In the Middle of Lake Erie Grows a Flower

Above is a photo called "Lake Erie Daisy" that I presented to the innkeeper of the House on Huntington Lane in gratitude for all her help with getting started in the art world.

A year ago today was the first time I ever participated in an art show. It happened kind of like the way things happened to Forrest Gump. You see, I had called up my friendly neighborhood innkeeper at the House on Huntington Lane Bed and Breakfast on Kelleys Island to ask whether she had a room available so I could stay overnight, take pictures, and look into selling some prints on the island. A link to the House on Huntington Lane appears below:

http://www.houseonhuntington.com/index.htm

Since I had stayed there before, the innkeeper knew me and suggested, “Why don’t you call up the Kelleys Island Historical Association? They’re having an art show. All you have to do is come set up a card table.” A link to the Kelleys Island Historical Association appears below:

http://www.kelleysislandhistorical.org/

Having absolutely no experience, I happily agreed. Long story short, I sold a decent amount of photos featuring Kelleys Island landscape and nature scenes last year. The most touching moment came when a six-year-old boy stepped forward and introduced himself to me because he wanted to meet a “real artist” and his mom had just bought him a picture I was selling of the glacial grooves so that he could hang up the famous Kelleys Island rock formation in his bedroom. A link to an earlier post on the glacial groove photo appears below:

http://countrydreaming-countrycorner.blogspot.com/2009/02/kelleys-island-photo-published-in.html

The event ended on a humorous note when my card table totally collapsed right at the end of the show. Some guy volunteered that he could fix up my table enough so that the Kelleys Island Historical Association might pay me $10 for it. At that point, I simply donated the table for free and was real happy they didn’t charge me anything to haul it away as junk that was messing up their beautiful island! You might say my art career began with a bang …

Anyway. This spring, the same innkeeper from the House on Huntington Lane gave me another good suggestion: The Lake Erie daisies were in bloom along the North Shore Loop trail. I was so grateful that I gave her a 5x7 copy of the daisy in an 8x10 mat as a gift at this year’s island art show.

Back for Some Splashing Cool Conversation at Ye Olde Summer Watering Hole

This photo is called "Keeping Cool." These two horses were happily splashing around in their watering hole just like little kids. Photo taken at the Southern Cross Ranch in Madison, Georgia back in May, 2007.

What a long, strange trip it’s been … and the journey continues.

So what’ve I been up to?

Driving back and forth like a mad woman between Ohio and New York to participate in not one, but two art shows at the same time. Right now I have two photos on display: “Memories of Ellen” is up at the Market Street Art Center in Lockport, New York. “Intergalactic Scenic Overlook” … the photo that won first place back in February up in New York … is up at the Zanesville Art Center in Zanesville, Ohio.

“Memories of Ellen” is named after a childhood friend who grew up and moved away. In fact, this is the playhouse in her backyard. Link to the Market Street Art Center: http://www.marketstreetartcenter.org/

“Intergalactic Scenic Overlook” … as mentioned in an earlier blog entry … here’s a link to that blog entry:

http://countrydreaming-countrycorner.blogspot.com/2009/02/sky-is-not-limit.html

And here’s a link to the Zanesville Art Center: http://www.zanesvilleartcenter.org/

Worked on a short-term, time-sensitive technical writing contract assignment during the month of June. Long hours, but so rewarding to work with manuals in foreign languages from Spanish to Japanese as well as with excellent supervisors.

Feeling a bit under the weather with one thing or another, just now feeling like my old self again.

Attended a 4th of July picnic at a relative’s house. Most memorable moment was hearing from across a smoke-filled backyard, “Mom, he’s got one of the sparklers in his mouth …” Don’t try this at home. Even though someone else actually did.

So that’s what’s been up with me. I look forward to visiting blogs now that I’m here … Wow I’ve missed you guys! :-)

Question for Readers: So, how have you been spending YOUR summer vacation?

I Hate Snakes

I love my Indiana Jones hat. I love wearing it on intrepid adventures, nature trails, and bird walks.

Magee Marsh located at Oak Harbor, Ohio, is famous for unusual finds during spring warbler migration season. As of May 8, 2009, I was happy to see four "lifers" (birds seen for the first time that I can now proudly add to my life list of observed birds): Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Nashville Warbler, and Least Bittern. As for photographic evidence, forget about it. My camera's only good for landscapes. And, as luck would have it ... snakes!

Something else I have in common with Indiana Jones besides the hat. I hate snakes! Now this little guy happened to be contentedly sunning himself along the boardwalk trail, close enough to reach out and touch. (Perish the thought!) Turns out I had encountered a "species of concern" called the Eastern Fox Snake.

The Eastern Fox Snake, Latin name "Elaphe Vulpina Gloydi," is relatively tame. Hence the concern is that its population is thinning, though it remains at this point an unprotected species.

As the Eastern Fox Snake slithers off into the sunset, here are a few websites for more information:

http://www.ohiodnr.com/Home/species_a_to_z/SpeciesGuideIndex/easternfoxsnake/tabid/6607/Default.aspx

http://www.snakeestate.com/cornsnakes/eastern-fox-snake.html

http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/snake/fact%20pages/fox_snake/fox_snake.html

This adventure demonstrates yet another instance of going off in search of one thing and finding something completely unexpected. Sure keeps life interesting!

