inviting a squirrel to lunch

This squirrel was very calm with a long attention span.


The tree bark looks a lot like elephant hide.




He watched me a long time from each position, but came down for a cashew.




Then he went back to relax on a branch.

Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S8000. It has a 10X zoom that I love.

sketchers in Prague

In the 3 days we were there, I only saw a few sketchers. But they were all doing excellent work.

These two are on the Charles Bridge (foot traffic only, where there was a glass-player, multiple art vendors, and various performers.

This guy was outside Prague Castle, doing a sketch of the view of the city.



























This was an artist working in colored pencil from photographs.

statuary around Hammond Castle

This piece has a face on each side. Three females and one male.










This gremlin(?) is slightly out of focus, but he fascinated me. He's over an archway in an outdoor wall.



This lion is inside the castle.

inside Hammond Castle

Inside the Great Hall, where there is a (now non-functioning) pipe organ. Hammond invented things for pipe organs and major concerts were once held here.

There was a large indoor pool area where plants grow and the outdoor light comes in.

Hammond Castle

John Hammond, Jr, inventor and owner of almost as many patents as Thomas Edison, built this castle in Gloucester, Mass in the 1920s.

He scavenged parts of European castles (one wonders how legally) and brought them together in this amazing construction.

It's great fun to go up the winding stairways in the towers to see the rooms. I'll post a few photos from the inside tomorrow.

high flood water back in March

(Morning note: The blog is loading today with template background missing missing links in the right column. An experimental repost fixed it, but now it's back. I think the problem is at Blogger, not me. I'm letting it be for now.)



I finally looked at the photos I took back in March of the flood waters in our big central park, Mines Falls.

The river was several feet higher than normal, with many of the trails covered in deep water.


The blue areas here are the actual river. All other water is outside its normal banks.

still in Red Rock Canyon

More of the desert colors and textures from a simple drive through the hills.

Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

20 minutes outside Las Vegas is a circular drive through Red Rock Canyon. In August I took this photo of the vista from the wayside stopping point that is at the highest point.



This is the path back from another viewing stop on the drive, where a stream occasionally flows through the canyon.

I love the subtle, ever changing desert colors much more than the repetitive shouting electric colors of the Strip.

amazing tree guys

In the devastating ice storm last December, many trees in our yard were damaged or completely broken. One was a huge old hickory that lost more than 3/4 of its crown.

We were sad to have to take it down, but decided to do it before the hanging branches fell and killed someone.

We hired a local tree service and they did an amazing job. Bobby, the cutter here, reached out with a 15-foot pole saw, standing in the bucket at full extension, and still could barely reach the tree. I took these pictures from the second floor of our house.

Now the tree will help keep us warm next winter; we have a lot of long-burning hickory to split up for firewood.

and more fungi

They're buried under fallen leaves now. The woods paths are totally covered with bronze, gold, scarlet, yellow, and yes, brown leaves.

summer fungi

We had so much rain this summer, there are more varieties of mushrooms sprouting in the woods than I've ever seen before. Here are just a few of the prettiest ones.

enduring the snow

When the world outside is piled high with white cold stuff, it's best to stay in with your eyes closed.

Chaucer says, I'm sleeping until dinner is served!

making your own mini paint tins

I always have watercolors with me, with a variety of waterbrushes and pens. In the metal tins I put empty half-pans (stuck down with double-sticky tape), then filled them with Winsor-Newton tube paint in primary and secondary colors.

In the lid of the tiniest tin I put 2 colors in the lid, separated by a line of silicone seal so one doesn't get wet when the other is being used.

In the eyeshadow box I put a variety of Daniel Smith tube paint.I also have half-pans in an Altoids tin and a larger Penguin mints tin.

I like fiddling with art supplies almost as much as I like actually using them.

The essential egg

Someone on the web has a project of taking a picture of every meal he eats in 2007. I'm only going for part of one breakfast.

When we were in Paris in 2005, Carol took photos of our meals. Brings back great memories, laughs, and longing to go back!

Two less trees

This is the pine being swung up, over the house, and down the other side--two pictures of the same tree.

Let me say that again: lifted *over* the three-story house in a fully vertical position--the tree is at least 60 feet tall.



Job beautifully done by the highly professional tree service guys who came with their 170-foot crane, a bucket truck, a chipper, a pickup and 2 more vehicles.

They worked magic in taking the big pine off the house, plus the smaller birch that was caught in the pine. The temperature was 10 degrees with a slight wind.

And the roofing man has come to estimate and schedule the fix for the hole in the roof. Yay for progress!

and then there's the tree

Can't tell what damage it did, doesn't appear to be too awful. We were lucky with this one!

Note how it goes all the way over the ridge line to the front. And it is rooted beyond the backside of the shed. Nothing like a tall tree!

There are branches smashed up against the deck door. No breakage there, most fortunately.

We see it daily

Close enough to see the dust on the number keys, in spite of daily keying.

Rippley sky

A sky pic that looks like the painted background, inked figure style I've been aiming for. Nature does it better!

Blue mug

Macro views enthrall me.

Feel the Warm

We're cooking, wrapping, unwrapping, enjoying the tree. And packing for a short trip. The cat doesn't know yet that he can't go.

May you feel the warmth and Light of the season!