just a few oak leaves

We live on the edge of the Piney Woods with mostly loblolly and longleaf pines. But there are also many varieties of oak trees — I sketched fallen leaves from just a few growing near our barn-house. The paper in this Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook is not the right texture to show off the granulating pigments.

remembering Aunt Lucille

When I was a child, I had the most wonderful penpal ever. Aunt Lucile was actually my father’s aunt, older sister to my grandmother. She was also my friend. Even through those impossible teen years when it was not cool to write letters to elderly aunts, she was patient with me and persevered — and I continued to write her through the rest of her life. Even when dementia changed the content of the letters.

For many years of her adult life Lucile remained single, taking care of my great-grandparents and teaching. In fact she began her teaching career in a rural 1-room schoolhouse! Later on, she married a widower and helped raise his 3 sons.

Though I take more after my grandmother in looks (she’s also where I get the ability to draw), I like to think I’m a lot like Lucile in curiosity and varied interests.

Among so many hobbies (and she was good at everything she tried!), she also made sock monkeys. Sadly, I did not end up with one of her monkeys, but when I saw this little guy I bought it to remember her. There are a lot of different facial expressions on sock monkeys but this one looks quite a lot like hers did.

good intentions, but . . .

I had every intention of doing several sketches last week. After all, we had 4 1/2 days camping in this beautiful forest alongside Lake Raven. But the day we headed out, I discovered that I had indeed caught Bill’s head cold (he was over it quickly). And let’s just say it was bad enough to go through a new box of tissues per day.

I loved experiencing the peace and quiet (interrupted by my hacking) but had no energy for hiking the many nature trails or sketching anything at all. Even with the Huge Alligator nearby as a “model”.

On the day before leaving, I was determined to get at least one sketch in . . . and the above is the sad result. Totally failed to capture the beauty around me.

I was leery of camping so close to alligators at first. But I came to love this old geezer of a ‘gator after listening to stories from the park host and a couple of fishermen. He hangs around the pier as people fish, sometimes stealing their catch as it is pulled to the water surface — hook, line, and all. It’s an added challenge for the fisherman to get the fish out before he nabs it.

About 14 feet long, he has scars on his back from people throwing bricks at him. I saw a family sitting near the bank throwing branches at him, trying to get him to move around. If he had wanted to, he could have easily pulled one of them into the lake. Other visitors have been known to throw whole chickens to him, not realizing that ‘gators who look to people as a source of food have to be destroyed. This old guy does not come on shore (possibly being so heavy?) but there are a couple of younger alligators northeast of the pier who have been seen out of the water. The host moved some tent campers to a safer location for now; she said they will need to be captured and relocated in a non-public area.

People visit this park but it’s home for the wildlife. We all need to respect that and leave these creatures alone.

Lake Raven

Last week Bill was extremely sick with a headcold. Our reservations for this campsite were made over a month ago and was already paid for; I was concerned that he’d feel too bad to enjoy it.

But no, Bill is feeling wonderful and is enjoying the area to the fullest! For which I am grateful.

I’m Not so grateful for his having given me his cold.

Hence, posting photos instead of sketches . . .

Oh, and those ‘gator warning signs? They weren’t kidding!

our temporary home

We are camping again this week, this time at Huntsville State Park on the north finger of Lake Raven. Nearly every campsite in this immediate area is set on an incline, so leveling the camper is challenging. And here there be alligators, year round.

But the views are extraordinary and I can hear water birds calling across the water.

Wilbur

One of my morning buddies . . . I spelled his name wrong in my sketch journal but he doesn’t mind.

doggy daycare

Sometimes when our daughter and son-in-law are gone Bradley, a Great Pyrenees-golden retriever mix, hangs out at our barn-house. I guess he prefers human company to his 3 cats.

The kids took the camper for a few days last week and poor Bradley was beside himself, watching and waiting for their safe return. Maybe he prefers the barn because we have bigger windows and the best view of the driveway?