Costa Rican Critters

While Costa Rica clearly has plenty of familiar animals, cats and dogs, raccoons, cattle, familiar birds like egrets and pelicans, we also saw quite a few that we'd seen only before in zoos, or in other tropical environments like Jamaica or southern Mexico.

Man with traditional oxcart, historically used to transport coffee.

Iguanas are common. They're vegetarian, and clearly accustomed to humans.

I think this is a caiman.  We saw warning near streams and rivers to stay out of the water because of these reptiles.  They are smaller than alligators or crocodiles.

One river tour we took went looking particularly for crocodiles.  This 80 year old croc is seventeen feet long and weighs an estimated 1, 700 pounds.

We saw several sloths lounging in trees.  This might be a two toed or a three toed sloth, a couldn't see to count. 

For me the most fun was seeing monkeys.  There were white faced monkeys, like this one, black howlers, and tiny squirrel monkeys like those in the picture below this line.  We saw them often, even near one of the resorts where we stayed.  There they made a racket early in the morning, before it heated up, and threw coconuts on the tile roof of the building.

I have a small, inexpensive camera, and we often were walking in a group, so I missed shots of many beautiful creatures - iridescent butterflies, warblers with brilliant flashes of red, brightly colored hummingbirds, green parrots, and toucans with bills like hatchets.  It was a riot of movement, sound and color, and tonic to eyes weary of winter.

First Snow

6x6 inches, paper collage with splattered paint

On Wednesday we had our first real snow of the season.  Here in town we probably only accumulated four or five inches, but further north and west they had a real blizzard.  It's hard to complain, since it wasn't too long ago I still had greenish grass and pansies blooming.  It''s all covered in white now, and much more festive than it was before the storm. 

I saw a news photo from Madison of a young woman playing in the snow with her dog, and decided to adapt it for this small collage.  I used bits of magazine ads and photos, part of a Wisconsin map and some bits of graph paper.  I love the dark shape of the jumping dog.

Day Tripping, to the Everglades of the North

Yesterday the heat and humidity broke and Mr. Bike Man and I decided to travel north and take in a boat tour of the Horicon Marsh.  I had taken a similar trip with my dad when I was in college, but Dick and I had only driven around the edges of the huge cattail marsh.  A few weeks back we saw an item about Horicon Marsh Boat Tours at Blue Heron Landing on the local television news, and decided to go see for ourselves.  This photo is of Marc Zuelsdorf, son of the man who founded the operation.  Marc has been giving tours since he was eleven, and knows the marsh and its birds backward and forward.  We were impressed not only by his knowledge of the history of the marsh, but his ability to spot birds from very far away, and identify them by their calls.  There were a couple hard-core birders with the group, and none of their detailed questions threw the man in any way.

I always think of the marsh in terms of it being the source of the Rock River, a river that begins here, runs south west through towns like Watertown, Fort Atkinson, and Janesville, then eventually empties into the Mississippi at Rock Island. But the marsh is the largest fresh water cattail marsh in the United states, and an internationally important wildlife refuge.  The city of Horicon, which has a population just under 4,000 people, is home to a John Deere manufacturing plant, seen here from our vantage point on the Rock River. 

These boat houses are for for hunters and fishermen to store their boats.  Some are new, some a hundred years old.

The marsh is huge, and shallow in most parts.  Fishing isn't very good, unless you're out for bullheads or carp.  

Out in the marsh what you see in the middle of a summer day is a whole lotta water.  Off in the distance our guide spotted some white pelicans, and we saw other birds like great blue and green herons, kingfishers, cedar waxwings, red-wing blackbirds, several varieties of swallows and swifts.  We also saw quite a few painted turtles sunning their little cold-blooded selves on logs in the shallow water.  What we didn't see much of, although there were hundreds of thousands of them nesting in the cattails, was ducks.  The marsh is divided into a portion controlled by the Wisconsin DNR and part run by the federal government.  The Wisconsin controlled part has a hunting season, but hunting is never allowed, and access is strictly controlled in the federal wildlife reserve.  Guess where there are more ducks and geese.