Questions for Readers: What's the most interesting non-bird that you've come across during a bird walk? And what's your most exciting or memorable life bird?

Flowering Dogwood in a Blue Clear Sky

My first trip down to the Hocking Hills this spring was stormy and gothic as you've seen before. My beloved redbud trees were in bloom, but looking like pale ghostly laughter amid scraggly bare brown branches all around.

I asked the innkeeper to send me an e-mail to let me know when the trees were just starting to turn spring green, so that I could plan to get up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning, jump in the car, and make a one-day whirlwind trip back down there. Well, the day I received the e-mail was just gorgeous, but by the time I would have traveled to the Hocking Hills at least half the day would have been gone. Couldn't go the next day due to a business-related phone call. Got rained out the day after that, at least according to the weather radar at my favorite weather website, Weather Underground.

http://www.wunderground.com/

As each precious day went by, I knew it was less and less likely to achieve the perfect combination of redbud trees blooming together with flowering dogwood trees together with just the right amount of spring green new leaves on the hillside trees. But anyways, I started out Saturday morning, and in my previous blog entry you can see plenty of clouds ... or weird Photoshopped skies to mask the clouds ... along with the spring green and red barns.

Then suddenly, out of a blue clear sky, emerged the one safe parking lot to pull off in and take pictures from on Thompson Ridge Road in Laurelville, Ohio. Now Thompson Ridge is a beautiful stretch of a scenic route. Only trouble is it's narrow, winding, steep in places, and doesn't have much of a safe shoulder alongside to stop anywhere even when the beauty gets real tempting.

But the one gravel parking lot was enough. And it provided access to the flowering dogwood against the sky. The redbud blossoms were long gone, had long since leafed out as the flowers camouflaged themselves by turning like chameleons into the common spring green. But the dogwood was a more than worthy consolation prize.

What the Hocking Hills have taught me over the years is that you never go down the same road twice. If you try to go back looking for that perfect spot where everything came together last time for an especially-pleasing photo, what you'll find are memories of an ideal moment in the past alongside of a jarring present that doesn't quite compare because it's not the same. So the alternatives are to travel different roads, or travel familiar roads as if they're new.

Because life can still hold wondrous surprises and God-given gifts if you remain open for them. Like in Forrest Gump's world, life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get ... and unexpected hoped-for events can seem to come "out of the blue clear sky." Fascinatingly enough, while driving this past Saturday through the Hocking Hills, I heard a radio advertisement with a local actor pretending to be Forrest Gump. I like to think this fits a theme in my life, as is also apparent from this earlier blog entry:

http://countrydreaming-countrycorner.blogspot.com/2009/02/forrest-gumps-feather.html

Anyways, I went out hoping for redbud, came up instead with dogwood, and was not disappointed.

Question for Readers: Have you ever embarked on a quest looking for one thing, and found something else, a surprise maybe, just as good or even better?

Red Barns and Spring Green

I made this first sky black the better to accent the colors and textures of new growth and well-tended farm buildings and fences. This pretty little barn surprises me with its beauty every time I see it coming up just around the bend of a winding road meandering through the hills. Photo taken at Laurelville in Hocking County, Ohio.


This particular hill at Ratcliffburg in Vinton County always reminds me of a gumdrop.


A grandeur of sky hovers over the hills of Vinton County, Ohio. The sky has been dramatized in Photoshop so I can better communicate how looking at the clouds made me feel.


I call this guy “Big Red.” Almost looks like a face with one eye patched, a loose nose, and a wide gaping mouth. Photo taken on Big Pine Road at Laurelville.


A quilt barn with matching wooly quilt sheep. The evergreen design on the side of the barn lets you know you’ve arrived at the Weaver Christmas Tree Farm. Photo taken at Creola in Vinton County.

Ash Cave Waterfall on the Rocks

A primal view of the Ash Cave Waterfall in the Hocking Hills of Ohio. Amazingly enough, this photo was taken on the same day as the Gothic Spring images in the preceding blog entry. It turned out after driving around a stormy countryside for six hours that the spring rains eventually poured themselves out into a pretty waterfall. More amazingly, I had this waterfall all to myself. And the sun came out just long enough to give the day a happy ending.

Gothic Spring

Disclaimer: I am only a humble blogger. I only report the weather. I do not create it. Having observed bare branches in Northeast Ohio, I traveled to Southeast Ohio, all with the noble goal of seeking out and bringing to you the loveliness of flowering trees and the gentleness of spring green. Here follow the results of my quest based on what I found on April 21, 2009:

This photo is called “Haunting Stormy Ohio Day.” It depicts intensely-changeable weather conditions on a back road in Vinton County, Ohio. All day long scattered rain storms would alternate with small bursts of sunshine. No Photoshop was used on this image. I know it's very dark, but I wanted to keep it as is to preserve the mood.

This photo is called “Spring Gothic.” In it, a majestic stand of trees loom in an eerie stormy light at Lake Hope State Park in Vinton County, Ohio.



This photo is called “There is Beauty in a Dogwood Bush.” When skies are grey, trees are spooky, and that roof over your head doesn’t look entirely comforting, you can still count on the dogwood bush to provide beauty. So remember, when life hands you a dogwood bush, take a picture of it. Okay, so the dogwood bush is pretty spooky too. But in a good way, I think.


To end on a small note of hopeful color, at least the “Ghostly Pink Redbud” trees were in bloom!