Roosevelt State Park, Day 3 (Updated)

Day 3 at Roosevelt State Park was as offensively hot as the days preceding it, so once again our outings were greatly limited. We woke around 5:30 AM, again, so Charles could throw a few more casts.

There were a lot of Canada geese around, but only this pair had chicks.
Before things got too hot, we finally made our way up the viewing tower, where this turkey vulture was soaring above the Bienville Nat'l Forest.
After another nap, I sat out on our back porch while Charles did more fishing. A great blue heron landed in our "backyard." I didn't budge until he'd moved away, not wanting to scare him off. Eventually I got a picture of him across the way.
Heading back inside, I got this photo of a bumblebee on spiderwort.
Having seen a sign for a local reservoir in our travels (& with few fish biting,) we decided to go look for it, but our long drive was fruitless. Investigating later, I saw that we'd been very close to where we finally turned around. During the ride, we stopped at another little pond off the road, where I saw Queen Anne's lace for the first time since leaving Canada. I saw this blue mud dauber (aka; steel-blue cricket hunter,) on one of the flowerheads.
Back behind our cabin, another lovely end to the day.
Although we'd booked more time, due to the oppressive heat that prevented us from leaving the cabin much during the day & the fact that the fish weren't biting much, we decided on waking the next day to pack it in & come home.

Roosevelt State Park, Day 2

We woke at 5:30AM to go to the tower overlooking the Bienville Nat'l Forest, to get some shots of the sun rising over the vast woods. Unfortunately it was cloudy & the tower didn't open 'til 10AM, so we drove around the campground a bit more, exploring.

We ended up at a quiet boat launch, where Charles did some more fishing & I sat nearby with my cameras.
Shortly after taking this photo of a spider walking on water, I watched a little bass chasing it from below. The fish weren't biting, so we headed back to the cabin, where Charles pointed out some lovely Indian pink flowers in our "backyard."
The heat of the day was oppressive so we had a nap. Afterwards we went to see the deer management area (on the park grounds.)
There were 3 large pens with relatively tame deer in them, all tagged. I'm not much for caging animals, so I turned my attention toward the purple passionflowers growing nearby.
This passionflower has a zebra longhorn beetle and a tumbling flower beetle on it. As the sun sank toward the horizon, Charles went fishing again, out behind our cabin. He finally caught this impressive monster.
Soon after, we were treated to another lovely sunset.

Roosevelt State Park, Day 1 (Updated)

Our cabin at Roosevelt State Park was nice enough--very close to the lake--although there was no telling when the last time was that the floor had been swept (nevermind washed.) We learned early on that the pool & waterslide didn't open 'til Memorial Day weekend. I wish they'd mentioned that on the website. I got some photos, at any rate...

One of many barn swallows.

Charles fishing.

One of several great egrets. (Update, June 2009; Published by stateparks.com on the park's website and in Anthology of Friends; An Original Collection, Vol. 3.)

Rat bastard with a nut on cypress knees.

Behind our cabin, sunset at the lake with Canada geese. (Update, June 2009; I currently have a 14x11" matte photo print of a slightly different version of this image available for sale. Published by stateparks.com on the park's website and in Anthology of Friends; An Original Collection, Vol. 3.)

Not So Good News

Before leaving for our vacation, my computer suffered a major fault & I had to run system restore to get it working again. I've lost some stuff & now my computer "runs" (I use the term loosely,) even worse than it did before.
The Generation Fig Tree '09 winners were announced yesterday & I wasn't among them. Detail from one of my entries is included on the cover of the book of the show, but they converted the original file to a GIF, destroying the integrity of the image & making it look like a weird checkerboard.

Good News (Updated)

I learned today that my photo (above,) won Louisiana Life magazine's photo contest for May, 2009. This was our freak snow from last December, seen beyond the wine rack (& some of my colored glass collection,) in our living room. Better yet, they got my name right! :)

In other news, today I signed up for Artists Wanted's "Art vs. Design" contest. (Update, Jul. 3, 2009; I didn't win.)

Updated Painting

Rain Slicked
18x14" acrylic on canvasboard

Unseen here are the effects of metallic gold paint & dots, smears & spotches of gloss varnish, which both catch the light. I originally did the base of this painting in Sept. of last year as it's own work, "Aurora." Unfortunately it's garnered little interest, so I considered changes I could make to it since then. This outcome was not what I'd originally had in mind, but sometimes art doesn't go according to plan. To be honest, it may change yet again from this point. I'm still looking & thinking, looking & thinking.

Excuse Me--A Macaroni Grill Story

Charles and I enjoy eating at Macaroni Grill on a fairly regular basis. Last year I went into their bathroom for the first time. I was the only one there. I got into a stall & locked the door when a woman's voice said, "Excuse me." I opened the door & came out. Perhaps I hadn't noticed a cleaning woman, who was going to ask me to leave just for a few minutes. Again the voice, "Excuse me." I looked around, poked my head in all of the stalls--no, I was alone. "Hello?" I asked aimlessly, seeking the source of the voice. Then a man's voice said, "SCOO-zay." I paused briefly, then started laughing uproariously at myself, glad that no one was there to witness the whole thing. It was an Italian language learning track running over the speakers! "SCOO-zay."

The photo is one of many clusters of ligustrum flowers, currently blooming in our front yard.