Radium Memory

Home for a week now from our six week camping adventure and I've jumped right into textile work. I have put about 30 plus hours into creating a design for a quilt. It will be a colorful blend of patchwork and appliqué. I've not taken in-progress photos as my computer is maxed out with images that need editing and deleting. What I can show is... …

 The first day of our adventure and two moments after I decide my camera really should be on the front seat, as I turned to reach behind to grab it Gerald says "our first bear" and there it be. Sweet!

 Our second wild encounter was at Radium tourist info station. This well crowned beast soon tired of the paparazzi and sauntered off down the road.

 The light fell fast and the tripod was securely tucked under the truck seat, hence blurry image but as I was after the color idea for reference and not necessarily the clarity of a good photo I chanced a hand held shot.

 Heading back to the campsite we stopped at the lookout to take in the sunset. It was lovely, both below and above.

Eagles begin to gather

While in Broughton Bay area the Eagles were beginning to gather as the red-fish were making their way to the gravel spawning beds. I was lucky enough to get an eagle that had just captured a Chinook.
It was interesting to watch adult Eagles capture a fish from the stream and then entice the juveniles to come gather the fish from them. I watched one mature Eagle catch a fish, wait for a juvenile to come, then the adult released the fish into the stream and re-caught it while the young one watched. Amazing, though I have watched eagles often I had not before paid enough attention to the adult juvenile relationship to realize I was viewing lessons being taught.

All this viewing of birds is an integral part of my job of painting birds and nature. I feel it's essential to spend a major part of our time in the field experiencing excitement and wonder of the natural world and to learn valuable information about the species we draw and paint. When my hubby and I view other artists works we can often pick out paintings created from photos without the real life experience of watching birds and animals behind them.

Learning is a passion as is the art of creating.

Have a wonderful week.

New territory explored, geographically and poetically.

August has been an adventure of exploring the interior of BC and meeting wonderful people along the way. We started out the month and our touring by attending my lovely niece's wedding in Radium. We camped at Dry Gulch Provincial park as we were informed that Redstreak Campsite was fully booked; though there were many vacant spots due people reserving sites and not showing up, which is a downfall of the reservation system in Parks.
 
It was as it was meant to be though as the camp attendant at Dry Gulch was a joy to meet and a friendship sparked.

On the morning of the wedding we stopped by the info booth to check our emails and I was delighted that a poem I had submitted to a competition had made it into the top ten. Though it didn't win I am ecstatic that it was well received. The poem is a tribute to my Mother whom I am sure sings with the angels choir as it seemed she sang often while doing chores, but as you will read the poem relates to another memory.

Summer

Oven warm breeze wafts

fragrance of buttery bread

over tender carrots ripe to pull

sweetpeas and hyssops buzzing

knee patterns soil cotton dress

Ma tenderly extracting weeds

from unruly crops

while children tussle

fingers still buttery wet

in long grasses.

© Tess

May your days be blessed with sweet thoughts.