Over three hundred varieties of birds have been documented in the marsh, but the great blue heron is one of the most common ones to see outside of spring and fall when the land and sky are black with ducks and geese.  It's hard to resist trying to get a knockout photo of these large birds, but this was the best I could manage. 

Maybe I can talk Mr. Bike Man into a spring or fall trip, and see what sort of bird pictures I can snap then.  He certainly seems to enjoy a summer day out on the marsh.

Black and White

Bucky, our solar powered cat, has been spending lots of time recharging her batteries in sunny spots on the carpet.  I keep thinking I should paint her in all of her poses around the house, but I need to catch her with her eyes closed, or the camera is just too fascinating, and she leaves her pose. 

Maybe it's the lack of color outside, all the shades of white, blue-gray, brown, and black in the winter landscape, but I have been enjoying making small (4x4 inches) collages with a limited palette.  Most of the time I've been working on Bristol vellum, but these recent ones are painted and collaged on small squares of styrofoam, salvaged from packages of hamburger or chicken.  The resulting tile has a nice dimensional quality that looks good floated in a shadow box style frame.

Still Playing With Scissors

6x6 inches, vintage paper collage

I'm still playing with my envelopes of vintage paper and the paperback book of medieval paintings.  All the men and women look very thoughtful, or perhaps sad.  This is the only illustration in the book that was reproduced in color.

I've been working on making the labels for this blog visible so that readers (and I) can search for topics of interest - an index of sorts.  I've been rather casual and inconsistent in labeling entries, which makes it very difficult to find specific topics.  So I'm consolidating, adding, deleting, and generally tinkering with that part of the blog.  I hope that makes it easier for people interested in challenges, watercolors, recipes, or whatever to find what they want.

This 11x14 oil painting is for sale on eBay here:  eBay auction

Sparrow

11x14 inches, oil

I am enjoying my continuing experiments with oil paint, though I am not sure I like the results as well as my watercolor work.  Still, I have been working with watercolors for years, and I just started with these water mixable oils.  One real problem for me is photographing the results.  I have not found out a way to avoid glare,  This time I took the photo while the wet painting was still on my easel, and turned the painting away from a nearby window.  Still there is a little glare in the upper left corner. Perhaps I should let the painting dry a few days before I try, but in this case I wanted to submit my entry for April's Studio Atelier challenge.

Inspired by a Marge Piercy Poem

vintage bluebird trading card

I headed out to my Thursday painting group this week only to discover that it had been canceled, and I was not informed.  Rather than stew over this inconvenience I headed out for a latte and a browse through a local used book store, where I found a good copy of The Moon is Always Female, poems by Marge Piercy.  This one stood out for me.  When people say that I am talented (this doesn't happen every day by any means) I always think that a decent painting is more the result of years of working at it than some trait I inherited from my mother or great aunt, like straight hair or green eyes.  Anyway, I liked the poem.

For the young who want to

by Marge Piercy

Talent is what they say

you have after the novel

is published and favorably

reviewed.  Beforehand what

you have is a tedious

delusion, a hobby like knitting.

Work is what you have done

after the play is produced

and the audience claps.

Before that friends keep asking

when you are planning to go

out and get a job.

Genius is what they know you

had after the third volume

of remarkable poems.  Earlier

they accuse you of withdrawing,

and ask why you don't have a baby,

call you a bum.

The reason people want M.F.A.'s,

take workshops with fancy names

when all you can really

learn is a few techniques,

typing instructions and some-

body else's mannerisms

is that every artist lacks

a license to hand on the wall

like your optician, your vet

proving you may be a clumsy sadist

whose fillings fall into the stew

but you're certified a dentist.

The real writer is one

who really writes.  Talent

is an invention like pholgiston

after the fact of fire.

Work is its own cure.  You have to

like it better than being loved.

Virtual Paintout - the Canary Islands

5x7 inches, watercolor, 

original scene on Google Street View, the Canary Islands

This is my effort for this month's Virtual Paintout (see sidebar of challenges).  I originally planned to do all oils and acrylics for these challenges, but this month and last I ended up reverting to my comfort area of watercolor.  I like learning more about places like the Canary Islands, which up until now were a big dark closet in my brain.

