresh and the parts that have dried.  

The fourth gal chose not to paint henna at all.  She's only been coming to henna-day for two years, and she's a bit conservative in her 'look' but we were glad we had her there with us to eat lunch in the sunshine and schmooze! Thanks for stopping by! 

Nature Interlude: Bird Babies and Loon Attacks

I most often use this blog to post about art projects, visits to art exhibits and museums and other artsy excursions, and other art and/or education topics.  But every so often I like to take a break to share a little bit of nature with you, through my camera.  I guess it is still an artsy post then, since I'm using my photography to share the magic of the natural world, which can be inspiration for other artwork, or art lessons and projects with students. Today's post is one of these nature interludes.  [Above, baby Red Wing Blackbirds]

In the theme of baby birds, this loon [officially, a Common Loon], above, is sitting on a nest, presumably on eggs.  Loons are water birds, and only come ashore to nest.  Their legs are placed very far back on their bodies, which makes it pretty impossible for them to walk much at all.  This is the first time I've ever seen a nesting loon, and the last time I come anywhere near a mama loon on a nest.  Actually, the pic below shows more accurately how far I was from the loon.  All closeup photos of the loon (and of the red wing blackbird babies) were taken using a zoom.  There's no way I'd ever get so close.  Anyhow, when I discovered the loon on the nest, I took my kayak in a wide arc around it, attempting to keep a respectful distance. [By the way, the other bird in the pic below is a Common Grackle]. 

I had kayaked from our Adirondack family camp [a seasonal cottage near the shore] to the little marsh at the north end of the lake [Loon Lake; one of two in the Adirondacks].  I always enter the marsh the same way, heading toward one side where there's stumps and logs where I often find turtles basking, past the tree where I saw a magnificent Bald Eagle a couple of years ago, aiming toward the weeds in the back of the marsh, where sometimes if I'm lucky I'll spot a Great Blue Heron fishing. 

And that's when I saw the loon, on a platform that had been placed in the lake several years ago, for loon nesting.  But I've never seen anything on the platform before, other than a turtle and some dragonflies, so I was caught by surprise.  We always have loons on the lake, but I've never spotted where they had nested.  I drifted slowly, taking pictures.  The loon seemed undisturbed, turning her head one way, then the other. 

After a bit, she slipped into the water, taking a peek my way, and then swimming in the opposite direction, which I took to mean she was fishing.  At this point I decided to continue toward the back of the marsh, to look for other wildlife.  Then, the loon went under, and suddenly surfaced directly in back of my kayak.  I was stunned.  I quickly tucked my camera between my knees, and the loon dived again, this time surfacing right in front of me, beside my kayak.  She was angry.  She motored forward directly at me at high speed, inches from my face, spreading her massive wings and beating them furiously against the water, her beak opening and closing, and her red eyes blazing.  I paddled backwards furiously,  until I was able to turn the nose of the kayak away and head forward, toward the back of the marsh, heart beating at breakneck speed, hands shaking.  I kayaked to the far side of the marsh, while she patrolled from the center, watching me until I exited and headed back into the open lake.  I don't recall when else I've been so terrified.  I doubt I've ever paddled faster, and I don't think my heartbeat slowed and my hands stopped shaking until I was back at my dock, a mile and a half away.  I have no plans to return to the marsh any time soon...

My visits to the baby red wing blackbirds have been much calmer, and much safer.  I discovered the nests at a pond just minutes from my home.  There's a well-used walking path around the pond, and walkways into some wetlands.  I frequently take walks around the pond, and always bring my camera, because there's lovely gardens.   

I've discovered three nests with babies at various stages of development, and I know there are more nests deep in the rushes.  Very cool.  These pics are a variety from my visits to the pond, every  few days.  The baby birds develop very fast!

Here's mama with a caterpillar in her beak, ready to feed her babies. 

And here's dad.  He looks like he's pacing! 

 This baby was developed enough to be kicked out of the nest.  The babies hang onto rushes until they are able to fly, waiting for mama or daddy to bring food. 

 I've named this baby Mr. Grumpy-pants.  Look at that face!

Enjoy the nature around you this summer, and take your time! Most of the people I see walking at this pond have no idea these baby birds are just a few feet away from them.  I feel so privileged to have made these discoveries.  But take my reminder: wild animals, no matter how beautiful, are ultimately WILD.  You cannot predict their behavior.  I certainly have learned that!

Goodbye, old friend

 About 1/2 mile away from our little lakeside "camp" on the side of the road, stood this  old phone booth.  Year after year it quietly sat there, long after the restaurant on the hill behind it had closed. 

