Welcoming Wildlife

~ Little Sandpiper ~

~ Friendly Spitting Mallard ~

~ Golden Evening Whitetail ~

This past Sunday we took a leisurely family trip to Two Harbors, a small town on the Lake Superior shore north of Duluth, to view the area where my great great grandfather's homestead once stood, and to gather images of a fishing vessel the Crusader II, built in 1939 by my great uncles and christened by the Crown Prince Olav of Norway during a visit.

On our pebbled beach stroll we were immediately received by a most pleasant little Sandpiper who nimbly strided beside us. When she finally decided to depart, a friendly Mallard hen quietly glided up within arms length to say hello, as if greeting us back home.

 The sun was setting as we gathered back into our vehicles to head for Agate Bay, and as we rounded the corner, two Whitetail deer calmly gazed up through the golden glow of the evening sun, then slowly and silently glided from view.

The Beauty of Lake Superior

~ Beach Swirls ~

~ Moss Scape ~

~ Gentle Evening Waves ~

~ Future Beach Rocks ~

Lake Superior holds such an amazing and beautiful variety of color and shapes in vegetation, rock, and water.

These early evening images were taken all no farther than a 25 foot radius after I gazed out at the lake to view beautiful gentle waves in teals and greens lightly capped in white. A slight turn to the right revealed swirls of dark blue and black as the water lapped onto a large shadowed shore of stone. At my feet were pebbles large and small in nearly every shape and color dappled in rainbows and slightly distorted from the water's ripples, pebbles waiting for the next Lake Superior gale to create giant waves that would carry them onto the clean washed beach. A final twist to the right found massive grey stone shelves carved and shaped by the water, wind, and ice of time, softly decorated by hardy miniature grasses and ferns, golden lichen, and gorgeous green mosses that thrive next to little reflective pools of water left by rain and waves.

Dragonfly Cottage

~ Orange Ruffled Daylilies ~

~ Marshmallow Blossoms ~

~ Dragonfly Cottage at Garden's Keep, home of De La Renaissance creations ~

Whoa Sketchbook Project Now On Auction

The wonderful Whoa Sketchbook Project began its life by Jennifer MacNeill-Traylor of Gypsy Mare Studios and has traveled across the ocean and back to include amazing sketches and full color original art and prints from over 13 artists of the Whoa Horse Artists Group which began on Ebay and has now included Etsy (Whoa Horse Artists Group).

The sketchbook project was created to raise money to help a horse charity chosen by the artists. To view the auction which began August 10th and runs until August 20th, click here.

I would love to include in this post many of the images of the gorgeous art available in this one of a kind book, however I am not the best at grabbing outside images. You can however view most of them by clicking here (please be sure to click 'older posts' at the bottom of the page to view more art). I have included an image of the print 'Golden Pegasus, Winged Horse of Love and Hope' I have donated to be included in this sketchbook auction. This is the first time this print has been released larger than ACEO 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" size.

~ Golden Pegasus, Winged Horse of Love and Hope ~

For any who love the equine, this beautiful one of a kind sketchbook containing over 50 pieces of art would be a treasure to own!

Ships from the Past

~ Sails in the Harbor ~

~ HMS Bounty ~

~ Barque Europa ~

Like many others, I am in love with sailing ships of the past!

The above ships, along with 5 others, entered the Duluth harbor this past Thursday, and departed again 6 days later. In honor of their arrival, a great celebration was planned with days full of music, delicious food, plays, an amazing collection of treasure recovered from around the world to view, touch, and (purchase!), a treasure hunt, merchants of all kinds, and of course...pirates and Jack Sparrow flying the skull and cross bones everywhere.

I, along with a large part of my family and friends, spent 4 full days participating in celebration dressed as sea faring folk, some of us pirates, greeting and entertaining visitors, were captured in photos, and revelled in amazing sea shanties from Michael Beans  and more, plus treasure hunting tales from the fantastic Captains Carl Fismer and Scott Mitchen  .

With such an event, it is hard to pick one best moment, but for me there was something that stood out as very special. A crew of garbed pirates were chosen to board a beautiful refurbished solid wood yacht to greet the tall ships before they entered the harbor and to wave hello to the thousands who thronged the waters edge to view the masted vessels. I was thrilled when I was chosen as one of the crew, having not been on the great lake since late childhood, and had longed for it many times as an adult. I failed to grab the camera in my excited haste to board ship, and later so wished I had, because what a site I viewed as we approached the tall masted beauties in full sail far out on the lake, all 9 of them.  Amazing...absolutley amazing... they took my breath away!

 ~ Even now without a photo, I know I will have a memory of them together that will last a lifetime. ~