Cutting and Pasting Again

paper collage on mat board

So this is what I do when I have other more important things to do.  I have lots of envelopes of things clipped from old magazines, books, calendars and so on.  Eve here was from a 1968 Life Magazine article about the women's movement.  I think the title of the article was Eve Was Framed.  Anyway, I wanted to give her life in a new context.  The big old lizard just called out to me.

What I should be doing is getting ready for tomorrow's Art Loop and Painters' Frolic, to be held at the Pontiac Convention Center. I've never participated in anything like this before, and I am not sure how I am going to haul everything there and keep myself occupied for the entire day.  It occurred to me yesterday that if I do sell paintings, I need to make some decisions about which paintings might appeal to buyers, price them, find something in which to wrap them, and something on which to write receipts. That's looking on the hopeful side.  I still need to wire a couple paintings, and then decide on what to take to work on, since we are supposed to be demonstrating as well. What to do? Watercolor? Acrylic? Oils? Collage?

The event has been well-publicized, and some of the funds raised will go to a local food bank, so this may be a lovely way to spend the day.  I just always worry.  Maybe that's why I chose a scary turquoise lizard over Eve's shoulder!

First Signs of Spring, and a poem

This was the week that I first heard robins when I woke.  This was the week that snowdrops replaced snow.  This was the week when the smallest of crocus bloomed in the brown grass.






Struck by Glory, by Alyse Rall
in the 2010 Wisconsin Poets Calendar

The plum blossoms are already fading
this year the rains fall
again and again.
One night last week
we were surprised by lightning
and ran out into the storm
bareheaded, laughing
we were struck
by Glory.

Rivulets of spring run through my body
and ache in me --
I know a place where melted crusts of snow in March
chatter down the gutters, and I remember
prancing barefoot in Wisconsin
across a lawn through snow-slush patches
to reach the sun-steamed sidewalk
feet burning ice cold
in the warm spring sun.

Pike Place Fish

Here is what I've been working on the past few days.  I took a photo of some sort of fish when we visited Pike Place Market in Seattle a couple years ago, and finally got around to playing with painting him (her?). I'm not even sure what sort of fish I have here, salmon maybe?

At any rate, I wanted to experiment with some Japanese Masa paper that I had been using for monotypes.  I found directions online somewhere, and gave it a go.  Masa paper has a smooth and a rough side.  I did a quick drawing on the smooth side, then crumpled the paper into a ball and soaked it about 20 seconds in the sink.  I have an acrylic sheet that I use for doing prints, so I gently smoothed out the damp paper, smooth drawing side down, onto the sheet.  Then I did some rather light washes on the rough side of the paper.  The paint spreads and seeps into the wrinkles of the paper.  I read that you should place the newly painted paper on some paper toweling and then wait until it dries naturally, usually several hours.  Impatient me used a hair dryer to speed up the process.

When the prepared Masa was dry I got a sheet of 140 lb. watercolor paper ready to use as a support. I used a sheet 16x20 inches, just a little larger than my Masa paper.  Then I got out some Elmers glue, a container of water, and a cheap brush.  I spread glue on the back (rough) side of the Masa, spreading it out evenly with a brush damped with water.  It helps to work from the center out, always brushing toward the edges of the paper.  I do this on scrap paper, like an old telephone book, because it creates less mess.  Then I placed the glue covered sheet on the watercolor paper (drawing side up!), smoothing it out gently first with my damp hands, then with a brayer, to create a good even bond between the Masa and the watercolor paper underneath.  Then I waited more until the two glued sheets dried thoroughly.  I admit I cheated again, speeding up the process with my hair dryer.

After that, the fun began.  I just started painting.  The Masa is quite absorbent. It works best to use a light touch, and let each layer dry before adding another.  If you rub too much the paper begins to pill like a cheap sweater, which isn't real attractive. My paper did pill a little, but when it was dry I was able to brush the pills away with a dry watercolor brush.   I actually went over my original pencil drawing with a little vine charcoal, then began adding watercolor.  I even added a little India ink in the eye and on the fins.

I like how he turned out, complete with his splotches and speckles.  I look forward to using this paper again, though I'll need to think carefully about what subjects would be enhanced by this process.  Landscapes?  Portraits.  We'll see.

