Retreat - Part III (the critters)

The magical environment we stay in naturally hosts all kinds of fascinating creatures -

(some possible denizens - actually copies of Jean-baptiste Monge drawings. Done the first evening there...)

ACTUAL critters we saw - Tracks of elk and deer, ravens and eagles.

 Northern alligator lizard!

And this year (the first time in the 10 years we've been going) we actually got to see Chinook salmon running.

This river runs practically next to the cabin. We followed it upstream to where there were gravel beds for spawning...

(Our hostess got right up to the water for the best view of both live spawning fish as well as a number of finished dead ones... Also got to see signs of river otters who had obviously been enjoying the spent ones.)

If you look very closely, you can see a Chinook salmon in the bottom center third....

This was not a big mushroom year - but there were a few out there (here is a fine specimen of chicken in the woods) -

-and here is part of a larger hedgehog mushroom growth (looks like coral) - which we had for dinner. :-)

I neglected to photograph the new bones of this year (drat!) which was a very darling probable bobcat skull. It was quite small, with very worn teeth, so it had obviously lived a long life...

Why are bones so awesome?

And meet our new mascot! (As predicted, last fall was our last time with our beloved Great Dane...). This is Kharma - a rescued street dog from *India*. Really. Did you know you could do that?

She is a sweetie. Very energetic (she's only 5 months old, still a puppy!), friendly, agreeable and always busy. Her favorite activity of the weekend was rolling in dead salmon remains. :-) See her here digging a hole back to India...

Apparently a favorite pose. She even sleeps in that position.  

She is a lovely addition.

Retreat - Part II (the forest)

One of the projects I worked on was a greatly belated Greenman geocoin design - 

-it seemed most apropos considering our beautiful arboreal surroundings...

(this is my favorite sit-above-the-stream-log-to-meditate-on. See how twisty..? neat!)

Such a lovely, sun-dappled place to be.... Near perfect surroundings, IMO....

Music Monday - Cymbeline and Retreat Overview

Loreena McKennitt always seems appropriate for mountains, forests and the Autumnal Equinox -

Just back from yet another fabulous fall retreat -

 The water, sky,

 mountains, ancient trees,

 the cabin,

 bones and wildlife,

 sun, forest,

 rivers, streams,

 many, many rooty nests filled with 'dragon's eggs', 

so much art, food, good company and many many things to love.... 

More photos and reports anon!

WIP Wednesday - Fare thee well (retreat time!)

I'm leaving in the morning for our annual autumn retreat. Much good food, good company and good art happens. I have great plans to make some serious headway on the troll book. Wish me luck! I will report upon my return.

Music Monday - more Dan (Sketches)

Here's another little known Dan Fogelberg from the Nether Lands album (my third favorite of his. :-):

Figure Friday -

 Warm-up drawing - about 15 minutes (conte crayon).

Longer drawing - about 2 hours. Charcoal pencil.

Therapeutic Thursday - Halloween Berries..

As a nice break from all the painting and packing in the house, I got to spend some time out in the garden today. Picked a small amount of a bunch of things (fava beans, gogi berries, Himalayan 'chocolate' berries, figs, cherry tomatoes, chamomile blossoms) and completely stripped the aronia and seabuckthorn bushes.

 They are so intensely colored -

 Came in with thoroughly stained hands and forearms (which you only get a taste of in this photo) - dark purple juice, orange 'dust' and smears of red from all the thorns on the seaberry bush...

Neither berry is all that great to eat straight off the bush (bland in the case of the aronia and super-tart for the seaberries), but are chocked-full of anti-oxidant goodness and are great frozen and added to my smoothies all winter.

The only thing that would make them better would be having them ripen closer to the end of October. :-)

WIP Wednesday - Petroglyphs...

Still working on the basement - have re-painted and touched up pretty much everything, and am now boxing up the shelf contents of the family room so that the carpet-layers can move the shelves around next week.

And since none of the painting I'm doing on my walls is very interesting to look at, let me share some of the amazing surface decoration we saw down in southern Utah -

We drove down to an area called Parowan Gap to see the centuries-old petroglyphs there.

According to Utah.com: Several centuries ago Native Americans traveling through the area stopped and pecked designs onto the smooth faces of large boulders found on the east side of the gap. 

Over the years many of the boulders have been covered with these chiseled figures known as petroglyphs.

The petroglyphs here are thought to be the work of several cultural groups and represent a long period of use by Native cultures.

What these designs mean is still unknown.

Archaeologists debate that they represent concepts, ideas or actual happenings.

Perhaps they were part of a religious activity or hunting ritual.

 The local Native Americans consider them to be an important part of their cultural history relating stories of their ancestor's lifeways.

New dating techniques are being developed that will allow petroglyphs to be placed in time.

 While we don't know the precise age of these petroglyphs yet, we do know that the agriculturally based Sevier-Fremont lived in the area over a thousand years ago.

There is little doubt that some of the designs were made by this group, or perhaps even the earlier nomadic Archaic peoples.

 Researchers believe that the semi-nomadic ancestors of the present day Southern Paiute also created some of these figures.

They were really impressive to see up close. And beautiful.

(The modern contributions - not so much...)