Love to see the honey bees busy on my volunteer blackcap bush!

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013

 The wisteria are blooming - I now have three separate vines, and they smell heavenly! This one has a lot of white, while the others are more purple. They take several years to begin blooming - this is the first big year for this one. Last year there were maybe two flowers, but now it's loaded!

The latest house I am working on, just about finished. In fact, we got the final inspection and Certificate of Occupancy today! The granite counters are covered with paper and blue tape - the cleaners will be in here tomorrow, and then it will really look nice. Stove and fridge to be installed shortly. New owners to move in next week! Yippee!

The neighbor's needed the grass mowed in the middle of their driveway, but it's already growing up again! Thank you, rain.

My latest garage sale find! Also got a nice tent. I am determined to be more active, so I hope to get some short backpacking trips in this summer. Of course, who could pass up a purple backpack????

This is the book that I made for Bird Fest. I made one for Cathi, too. They're about 6" x 9", and the covers are painted Tyvek, then rubber stamped. I printed the birds on tissue paper and glued them on top. After I covered the boards, I sealed them with a clear poly sealer, so they are practically indestructible. I have a spiral binding machine, which punches the holes. Makes it easy!

 Inside, I printed some images on some of the pages, scattered throughout. The keynote speech was about the Ivory-Billed woodpecker, so I used some images of that bird. This one is by an artist named Charley Harper.

 I also printed out the Bird Fest bird list, so we could have that in our books as we went along. The books worked out so well - I had used watercolor paper for the pages, so we used them for the drawing class, too.

SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2013

Another Photo Art Journal book - this one is "Seasons." We had over a year, so many of the artists were able to take photos of the same location over the seasons.

 It is a wonderful book, and I love seeing the many interpretations of "seasons."

One of the ECV brothers, Brian, took David's ashes with him to Belize, where he spread them underwater during a dive. Awesome!

Sunset and moonrise, almost a full moon. Love the light on the far ridge.

Fuzzy toes in the sun.

MONDAY, MAY 20, 2013

We were in no hurry to pack up and leave, so we spent a couple of hours early in the morning on the riverside at the campground.

 With the lizards.

 Sunlight catching the ripples above gold-flecked sand.

 Cedar branch shadows.

 Driftwood in fantastic shapes - also, if you look closely, you can see a squarish rock that had been captured by the roots when the tree was alive.

 Swallow nest in a cedar tree leaning out over the water.

SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2013

#8 Birding by River Raft with Kashmir and Osprey Rafting Co. We floated down Icicle Creek on a gorgeous sunny-but-not-too-hot day!

 It was a little raft - six passengers but very comfortable, and we didn't need to get wet!

 Canadian Goose family with 13 fuzzy goslings.

 Raft and crew.

 Back at Bird Fest Central, where we sat on the deck and enjoyed the end of a really fun weekend!

 I couldn't resist this peaceful moment.

 After saying good-bye to the wonderful organizers, we headed out to explore Leavenworth a bit more. This carriage was everywhere.

 We walked back around the city riverside trail to a spot where we had seen Pygmy Nuthatches in a dead snag. They didn't seem to mind us hanging out with them.

 Then we drove up Icicle Creek all the way to the end of the road. Above shows where a fire had burned a few years ago - the trees are dead and gray, and there is also still some snow on the ground up there. Pretty eerie.

 There are many, many side creeks flowing into Icicle.

 We stopped at a bridge, where the water pummeled through a narrow gorge of wonderfully striped rocks.

We ended our day with dinner at the Icicle Creek Brewery!

SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013

Our home-sweet-home! The KOA was a really nice campground.

 Bird Fest Central at Leavenworth's Barn Beach Reserve, with Al Kioski.

 #4. Waterfront Raptors with Van and Heather. We were driven around in this nice van, making several stops to see eagle, osprey, turkey vultures and many, many swallows.

 Cathi and me along the Wenatchee River. There is an osprey nest across the river behind us.

 A field in Leavenworth, looking south and west toward the 'Sleeping Lady.'

 Saw my first Western Bluebird!

 Back at Bird Fest Central, the Sarvey Wildlife Rescue had some owls and raptors for us to see. Barn owl.

 #5.Wildflower Walk with Dan. Dan is the tall guy at the far side of the group. He was very excited about the flowers, but we all kept interupting him with bird sightings. Saw my first white-headed woodpecker!

Mariposa Lillies.

 #6. BBQ Dinner and Keynote Presentation at Red Tail Canyon Farm. Our sketch instructor, John Ruthven, gave a talk about his participation in the search for the Ivory-Billed woodpecker. He believes!

 Here he is with his painting of a pair of ivory-billed woodpeckers. His work is breath-taking!

#7. Owl Prowl with Aja and Heather. We were driven up in the mountains after dark, where Aja 'called' owls with recorded sounds. But, no luck. We stood still for long, cold minutes, straining our ears to no avail, listening for barred owls. So we went on up the hill a bit more, and tried for the flammulated owl. Some of the younger ears thought they might have heard some calls far away, and I believe I convinced myself that I heard it too.

FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2013

Bird Fest Activities:

1. Wood Duck Walk with Kelly at Confluence State Park, where the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers meet. View to high desert county near Wenatchee. There is actually an Osprey sitting in the dead tree - kind of hard to see!

 Kelly is the wildlife biologist with Chelan County PUD, and she was knowledgeable and fun. There is a wood duck nest box just here, by a canal, but mama was sitting tight and didn't come out.

 We did see some wood ducks flying, but not close enough to see. We also saw lots of other birds, flowers and animals.

Like this bank of Nootka roses - smelled wonderful!

#2. Drawing Class and Nature Walk with John Ruthven, a world-renown artist, often called the modern-day Audubon.

 He told some wonderful stories, then led us on a walk along the river in Leavenworth's city park. Since bird sightings tend to happen fast, he taught us how to try and quickly capture the moment with a sketch, then take some photos, so we could create a nice drawing later.

 He had a great time!

 His favorite part was seeing all of the merganser ducks on the far shore.

Later, we watched a pair of kingfishers hunt and perch on some pilings.

#3. Feathered Architects with Idie Ulsh. An interesting slide show and talk about nests and who makes what kind.