Walking Through Wetlands

Wes and I had the pleasure of exploring a new park this past week. It’s situated alongside the Emory River and has a nice wetlands area inhabited by a variety of birds. It was an overcast day with a chilly start, so upon arriving, we searched for a spot in which we could enjoy the sun, should it manage to peek through parting clouds. We found the ideal place, which was sitting on one of several small boat docks. Of course I sat near the edge so my dangling feet could barely go into the still frigid water. We were serenaded by an Orchard Oriole perched nearby and the wind caused the open water to give a slight rocking motion to the dock, making our picnic even more enjoyable! 

A lovely patch of Bird Vetch

Afterwards we started our journey along several miles of walking trails throughout the park. There were multiple wildflowers blooming, filling the grassy meadows with blasts of brilliant color! One section led us beneath a tunnel of wisteria vines, and I can only imagine how gorgeous that must be when they’re covered with multiple long, slender, tendrils of tiny flowers hanging down. 

Having crossed over water, walked alongside small meadows and through tunnels of entangled wisteria vines, the trail left the cover of the forest and led us into an open section. The surrounding hillsides were covered with a mass of yellow flowers and it was stunning.

Soon we arrived at the wetland area and right away saw several geese and ducks busily taking baths and splashing about, with a few of geese slowly swimming about with several, small goslings in tow. There were also several Great Blue Herons, Belted Kingfishers, Osprey and other birds which love being near water. The sections of forest were filled with birds filling the air with their springtime songs. 

Eventually we came upon an open expanse packed with cattails, and in the very middle sat a male Red-winged Blackbird, singing his heart out. It was truly an incredible sight, and at that point my dismay at me forgetting our big camera climaxed! Looking through my binoculars, I couldn’t believe I had made that terrible error and forgotten the camera, knowing what an amazing photo I could’ve have taken. 

If you look closely, you’ll see the wee Red-winged Blckbird smack in the middle

Wild roses

There were numerous wild roses blooming alongside the trail as well, and I can’t express in words how incredibly fragrant the air was, with the sweet scent of hundreds of wild roses and thousands of blackberry blossoms wafting through the air! I couldn’t resist stopping often, whilst telling Wes to “just smell that!”

Blackberry blossoms

Cows in buttercups . . . a beautiful sight indeed!

Something happened one evening this past week that was thrilling for me! One of our resident Tufted Titmice landed on my head! Not only that, it did it three times, and I was over the moon to say the least! If you have followed my blog over the years, then you’ll remember an adorable Titmouse, named Tinymouse, that use to come and sit on my head or shoulder when we lived in Townsend. While at times, she tried gathering hair for her nest, at other times, she simply sat there, and would even ride around on my shoulder while I walked through my flower gardens. This went on for several years, so as you can imagine, I missed her company greatly when we moved to Grandview. Now you understand why this amazing encounter recently made me grin from ear to ear!

Our gardens are doing quite well, in spite of the very wet weather and overcast skies we’ve had the past couple of weeks. We’re getting piles of delicious, tender lettuce and even a couple of handfuls of strawberries each day. Obviously we’re eating lots of salad and I can’t express how scrumptious these strawberries taste right off the plant! I can’t help but let out a contented “Mmmmmmm” the entire time I’m chewing. Soon we’ll be enjoying fresh peppers as well.

Wes and I missed the chance of seeing the Northern Lights in our part of the woods. We knew it was a slim chance on Friday night, since we’re engulfed in very tall trees. Nonetheless, when I read online that there was a chance of possibly seeing them again last night, I decided to give it a try. So I went out a little after 10pm and stood watching the small opening at the top of our very tall woods. I kept thinking I was perhaps seeing a minuscule amount of light violet at times, but would close and reopen my eyes to try and readjust them. Eventually I gave up and figured my overactive imagination was placing the violet hues there.

This photo hasn’t been lightened

However, when I look at my photos, I do believe I see a teeny hint of color there, especially when I lightened the photo a wee bit. What do you think? . . . a tiny hint of Northern Lights or an active imagination? They say it’s going to be an active year for solar flares, so hopefully Wes and I will be camping somewhere the next time it happens, so we have a chance at seeing them, and I can finally fulfill a lifelong dream of mine…to see the Northern Lights.

This photo has been lightened, but the color saturation was left completely untouched

IN THE STUDIO

I finished my miniature painting of two beautiful White Pelicans this past week. I had the pleasure of getting to hang out with them, along with the rest of the flock, while Wes and I were kayaking a couple of months ago. I so enjoyed watching them float, splash about, and bathe, followed by meticulously preening their feathers, while enjoying the warmth of the sun on their sandy beach.