I have never seen this paper for sale locally, but I was able to buy a package from Cheap Joes catalog, and I'm sure there are other places to purchase it online.

I've Been Framed!

16 x 20 inch vintage paint by number

This morning after we hung the new art show at the Janesville Performing Art Center, I headed off to my favorite consignment shop for a cuppa joe, the current news, and a 16x20 used frame for the frog band watercolor.  I didn't want to spend much to display the painting, so I headed to the shelves of framed items.  There's all sorts of things from which to choose, everything from faded prints, to someone's nice cross-stitch, to photos, to black velvet Elvis.  Usually the frames need work, sanding, maybe repainting.  But today the frame that seemed to suit my needs best was varnished pine, definitely 50's.  Inside was this cockatoo, painted on canvas board, and even signed.  I love the colors, which remind me of my grandparent's 1960s ranch house with pink tiles in the kitchen and bathroom.  It was dirty, a little wrinkled at the bottom, and there was a wee hole left by a nail or a screw in the upper left corner.  It looks like it might have been attached to a restaurant or motel wall.

Paint by number kits were the rage when I was in elementary school, and were my favorite craft activity.  I remember sitting at the kitchen table completing little scenes from the national parks.  To this day I want to see Yosemite, at least partially because I slaved over a little acrylic painting of the waterfall there.  I may have painted a scene or two featuring a barn too, since we lived on a dairy farm.  Mom and I both liked to complete the kits, but I also enjoyed gluing colored pebbles into designs that looked like bull fighters, or harlequins. Homemade decor kits were lots of fun, if not particularly original or beautiful.  We melted plastic pellets and made artificial foliage for flower arrangements.  We mortared little tiles into trivets.  We wove pot holders.  Stop me before I get lost here in nostalgia.

Anyway, the owner of the shop tells me that old paint by number pictures sell well as collectibles, so after I took the bird picture out of its vintage frame, I took it back to the shop to resell. The honey colored wooden frame looks grand with my watercolor, and I indulged in some happy memories as well.

Eclectic Art

11x14 inch watercolor on Yupo (sold)

I just finished three days of painting in a studio workshop.  My friend Mary Ann Inman runs a series of art workshops called the School of Eclectic Art, and she happily accommodates artists in many media, and many skill levels.  Because of her individual attention and positive attitude, she has many repeat customers.    Lately her workshops have been held at the Fitchburg Senior Center, a lovely facility that also houses the city hall.  While I have been retired from teaching for three years, I've not thought of myself as a "senior" and felt a wee bit strange driving there this week, where lots of folks were sitting reading newspapers or playing cards, nursing coffee or catching a reduced price lunch, or bowling on a Wii station.  Upstairs there was a square dance session going on.  I know, it's my issue, and I need to deal with it.

Our painting group was eclectic indeed, and certainly not my idea of seniors.  Most were retired, though not all.  Most were women, but a couple men painted too.  Most worked in traditional watercolor, though some were working in mixed media or collage.  I decided to paint on Yupo, a smooth synthetic paper that lifts very easily.  I had two projects in mind, both suggested by online challenges.  The more complicated one is a Florence street scene, and it needs more attention before I share.  I'm fascinated by Google Streetview, and that is where the Italian scene originated.  I also worked on a project for the Watercolor Passion challenge.  This one is "stuffed animals," and instead of thinking stuffed toys I went with actual stuffed animals, taxidermy.  Earlier this month a set of Mexican stuffed frogs playing instruments showed up at my local consignment shop, and I determined that they would be my subject.

I had an idea that I could lay in a loose and textured background, something a little drippy to go with the three amphibians, then I would lift out the frog shapes.  As I painted them I occasionally misted them with clear water to make splotches.  I had a great time, and I was pleased with the result, though I have no idea what to do with these critters now that I've submitted them to the challenge site.

Fellow workshop painter Cheryl Breunig completed several landscapes.

So now, after three days of work I have one and three quarters paintings done.  Three days out of the house working just on art.  Three lunches away from home, filled with interesting talk with people who also put lots of energy into making art.  Three days of getting feedback on my work, and being inspired by other people's vision and skill.