More than 20 years ago, long before the day of portable phones (unless you were watching Star Trek or some other sci fi), I had driven to the camp with my sister-in-law, with, I believe, our pre-school children in the back seat.  We were meeting our husbands there later in the day.  We arrived at the camp and realized we'd forgotten the key.  They drive back home is about 40 minutes, so instead, we drove back up the hill and down the road to the phone booth, and called home.  My husband told me which window I'd be able to get open to crawl in and open the camp.  The phone booth saved the day!

Year after year, we'd drive by the phone booth, and as cell phones became popular, we wondered whether if would be taken away or whether it had been long forgotten by the phone company.  The phone book hanging inside was more than a decade old, and the booth was overgrown, inside and out. 

Last spring, I tried putting a dime in the slot, and nothing much happened.  A few days later, we stopped again, and this time I tried a quarter instead.  Dial tone!!!  I called my cell phone, and discovered the phone booth actually still worked!  What a surprise! 

I've photographed it in all seasons (though I can't seem to find the winter photos) and had planned to set up my plein air easel this fall and paint it when the leaves had begun to change.  Unfortunately, when we drove by yesterday, this was all we saw:

The phone booth quietly had disappeared sometime within the past week.  

Goodbye, old friend.

Images from a summer

In a few days, my students will be back for the fall session of DragonWing Arts, and I'll be back sharing art projects with you all, but I thought in the meantime I'd show you a few summer photos, since photography is a big part of my summer creativity.  Above, a great blue heron is playing peek-a-boo! Below, a luscious sunset over the lake, as viewed from our dock.

We are incredibly lucky to have a "camp" (that's the Adirondack name for a cabin or cottage or summer residence by a lake, or for some other recreation) on lovely little Loon Lake (one of several Loon Lakes in NY, but anyhow...), so any chance I get, I'm either in my kayak, or relaxing on the dock, or tromping through the woods. This summer my kayaking has brought me close to this great blue heron on a couple of occasions.  I just sat quietly and watched him. 

 That thing you see hanging in the center of my kayak below?  It's a waterproof box, for my camera, a spare battery, and a phone for emergencies.  Of course, since I obviously took the picture, you probably have realized that my camera was not in the box.  

 I'm not sure what this interesting aquatic plant is!

 Drip drop splish splash. 

 Morning fog

 Lunch!!

 I hope you've enjoyed a little of my summer joy! 

4th of July Fireworks Fun!

It's been a while since I took some time to take a break from art education stuff and just share my latest photos with you.  So I figured I'd do it today, with fireworks photos!  On the 4th of July, I tend to avoid big crowded fireworks shows, and favor sitting on our dock by our sweet little lake, where inevitably someone nearby or across the lake will be setting off some fireworks, as in the pic above.

In the past couple of years, our son and his friends gather at our "camp" for the 4th of July holiday, and, being mature young adults of between 26 and 28 years old, they think setting off fireworks is a wonderful thing.  My son, being a photo nut like his mom, sets up a tripod and takes pics while his friends all light the Roman candles and other fireworks. But these are not his photos; they are mine.  The photo above is a single 15 second exposure, with a lot of camera movement.

I got my tripod set up, set my Nikon on bulb, put a new battery in my remote, and took some dusk and sunset pics while waiting to see what would be occurring on the lake.  Some kayakers paddled by in the waning sunlight.

My son, seeing the rosy sunset glow, used his phone to take some photos since his camera was ready and adjusted for fireworks.

I played with sparklers on the dock and used my remote to make some ghost pics of myself, while waiting for actual fireworks.

 The boys started using their fireworks on the end of the dock.

Just south of us, someone put on a beautiful fireworks show readily visible from my seat on the back of the dock.  I think this pic below looks like dandelion fluff.

But it got crowded on the back of the dock, and as it got darker, I began to worry that my tripod would get knocked over and my Nikon would end up in the lake.  So I took the camera off the tripod, and put it around my neck, and stepped back off the dock.

 I moved my camera freely during open exposures, zoomed in and out, and just had fun taking shots with no idea how they'd look.  I was pretty pleased with how much fun these images turned out!

 Here's a ghost tree and a spinal column!

 This one below looks to me like a profile of a long-necked woman with green eyes, pink ears, and white hair piled on her head.  Can you see it?

 Hopefully, the precautions that were used mean that there won't be any burn marks on our new dock.  My husband and son spent several days building it, just last week! Here they are, admiring their work.

 While they worked on building the dock, I kayaked to my favorite marsh and ended up taking these pictures of dragonflies. 

And finally, while my husband put the finishing touches on the dock, I tried out my brand-new French easel and some oil paints in anticipation of the week-long plein air painting workshop I will be taking in just another week.  I haven't ever painted plein air before, and I hadn't used oil paints in 30 years, so I expect it to be quite an adventure!

 Goodnight, all!  Thanks for visiting!