SEE OUR PAINTINGS IN PERSON THIS WEEK

18th Masterpieces in Miniature
May 2024: Picture This Gallery, Alberta, Canada

A Civic Wilderness (Rachelle’s work “The Pigeon Hole”)
Through June 16th 2024 at The Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI

Wildlife Wonders: A Juried Exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists
Now through June 9th at The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ

EXQUISITE MINIATURES is now open at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago Academy of Science, in Chicago, IL where it will remain on display through June 2nd.

Now online: 32nd International Miniature Show
May 4 – June 1, 2024: Seaside Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC

The Art of Miniature XXXII
May 5 – June 15, 2024: Snow Goose Gallery, Bethlehem, PA

Galleries Currently Displaying Our Work

 Gallery by SEWE, Charleston, SC                           
Picture This Gallery and Framing, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada (2 paintings)
Up Against the Wall Gallery, Kingsport, TN (3-4 paintings)

visit ou WEBSITE  artofwildlife.com     Email us

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Until Next Time ~ Rachelle

Attending The Queen’s Tea at Historic Rugby

Judy, R.L., and me enjoyed the Queen’s Tea

If you follow my blog, you may remember my post last fall about the great fun I had whilst attending the Holiday High Tea in Historic Rugby with our friend R.L., who along with her husband Jim, runs the Gallery located in Rugby. It was so much fun in fact, that I decided to attend The Queen’s Tea with her, which took place yesterday. We were also joined by R.L.’s friend Judy, who brought even more joy to the afternoon event. The air was abuzz with excitement as we entered the dining room and I can’t express how delighted I was that we were assigned a table set with a gorgeous, pink, china setting. It was absolutely beautiful and reminded me of the color on my bedroom walls when I was growing up.

Of course one of the highlights of an afternoon tea, is the tea itself. Not only was the pomegranate-apple tea delicious, it was also pink and matched our place setting perfectly! And just as I did before, I decided to enjoy the full experience whilst adding a sugar cube and some fresh cream to the tea, making it simply divine!

The first tray to arrive at our table was filled with an assortment of finger sandwiches and wee quiches and I must say my personal favorite was the spinach quiche.

Upon finishing our tea sandwiches, we were brought a basket of freshly baked scones as well as a tray containing lemon curd, clotted cream, and fresh strawberry jam to put on it. The conversation and laughter at our table was intermixed with “Mmmmm’s“. And then, the final tray was brought filled with a scrumptious assortment of tempting desserts, and to me, the cookies artfully decorated with wee purple flowers and the puff pastries filled with purple cream took the award for beauty! That being said, it was all absolutely delicious and I really loved the mini lemon bundt cake filled with lemon cream! 

Mmmm . . . dessert!

Of course the “Mmmmmm’s” grew in intensity at our table during the dessert course as we happily nibbled away at the beautiful edible treats while continuing to heartily drink tea. Not usually eating much sugar, by the end I was on a sugar high, LOL! Afterward we were entertained by a group preforming English dances, and with an abundance of energy from the sugar, I was delighted when asked to join the group in learning a dance. Once I finally got “my other right” down, I kept up nicely with the group and greatly enjoyed the experience! It was indeed a lovely way to end our afternoon at the tea party.

It looks like I’ve returned to my days as a ballerina while dancing 🙂

Now, we’re going to change the scenery a bit, as we move from the prim and proper indulgence of the Queen’s Tea to the great outdoors. We decided to take advantage of a gorgeous day this past week, with some kayaking fun. It was so beautiful with the trees finally fully decked out in their finest spring greens, gracefully arching above, as we slowly paddled along. 

Birdsong filled the air, and we spotted several birds flying overhead and perched in sunny spots along the bank. I especially love this photo I captured below of a Great Blue Heron, with wings outspread, looking as if it’s trying to sell me a “knock off” watch or piece of jewelry, Ha! 

The Great Blue Heron says “Want to buy a watch lady?” LOL

While we see lots of Blue Herons, we don’t typically see near as many Green Herons, so it’s always a nice surprise when we spot one of them.

Little Green Heron

The birds held our attention much of the time, but something was making huge splashes nearby, and I had to investigate!  Upon watching it happen, I noticed a large fin coming up out of the water and realized it was most likely grass carp spawning. It’s something that’s really incredible to see, if you haven’t yet had the opportunity.

Look at the size of this splash!