I hope I can keep the momentum going.

http://www.schoolofeclecticart.com/

Crossing Another Off the List

Ivory Billed Woodpecker

vintage trading card

OK, I didn't see an ivory billed woodpecker. If I had, I think all sorts of universities and birding groups would be here interviewing me, since the bird is so elusive and rare. What I did see on Christmas Day at my sister-in-law's house up in Door County was a pileated woodpecker, which looks rather similar to the bird on this old card.

I've been saying I wanted to see one for several years. I'd wistfully comment that I wanted to see a pileated woodpecker and people (my aunt, the sister-in-law, whoever) always would tell me they had seen the bird. Ho hum. Where have I been? But a personal sighting eluded me. Two summers ago I thought I saw one at the top of a tree in Oregon, but I was a passenger in a car, and the look was too quick to be certain. On Christmas Day I was upstairs on the telephone to my aunt when I heard the group downstairs calling to me to look out the window, and there it was, a monster woodpecker with a red brush cut hanging on the suet feeder. Woody Woodpecker himself. I got a good look, and was well pleased.

That was a really fine gift, seeing that woodpecker. I'm fifty-nine today, with lots of Christmases and birthdays under my belt, and it's getting harder and harder to see, hear, or taste anything very new. The Christmas Day sighting of this wonderful creature was about as good a gift as I could want.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileated_Woodpecker

Snow Day

This was what we saw out the dining room window before bed last night. Local weather forecasters called this storm a "beast." Our beast, little Bucky cat spent a good part of the evening in the cellar hiding from the snow thunder.

The scene this morning was a study in black and white. I was awakened a couple times during the night. Once when the cat climbed into bed for some warmth and security. Once by snow plows on the street, and again at 5:30 a.m. when the school district's new automated calling system announced that school is cancelled. Trouble is, I have been retired for three years. Plus, when the test call came two days ago I called the central office to remind them to remove me from their list. They assured me they would, but apparently the new system still has some kinks to work out.

We live on a hill, which makes winter weather tricky. We can step out the door and be lulled into thinking the weather is fair enough, forgetting the shelter the hill provides from wind. There's no pulling out of our driveway on these days and heading up the hill. We've had hours of entertainment watching other people try it though.

So, it's a day to stay in and read, or paint or work on cards. I didn't put up a big tree, but several small ones provide a little color on a day that has me humming "A Hazy Shade of Winter."

2009 Christmas Letter

I spent most of today updating my address book and working on Christmas cards and the annual letter. Then I thought, why not post it for everyone to see?

Christmas greetings!

I’m discovering that Christmas is, as much as anything, a time to keep track of friends and family, and an opportunity to look back over the year that is rapidly coming to a close.

Dick and I are both well and doing what we said we wanted to do when we retired. We both are reading up a storm, and we enjoy taking trips. This year in March we traveled with UW Whitewater to Peru. I don’t have a formal “bucket list,” but if I did, seeing Machu Picchu would be on it. In August we flew to Colorado and spent a couple days in Rocky Mountain National Park, then went on to join our Badger Buddies in Breckenridge for a few days of companionship and hiking. We took smaller trips too, to the UP of Michigan, up and down the Great River Road as far as Red Wing, and we spent of week of Thanksgiving in Key West, Florida.

I took a trip with DIck’s sister Sandy in May that I’ll never forget. We took Amtrak’s Empire Builder west to Washington State. In Spokane we met quite a few distant cousins related to my Grandma Tess. I was thrilled to find one of the houses she lived in as a little girl in Hillyard, and to see the old Adams family farm in Fairfield. I was particularly happy to meet these Smith and Adams in person, and to be able to help secure a stone for my great grandfather’ Adams’ unmarked grave. I also got to collect more stories, photos and family history information. After that we drove along the Columbia River gorge, and up into the Olympic National Park. We ended up in Seattle and took the train back from there.

