Old World Swine

Beware of the Leopard (frog)

While walking in the woods the other day, I saw a brilliantly colored box turtle just off the path in the grass. Being a lover of turtles, I stepped over toward it. What I had not seen in the same grass was a large leopard frog which turned out to be much nearer to me than the turtle.

As I bent toward the turtle, the frog leaped at least six feet. I myself leaped about a foot and a half.

On an earlier walk on the same trail, which skirts something like a creek or culvert, I heard an odd noise in the tall grass between the creek and the trail. I couldn't place the noise at the time, couldn't pair it with an animal, though it reminded me of something.

I moved toward the noise and there was a low scurrying toward the creek and out of sight. I didn't get any kind of look at the creature, but thought I could tell something about its size and shape by the motion of the grass as it left.

A while later it came to me where I might have heard that mysterious sound before, but I wasn't sure. So, I Googled "alligator call" and eventually scrounged up a sound file that matched my recollection of the noise almost exactly. I'm nearly certain it was a young alligator.

Thistle Do Just Fine

Took a short hike at lunch. Amazing weather. I walked for about half an hour and never broke a sweat... in August. In Arkansas. Uniformly overcast and something like 71º. I caught a whiff of a black pepper-y smell as I was walking. Some kind of plant, I expect. I'll try to find out what it is. Did you ever look at a thistle? Beautiful, intricate, spiky things. Think I'll paint some.

Buffaloed

Sorry for the light blogging this last week. I was pretty busy, and put off writing some posts until the weekend, but had a sudden change of schedule.

See, I've been waiting for an opportunity to get together with another artist friend of mine (Glenn, right in the picture) and venture into the wild to paint and do some photography. It is an almost unbelievable  privilege that in my chosen craft, this kind of thing is a business trip.

Long story short, when the weather's fine and the water's up, you jump while you have the chance. So, Glenn and I (in his canoe) hit the Buffalo National River and paddled for a couple of days. I am posting a few photos to document the trip, but I need to point out that, due to an unnaturally aggressive tree trunk (which I am almost certain leaped in front of our canoe out of pure mischief) our sturdy craft capsized and took on many gallons of Buffalo National Water, soaking both our cameras in the process.

"Now, now..." you may cluck, "you two should have had your cameras in watertight bags, against the possibility of such a mishap.". Indeed we did, or so we thought. They were carefully sealed in Hefty zip bags, the kind with a plastic zipper thing that saves you the tedium of actually sealing the bag with your finger and thumb. Needless to say, Glenn is preparing an official Letter of Chagrine addressed to the Hefty corporation. All the old-fashioned bags (sans zipper) were water tight, while all the zipper-pull bags leaked.

I didn't use my camera for the rest of the weekend (out of fear I might damage the circuitry). Naturally, this was by far the most interesting portion of the trip. Hopefully I'll be able to retrace my steps there soon and photograph some of what I missed this time around. I did get one small color sketch done, but spent most of the time paddling. Check back for paintings from the Buffalo. I'll post each one as I complete them.

Meanwhile, it's good to be back, soreness and all. Another perk; apparently I lost about three pounds.

Bonus Feature! Canoeing Quiz:
When approaching an obstacle with limited time to maneuver, which of the following would be the proper response:

A) Use a "J" stroke to turn the canoe

B) Use a stern-to-bow sweep stroke on the side of the canoe opposite the obstacle

C) Drop your paddle and scream like a girl

The correct answer will be discussed later.

Why I Hate Treadmills

I went for a brief hike at lunch and was placidly eyed by a pair of nesting Canada geese, surprised by a crow with what looked like a 5-foot wingspan (Barney Fife: "Anxiety magnifies fearsome objects") and for the blink of an eye was under the great, swift shadow of a blue heron that glided silently in the sun overhead. I heard a mourning dove as I studied the skeletons of trees and last summer's brush. There were tiny flowers like sapphires scattered on islands of green turf, and here and there vestiges of snow huddled in the blue shade of cedars.

Do get outdoors, when you can. God made such beauty to feed the soul, and yet we starve.