We also saw an abundance of reptiles, including about a four foot snake that was floating atop the water and slowly swimming. We thought it was a Cottonmouth Moccasin, seeing it from a distance, thinking that was the only snake that floats on top of the water like that. However, upon looking closely at the photo that evening, Wes determined that it was actually a Gray Rat Snake, which also floats atop the water and is much more friendly than a cottonmouth. 

Gray Rat Snake

We also saw several turtles, including numerous wee ones that were absolutely adorable! This one shown below was so cute, and I love how the surrounding water is filled with the abstract patterns of the yellow flower reflections. It’s very reminiscent to me of of Monet’s water garden paintings. It was such a relaxing day and after paddling many miles, we slept quite good that night.

IN THE STUDIO

Wes and I are thrilled to have each had a panting juried into The 64th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists  which will be held this fall, at The Sioux City Public Museum located in Sioux City, IA. My painting “Lord of the Lake” features an incredible snapping turtle which I had the opportunity to watch and video as it slowly swam beneath my kayak! Wes’ painting “The Local Hangout” features several newts that we got to see and video during another kayaking adventure. There is as much incredible life beneath the water as there is above it.

Rachelle’s “Lord of the Lake” & Wes’ “The Local Hangout”

SEE OUR PAINTINGS IN PERSON THIS WEEK

Our paintings available through Picture This Gallery

18th Masterpieces in Miniature
May 2024: Picture This Gallery, Alberta, Canada

A Civic Wilderness (Rachelle’s work “The Pigeon Hole”)
Through June 16th 2024 at The Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI

Wildlife Wonders: A Juried Exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists
Now through June 9th at The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ

EXQUISITE MINIATURES is now open at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago Academy of Science, in Chicago, IL where it will remain on display through June 2nd.

Now online: 32nd International Miniature Show
May 4 – June 1, 2024: Seaside Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC

The Art of Miniature XXXII
May 5 – June 15, 2024: Snow Goose Gallery, Bethlehem, PA

Galleries Currently Displaying Our Work

 Gallery by SEWE, Charleston, SC                           
Picture This Gallery and Framing, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada (2 paintings)
Up Against the Wall Gallery, Kingsport, TN (3-4 paintings)

visit ou WEBSITE  artofwildlife.com     Email us

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Until Next Time ~ Rachelle

A Week With Wildlife

This past week has been a great week for wonderful wildlife encounters for us! Of course it helped that we were camping a couple of nights, which really upped our chances, and the various wildflowers blooming were a big attraction for various butterflies and other insects. Our adventure started with a relaxing hike through woods filled with birds, serenading us with their springtime song. The flame azaleas were blooming beautifully, attracting various butterflies, especially a favorite of mine, the Tiger Swallowtails.

Tiger Swallowtail butterfly on wild azalea

We were also delighted to spot several pink lady slippers blooming, which is always a treat! 

Pink Lady Slipper

That evening we made an early supper and headed out in our kayaks. The strong winds were causing the waves to white cap and having to paddle headlong into them, made them crash over the front of the kayak, sending a chilly spray of water up and over me. But, nothing ventured, …nothing gained, so we powered on.

Near the shore, I could see numerous newts just below the surface of the clear water.

Red-spotted Newt

I saw a couple of birds walking and searching along the shoreline, and after drifting closer, I could see it was a pair of Spotted Sandpipers. They were finding lots of tasty tidbits and as soon as they consumed one, they briskly walked ahead until finding something else. They appeared to be running very late for an important date, but needed to grab several bites to eat before attending.

Spotted Sandpiper

There was a large number of tadpoles too, very chubby tadpoles, all hanging out in the shallow water. The crystal clear water afforded me a really nice view of them as I slowly drifted by.

Tadpoles

At one point a Bald Eagle, who was perched in a tree above, flew down and right over me, before landing in a tall pine tree some distance away. It kindly sat there long enough for me to capture a couple of photos using the zoom on my camera. It was a great evening on the water indeed and so worth the struggle of fighting the wind. That night we got back to our campsite in time to build a fire and enjoy sitting by it for awhile. Since the temperature was dropping, it felt divine and its warmth was much appreciated by me! 