Other highlights of the year included Dick riding another couple thousand miles on his bicycle (he’s much fitter than I am), my 40th Elkhorn High School class reunion, and my painting. This year I continued to work and take workshops in watercolor and acrylic, but also began experimenting in oils. I have some art in a local gallery, entered several shows with the Wisconsin Regional Artist Program. In June we had a reunion of UW Whitewater roommates and their spouses in McFarland. It has been a real joy to be able to keep up with these women and men and their lives for more than thirty years, I have also been writing my Late B(l)oomer blog, where I post some of my artwork, photos from trips, family stories and an occasional recipe. I’d love it if you would stop by and take a look. Here’s the web address: http://sherry-latebloomer.blogspot.com/.

There were other fun things, meetings and trips with my doll collecting group, lunches with teacher and fellow reading friends, trips north to visit my aunt Ellen, our annual Badger football outing in Madison.

I can’t close without showing you our ”furry child” Bucky. She is our little friend and lap-warmer, and she reminds us that life at a relaxed pace can be a very good thing..

Warm wishes to all of you for for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Sherry

Cock of the Walk

On our recent trip to Key West I was charmed by all the roosters and hens that wander freely everywhere. I took several pictures of the critters, and then last night I decided to try out my water mixable oils.

In November I took a workshop with Shelby Keefe, and artist who paints impressionistic urban landscapes using acrylic under paintings in complimentary color, and oil on top of that. At that workshop I tried her technique with all acrylic paint, which was OK, but I wanted to try oil. For a whole year I have had a set of these water mixable oil paints in a drawer in my studio, never feeling brave enough to try them out. Since they clean up with water, toxic fumes are not an issue in my small painting space. What a treat to be able to mix colors on a palette and then come back later and still be able to work on the painting! For a bird like this with brilliant feathers, I was excited to get such deep color so quickly, and to have the color stay the same, not dry darker as acrylics to, or lighter as watercolors do.

One issue that worried me was where to store paintings like this while they dry. Eureka! We have a small non-fuctioning loo in our basement, and I can stand the paintings against the wall in that little room, hidden away and safe until they dry.

This painting is 11x14 inches, painted on canvas board.

Enjoying Autumn

This week has been quite cool and rainy. The cat has taken to obsessive snuggling, and we turned on the heat in the house for the first time since spring. One by one the house plants that had been vacationing outside are coming back inside. I dug out my fleecy vest from the cedar closet, and put away some of the more summery tops I’d been living in.

While the fall colors haven’t reached their peak yet, many of the trees are beginning to turn, and our rainy windy patch has brought many of them down into the street and sidewalks. As if these signs of autumn weren’t enough, the woolly bear caterpillars are back. I spotted this fella, dressed in his black and rust banded sweater, on a path at White Pines Forest State Park, near Oregon, Illinois. Folk wisdom holds that the larger the brown center band is, the milder the winter will be. I did a little research and found that the width of the center band has more to do with the age of the caterpillar than any psychic ability to predict snow and cold. The older the caterpillar, the wider the brown band. I also didn’t know that the woolly bear is the larvae of the Isabella tiger moth. Isn’t the internet grand for discovering these things?

We took advantage of the one sunny day this week to drive about eighty miles south into Illinois to White Pines Forest State Park. Illinois parks differ from Wisconsin parks in a couple ways. For one thing, there is no admission charge, which seems neighborly and friendly to me. The other difference is that the parks often have lodging available as well as campgrounds. This park has a Depression era lodge built by the CCC in 1935. There are also snug cabins with rustic forniture and gas fireplaces, which appeals to my creaking joints much more than camping does. In the middle of the week I was surprised to see many cabins occupied. Based on the crowds at the White Pines Inn and restaurant, I’d say most were retired folks like us, taking advantage of the blue skies. The food is generous and good, and it’s hard to beat being able to stroll through the pines to coffee and breakfast without having to light a fire or drive off the property.

I like the park because it isn’t overwhelmingly large. The park is comprised of 385 acres of limestone outcroppings, forest trails and meandering streams. The trails we hiked were quiet, with only the sounds of gurgling water, calling crows, and chipmunks rustling the leaves. The trails were only moderately challenging, and some were downright easy. According to literature in the room, the park boasts the largest stand of native white pines in the Midwest. There were also lots of maples, sycamores, hickory and oak trees. We fell asleep with the sounds of falling acorns hitting the cabin roof.

