Random Ramblings

I grow weary of our weather. It's been relatively cold, wet & overcast for so long that I hardly remember what the Great Ball of Sky Fire looks & feels like. The very few, brief moments that it even hints at peeking through, the ground's too rain-saturated to get out, anyway. Unfortunately we're forecast even colder temperatures & more precipitation (including sn*w, a rare event here--until this year, anyway.) My cameras sit idle, like kids whose friends have abandoned them, staring at me pitiously with big, unblinking eyes, hoping that maybe today they can go out and play. I turn them to face the wall, because I don't want to face the truth, myself.

I've been keeping busy with other art business. Tonight I'll be working on my newsletter (e-mail me if you'd like to be added to the list of recipients.)

A recent, potential health issue has turned out not to be a big deal. It may resolve itself & I don't have to worry about it (at least for the immediate future.) I was very happy to hear that.

We're closing the refinance on our house this afternoon. Not only are we saving a bundle, but all of the jumping-through-hoops will be finished.

Charles spied some deer poop in our yard today & something's been rooting up parts of the bird feeding area (an armadillo seems the most likely candidate.) We have an utterly asinine number of birds in the yard lately. I can't possibly keep track (although I try my best, as a regular eBird contributor.)

A Handful of Birds

Charles & I went for a picnic at Fontainebleau State Park (in Mandeville, LA,) yesterday. It was gray & windy & eventually started drizzling, so we didn't stay long. All of these photos have been digitally brightened (it was a really dingy day.)

There's often dozens of American coots on the marsh, but today most of them were crammed together into a single, massive flotilla.

There were dozens of tree swallows all over the marsh. Although I didn't have enough light to adequately capture the action, I practiced panning anyway, trying to follow their rapid, darting flights with my zoom lens (& great difficulty.)

I see yellow-rumped warblers from time to time in our area, but this is my first photo of one. Click on the image to see some of his yellow rump.

When it started drizzling, we zipped up my Canon EOS Rebel (with the zoom lens,) in Charles' water-proof jacket. As soon as it was tucked away, a couple of brown pelicans showed up. Go figure. At least I still had my Canon PowerShot A570IS in my pants pocket.

Home Again & Art News

We're back from Arkansas, where I took this picture on a c-c-cold morning. Charles' mom seems to be doing better. We continue to keep good thoughts for her recovery.

This afternoon the Art for Madisonville members' show begins. I'll be there Feb. 20th, from 2-5pm (at least.) C'mon down & say hi!

I'm pleased to announce that my "Winter Sun in the Oaks" photo won 3rd Place and my "Gyrfalcon" painting won Best in Show at Art @ the Mall!

Art Event (Updated)

Today the "Art @ the Mall" show opens in Slidell, LA. I have 2 paintings and a photo in the show. Click here for details.

(Update, 3/6/10; One of my paintings won "best in show" & my photo took "3rd place.")

Suprises

On waking this morning to prepare for work, I got a call that we were closed for the day. It was snowing outside--great, BIG flakes that were covering the ground quickly.



(The video's only 17 seconds long.)

Despite a lot of recent bird activity, none of them came down after I refilled the feeders. If anything, it was unnaturally quiet. Eagle-eyed Charles pointed out the reason, in a tree on the edge of our yard...


This sharp-shinned hawk stayed perched there for quite a while (and the snow didn't last.)

Weather, Health and Art

Due to the weather & such, I still haven't really been able to get out. We've had sleet here & sn*w is forecast overnight & tomorrow & I'm already going into denial about it all. This (long) weekend Charles & I have an 11 hour drive to visit his mom in the hospital. We'll have to be extra slow & careful.

Unfortunately, I seem to have started falling apart once I hit 41 last year. I was hoping for a break from health issues after my last 2 surgeries but it was in "vein" (pardon the pun.) The results of recent bloodwork for a long-time swollen gland in my neck are the painful, 2" long bruise in my arm (shown here,) & that I have hypothyroidism. At least that can be managed with medication. Unfortunately other tests revealed something that may require another surgery. I just hope that will be eventual, rather than immediate. I've been healthy as a horse my whole life. Being suddenly confronted with aging has not been fun.

On the plus side, I have some works in the local "Art @ the Mall" show, starting this coming Monday. The details are on my website calendar and my Facebook events listings.

Enough Already

Between the cool-ish temperatures, the gray, breezy/rainy days & the saturated, swampy ground, I'm starting to go stir crazy. Last night I even heard the local meteorologist mention something about sn*w in the forecast, at which point my brain went into immediate shutdown/denial.
All of this weather-imposed confinement gave me a little time to work on my gyrfalcon painting, though. After working & reworking the body, I'm considering it finished. Although it's up in the gallery on my website, I will replace that image with a better one if ever the sun breaks through the clouds again.

Streamlining is Relative

I've been busy with so many things lately I don't know which way is up. In an attempt to streamline some online things, I set up a website via webs.com. Unfortunately, unless I want to pay a fairly goodly amount, I don't get much storage space, which I must subsequently use for images, rather than blogging. One of these days I'm just going to have to bite the bullet & pay for a professional site. At least the new site will probably make a good replacement for my art & photo blogs. Feel free to pop over for a visit. You can browse, become a member of the site, leave me a message in the guestbook, etc. Please let me know if anything's not working.

Now if only I could streamline the rest of my life...