Bald Eagle

After a good night’s rest, we awoke to an overcast day, and while sitting there eating our breakfast at about 8 AM we heard an unbelievable sound, which echoed off surrounding mountains and sounded like a T-Rex! We heard it several more times, before realizing it must be a pipe or something that someone was blowing through. After 30 minutes of listening to the sound being made every few minutes, we heard the parents camped nearby call to their son. A minute later, up walks a middle-aged boy carrying a big bull horn. Now obviously that is something that just shouldn’t be done in a campground, especially at 8 in the morning, but we couldn’t help but laugh at the ludicrousness of it, whilst imagining what people still sleeping must’ve thought when they were suddenly awaken by what sounded like a T-Rex attacking the campground, Ha! You do have to wonder what the parents were thinking when they allowed their son to bring a bull horn to a campground . . . go figure. Nonetheless, it gave us several laughs over the next couple of days, just thinking about it. While sitting there still eating, it began to lightly rain, and would continue to rain on and off the remainder of the morning. Our friends Sharon and Tom came to spend the day with us and when they arrived it was still raining. So we ate our lunch in a picnic pavilion, whilst enjoying numerous great laughs, including the story about the bullhorn.  

Blue-winged Teal

Thankfully the rain eventually stopped, so we headed out for a hike, which was most enjoyable! Afterward, we returned to the campground and spent the remainder of the afternoon playing scrabble, which turned into “redneck scrabble” as we started allowing words that weren’t actually words, but ones we were sure must be real words, giving us numerous laughs! 

Later we said our goodbyes, and Wes and I grabbed a quick supper before heading out to spend the evening on the water. Thankfully the winds had completely died down, it wasn’t raining, and proved a perfect evening for a paddle! At one point I noticed a pair of ducks in the distance, and after getting a closer look with the binoculars, I could see they were beautiful Blue-winged Teals. Then whilst slowly making my way up a narrow creek, I started smelling a strong musky oder and seconds later, a little baby beaver swam across just a few feet in front of me! As you can imagine I was thrilled to have been gifted this incredible encounter and even managed to get a very out of focus photo of it.

Very out of focus baby beaver 🙂

Not wanting to scare or bother it, I slowly turned around and went on my way. The next day we returned to the same area, and I carefully went up into the narrow passage once again. Not seeing the beavers anywhere, I slowly continued up and along the inviting waterway until a could hear water cascading. Rounding a tight curve, a beaver dam came into view, and it was beautiful, with a flame azalea covered with bright orange flowers arching above. I sat there admiring their construction for a a few moments, before slowly turning around and heading back. 

I love exploring new places, and I was over the moon when we found a narrow creek that beckoned to be paddled up! It was lined with trees covered in bright, spring green leaves, and through small openings in sections, I could see a pasture filled with thousands of lemon yellow buttercups blooming, with several cows happily grazing. It was an incredibly peaceful setting!

Great Blue Heron with happy cows in the background

There was an incredible amount of birds everywhere filling the air with their beautiful songs, and turtles absorbing the warmth of the sun sat atop logs. They were obviously happy and quite content as you can actually see it smiling in the photo below. If you look real close, you can also see that its shell is covered with lots of tiny gnats!

Relaxing paddling along, I saw an immature Bald Eagle drop down from its lofty perch and after flying upstream, landed on a lower limb of a tree. It made for a great photo-op other than the tiny branches in from of its eye . . . Oh well, Ha!

Immature Bald Eagle

It was truly gorgeous, and not just the scenery, but also the abundant birdsong filling the spring air. I couldn’t resist saying to Wes multiple times “It’s so beautiful!” 

We happened upon several baby turtles as well and this one perched atop the end of a log was adorable, and with its’ outstretched legs, you could tell it was totally loving the sun and trying to absorb every ounce it could!

There were abundant wildflowers blooming all along and I thought this setting particularly lovely with the bright yellow flowers lining the narrow waterway. Eventually we made it back to where we had started earlier that day, already planning another visit to this lovely stream!

SEE OUR PAINTINGS IN PERSON THIS WEEK

Rachelle’s “The Pigeon Hole”

A Civic Wilderness (Rachelle’s work “The Pigeon Hole”)
Through June 16th 2024 at The Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI

Wildlife Wonders: A Juried Exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists
Now through June 9th at The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ

EXQUISITE MINIATURES is now open at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago Academy of Science, in Chicago, IL where it will remain on display through June 2nd.

Now online: 32nd International Miniature Show
May 4 – June 1, 2024: Seaside Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC

The Art of Miniature XXXII
May 5 – June 15, 2024: Snow Goose Gallery, Bethlehem, PA

Galleries Currently Displaying Our Work

 Gallery by SEWE, Charleston, SC                           
Picture This Gallery and Framing, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada (2 paintings)
Up Against the Wall Gallery, Kingsport, TN (3-4 paintings)

visit ou WEBSITE  artofwildlife.com     Email us

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Until Next Time ~ Rachelle