People who visit the park relax in Adirondack chairs scattered around the property, have a meal, watch dinner theater, hike, fish, picnic, all manner of quiet pursuits. You have your choice of renting a very reasonable and comfortable cabin, or tent camping. We enjoyed our overnight stay, and made it home yesterday quickly enough to miss the evening gusty rain.

http://www.whitepinesinn.com/

End of September Notes, and a Poem

spotted in a consignment shop

No news to report. It's rainy, cool, and the garden flowers, even the nursery mums are looks pretty ragged. The maple is starting to shed its leaves more quickly now. The hummingbird has apparently packed his wee bags and headed south, so the feeder needs to come down and be cleaned and put away. I'm slowly bringing the potted plants inside after their summer in the sun. The cat has discovered the spider plant, so it needs a new spot. It' ll need to be hung from a hook, since the cat has found nothing so tall it cannot be leaped upon.

I've been experimenting with acrylic paints with mixed success. There is nothing I'd care to show anyone else yet. I'm scheduled for a workshop in November, so I want to be familiar with my materials and not come in completely unprepared.

After the Heat of Late September

by David R. Clowers in Wisconsin Poets' Calendar 2009

After the heat of late September

the leaves have given up

their struggle to be green, and have settled

for the relief of red, yellow, and orange.

They have abandoned all

their possible winter hangouts,

having been enticed, perhaps,

by the same devious breeze

that previously sold a gaggle of geese

on a timeshare resort, somewhere

far to the south from here.

Fair Album

Click on this picture to enlarge. I only noticed the sign in the upper left corner after I loaded it on the computer. Too funny!

Yesterday while my husband was away on one of his epic bicycle rides, I drove to Elkhorn, my hometown, for a visit to the Walworth County fair. I have a nostalgic affection for this fair, since I exhibited muffins, cookies, banana bread, some really bad sewing, and a few watercolors there many years ago as a Sugar Creek 4-H member. Grandpa Pierce, leaning on his cane, held court in the Simons hybrid seed corn tent, taking orders for the upcoming season and chewing the fat with other old-timers. Grandpa was always good for quarters for midway rides to get us kids out of his hair. Later, when my dad sold John Deere tractors, we hung out in that area.

These days I hardly see anyone I know at the fair. A couple years ago I got my sister to come wander around and eat roasted sweet corn with me, and once in a while I see a former classmate. If I'm lucky I find my brother in the farm equipment area like Dad used to be, though yesterday he was working at the store. I spied a former rival from another club (now matronly woman), introduced myself, but it was clear she did not remember me. I, like Rip Van Winkle awakened after years only to learn he has gray hair, am no longer am part of my old community.

So I headed to the animal barns.

I love the critters, from the cows, to the pigs, to the sheep and goats. In the middle of the days most animals were napping, trying to ignore all the folks wanting to scratch their ears. This pig was awake, though his neighbor was sound asleep, grunting softly, running in his sleep.

The food hasn't changed much, lots of sugar and fried foods. I love the taffy stand, though I know that a $5 bag of sugar isn't what I need. I did get an order of quesedillas and a horchata, and later bought a mammoth cream puff to bring home and split with my skinny husband.

It's fun to watch the little children on carnival rides. When I was a kid we paid for rides with coins, not coupons, and you could usually get enough change for another ride by rummaging around the seats where centrifugal force wedged them in the back crevices. I took this photo by accident, just pressed the button by mistake, but the crazy angle sort of captures the feeling of the ride.

My last stop on my way out of the fairgrounds was at the camel ride. I chatted with the man running the operation, and asked him if the camels were cousins to llamas. They are, you can see the family resemblance in their faces. Asked if he thought the camels minded walking around in a ring with folks on their backs, he smiled and said this was an easy office job compared to carrying, say, salt across a desert. These camels lie and work in Wisconsin, and the Elkhorn fair is almost the end of their season before winter.

There lots more, arts and crafts, the horticulture building, the grandstand with sulky races and tractor pulls. I enjoyed the trip, a traditional end-of-summer activity in this part of southern Wisconsin.