Surprise!

I'm at home now. It's going to take me awhile to sort through all of my images. After three weeks using various borrowed computers it's very nice to be back to my own.

The trash dumpster at Schoodic was a Fort Knox-like affair. You absolutely need an opposable thumb to open the door. It's clearly labeled with multiple signs warning you not to forget to close it up.





So imagine my surprise when I opened it up to find these guys! I'm not sure how they got in. The front lid looked a little more beat up so I think they shimmied in that way.

Artist in Residence

I haven't shown many images of what I've been drawing all this time. So here is a peek at my living space and the works I've made while on residency at Acadia National Park, Schoodic Penisula.

Common Ground in Unity, Maine

Friday we went to the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, Maine. We saw all sorts of interesting things. Arts, crafts, grasses, wool, etc.



Guys with big muscles wielding axes.




Dogs herding sheep and, um, ducks.





Yummy veggies of gargantuan proportions.

I always love a good cabbage.

Farm animals of all sorts.

We drove home through a light, beautiful fog. My last weekend in Maine off to a good start.

A Few Things to Love About Maine

These purple tinted flowers are one of many types of wildflower blooming this fall. You find them in the most surprizing places, tucked in the forest or hanging on for dear life on windblown rock ledges.



A spider web catching the sunlight over the ocean.



And the adorable porcupines here, there, and everywhere.

Fixing Dinner

It was good to see a seagull acting like a wild animal. I tried to get an image of the seaweed pod droping onto the rocks. He was working very hard to get something tasty out of it.

This guy, on the other hand, appears to be DROOLING in anticipation of some food he thinks I have. Again. Oil pastels are NOT edible.

Waves

I started this post a few days ago when I thought this was a wave. I thought it was cool that I could see the seaweed in the wave.

Now I know that THIS is a wave:

Tide Pools

This is how you tide pool:



This is what you see:

Eider Duck Etc.

The eider ducks are in the process of changing into their winter coats. I've seen hundreds of them floating in the ocean but it's tricky to get close enough for a good shot.

I think this is some kind of Teal. But I'm really not sure. It's hard to get an idea of scale but they were pretty small ducks.

A Beautiful Day

Bird Photos

Birds are so difficult to photograph. It's nice when you get one that sits still.

Not a Moose

I'm still searching for a moose. I'm afraid it's going to turn out like my elk hunt. However, I am seeing many beautiful creatures in the process.

Forest Floor

The forest floor is very different here from our Philadelphia forests. Here they are covered in an amazing variety of lichen and moss. This is some of my favorite. I've spent several hours trying to draw these tiny guys with my oil pastels.

Birds

I was sitting in the same spot where I encountered the squirrel when a flock of birds flew through the trees. I was close enough to heard their soft fluttering wings.

Squirrel!

Matt and Olivia left me on the Anvil Trail for a while yesterday. As I was sitting there I heard a huge ruckus behind me. Over my left shoulder I saw tiny squirrels flying through the brush. One, finding me in his path, halted his forward motion quickly dodging behind a bush. He watched me for awhile before finally emerging. He stood a few feet away from me and flicked his tail. When that didn't scare me away he leaped into a tree. There he became bold and offered up a series of high pitched clicking noises periodically punctuated by a loud low churp. This churp was accompanied by a tail swoosh. He tried all of his defensive vocalizations but stopped short of throwing a pine cone at me which Ranger Kate says they sometimes do. In the end he decided I wasn't much of a threat and scampered off. As he did so he took care to dodge behind whatever rocks he could.

Little Moose Island

Matt and Olivia have arrived. We did two hikes on their first full day here. The first was around Little Moose Island. We sped through fairly quickly because we weren't sure of the tide schedule. We had to cross rocks that are only bare at low tide and didn't want to get stuck on the island until the next low tide. It's a beautiful place with wild blueberries, black huckleberries, and many other wonderful plants.

Signs of Color

The fall colors are coming. I've seen signs of yellow and orange in the trees. I really hope to see the full glory of fall color before I leave on the 27th. I know it's a bit early to hope but I've seen signs.