I went to the beach today to shoot some photos, as the sun came out. Across the road is a wonderful little swamp, and today it was full of ducks and red-winged blackbirds beginning their nesting season. I love the sound of their songs.

There's just a hint of green leaves beginning in the brush beyond the swamp, and now the water will get lower and lower, and eventually disappear completely by late summer, just in time to harvest the tulles for making baskets!
One of my next Photo Journal assignments is "hands", so I'm trying some different shots.

Lake Flora had just a hint of mist floating over it, so we quickly posed for a portrait. Sue, Ginnie and I shared a cabin, and have for a few years. We also go camping in the late summer to pick black huckleberries in the mountains. It's fun to get together!

Rae and Cathy are from the Northwest Territories in Canada. They made these wonderful random-weave hats, but didn't have room to pack them in their bags. So they're going to wear them on the plane home! They might turn a few heads in the airport.
The last class of the week, at the far end of the dining room. Marilyn Moore, standing at the back, showed us a fun way to make a frame for a piece of woven jewelry. This room is where we eat, have the auctions, slide shows, and meetings, and some of the classes. It's a great room, and they recently added some skylites, so it's much brighter there now. And that's it for another year!

SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2008
Ann made a little cedar hat for her friend, who is actually quite pleased with her new headpiece!

My class today was with Mary Hettmansperger - here, students are trying to see what she's doing with that piece of waxed linen. We made several pieces with knotless netting, or looping. I'll have some photos later of the finished pieces.
Saturday is the auction, where we have a live auction of some wonderful basket-related items that are donated to the Guild. It is one of our main money-raising ventures, and always a lot of fun to watch. Most of the audience also has some type of unfinished class project to work on while they watch - here, Sue watches Ginnie braid a strap for her clutch.

FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008
We woke up to a wet snow - it was very pretty across the lake on the tree boughs.

My class today was weaving a pouch with willow bark - quite different than yesterday's willow! Miriam carefully cuts her weavers to the same width.
We had plenty of peeled willow bark to choose from!
Our fearless teacher, Margaret Mathewson, fashioned a scary mask from the willow bark, peering out of knotholes!

The goofiness continued when Ann put an unfinished rib basket over her head!
One of the highlights of the Retreat is the Gallery exhibit, where everyone is welcome to bring their baskets to show. We have a wide array of extremely talented artists in our guild, but we encourage everyone to contribute, so here's a photo of my purple necklace pouch sharing display space with some other beautiful baskets.
It continued to snow all day, but luckily didn't get really cold, and the snow was gone by morning. This is the camp road, going past some of the cabins that we sleep in.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008
Today the willow class continued, my basket is making progress! I love the smell and colors of willow.

Katherine Lewis was our teacher - here she's preparing to tie the ends together before wrapping the basket in plastic to keep it damp while we eat lunch.
And I actually finished it! We made the baskets to hold the plastic flower pot, so we can put plants in them, and the extra-long handle will allow the basket to be hung. It came out great, and was a good class.

In another classroom, Mary Hettmansperger is acting goofy, to the amusement of her students.

I left early for Basket Retreat so that I could spend some time at Fort Worden State Park beachcombing. It was rainy and snowy when I left, but the sun was out at the park. Above is the Lighthouse where I parked, with Whidbey Island still cloudy and stormy in the background.

This seagull was busily eating it's catch of the day, when the crow began his approach, exclaiming loudly to all that it was, indeed, HIS catch. He eventually grabbed the goodie right out from under the seagull's beak! The other gull politely ignored all the bickering.
I found plenty of interesting rocks, shells and clouds.

After dinner at the camp, we had a short class period, where we started the Willow Flower Basket class. We made our base and got started up the sides.

Received another Photo Art Journal, "Embrace the Blur". This is a very fun one - I imagine most of the photos were the result of unintended movement or low light (mine were!), but they are all very interesting.

This first page is of a lighted yoyo - very colorful.

Catherine created a folding back cover that wraps around the book, using a blurry shot of flowers.