THUNDER AND LIGHTNING FROM THE PORCH

NaPoWriMo--DAY TWENTY EIGHT

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: Today’s (optional) prompt is brought to us by the Emily Dickinson Museum. First, read this brief reminiscence:  Martha Dickinson Bianchi’s description of her aunt Emily’s cozy room, scented with hyacinths and a crackling stove, warmly recalls the setting decades later. Describe a bedroom from your past in a series of descriptive paragraphs or a poem. 

The Best Bedroom Ever

A tent on a sandy beach 

Of the Salmon River. 

Resting on cots. 

No need for covers. 

Night so warm, 

Rain fly is open. 

Screen keeps out bugs 

But lets in the stars. 

A breath of sage 

And evergreen 

Floats on the dark. 

Far from all sound 

But the grumble 

Of rolling water. 

A vision of the day 

Still sighs through the mind. 

NaPoWriMo--DAY NINETEEN

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: write a poem based on a “walking archive.” What’s that? Well, it’s when you go on a walk and gather up interesting thing – a flower, a strange piece of bark, a rock. This then becomes your “walking archive” – the physical instantiation of your walk.

Shooting Birds--19 April 2020 

All winter long 

The usual birds 

Who never make the long trip south. 

When summer ends, when cold winds blow 

When rivers freeze

 Magpie 

Pigeon

Sparrow 

Crow

 And don’t forget the chickadees. 

They endure the months of snow. 

In March 

When winter starts to go 

We hear the doves 

Then

 Flickers 

Blackbirds 

And we know 

It’s spring when

 There are

 Robins.

 Robins overflow. 

Today 

Out on the lake

 I saw loons

 The hawks are back.

 Kingfishers too. 

Osprey 

Swallows

 Duck

 Duck

 Goose.

(all my photos--most taken today--19 March 2020)

NaPoWriMo--DAY EIGHTEEN

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: Write an ode to life’s small pleasures. Perhaps it’s finding some money in the pocket of an old jacket , or just looking up at the sky and watching the clouds go by.

Six Months Later 

Some day last October, the weather getting colder 

There was extreme exposure, my sandal days were over. 

My toes cried, my soul died, the snow flyed. 

Six months of boots, fuzzy hats, snow suits, 

Thinking of warm sand, umbrella drinks in the hand, 

Falling in love to the rhythm of a steel drum band. 

Now smiling-- morning sun, worst of winter almost done 

Three little birds by my door say the blizzards ain’t no more. 

Singing melodies, sing of fun, sandal days have begun! 

Don’t worry about a thing. Now’s a day to laugh and sing. 

Toes are out, soft and pink, sandal time don’t you think? 

Sky is blue, lawn is grassy. 

Don’t worry be happy.

NaPoWriMo--DAY TWELVE

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: Write a triolet. These eight-line poems involve repeating lines and a tight rhyme scheme. Note: I didn’t stick strictly to the form but did have fun with the pattern.

Turnabout

The streets are empty, the people inside. 

The world is doing a big lockdown. 

Noise is gone. Quiet’s amplified. 

The germs take over and people hide. 

The empty streets do have an upside. 

Creatures enjoy the kid’s playgrounds. 

The wild which the tourists occupied 

Is now alive with animal sounds.

Ouch

This poem isn’t by Chekov. 

It isn’t even by his wife. 

It’s not a vision from above. 

I wrote it standing by the stove. 

It’s not inspired by lost love 

But makes a point sharp as a knife. 

While reading it you’ll see that you’ve 

Lost twenty seconds of your life.

NaPoWriMo--DAY NINE

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: Write a “concrete” poem – a poem in which the lines and words are organized to take a shape that reflects in some way the theme of the poem.

SNOW MOBILE

 

Slowly

        Sailing

 

                    Feathers

Falling

     Drifting              

              Downward 

 

           Softly     

 Sliding         

 

                     Moistly                 

                 Melting

 

           In

 

          My

      Mouth

NaPoWriMo--DAY EIGHT

NapoWriPo PROMPT: Peruse the work of one or more of these twitter bots, and use a line or two, or a phrase or even a word that stands out to you, as the seed for your own poem.

Crazy Man Dies*

I met a traveler dressed in camo green. 

His two vast legs had pockets down each side. 

His rifle was a cold killing machine. 

His sneering face had greenish paint applied. 

I asked him why he wore the combat gear.
“I’m hunting fuzzy wabbits in the wood,
Or maybe just a porcupine or deer..
But right now a loo would do me good.” 

I said, “You think out here you’ll find a loo?
Ask any bear around and he will say;
‘Right on the ground is where you leave your poo.
It greens the grass as soon as it decays.' " 

He wrinkled up his lip just like a king.
“If I did that may lightning strike me dead.”
A cloud let loose and struck him with a zing.
Nothing beside remains but melted lead.

*Ozymandias--(see what I did there?)

April is National Poetry Month

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.

I've done this challenge before in 2015 and 2017. I published a few of my 2015 efforts and the whole 30 that I wrote with illustrations in 2017. Creating and publishing every day was time consuming and I decided I was too busy to try in 2020. At least I thought I was too busy a few weeks ago. But things change (sarcastic laugh). So come back in April and see what happens. I'll publish the prompts and my efforts but don't look for pictures every day.  Until then, here is one of my poems from March 2010.

MARCH

Rotten snow rusts.

Gardens and forests still sleep.

Wind’s iron fingers smear shadows.

We ache inside

Homesick for spring.

Hope you are all well and staying safe. Best wishes to you and your families.

National Poetry Writing Month website

GRAND TETON PHOTOGRAPHY

DH and I decided to go to Grand Teton National Park the first Saturday in October to find out if we could hear the bull elk bugle.

The autumn weather had deteriorated into winter very early.  So there was snow on the highway as we went up Teton Pass.  It wasn’t deep or icy but a wakeup to what we would see at lower elevations in a few weeks.  We got into the park so early there wasn’t even a ranger at the entrance booth to check us in.  It was just very dark.

So dark we almost ran over a pronghorn who was out looking for some early breakfast.

 Sunrise was just beginning when we reached String Lake parking lot.  We weren’t alone.  There were others with cameras and tripods probably there for the same reason we were.

   Daylight let us see that new snow had frosted the mountains and trees.  The sunrise turned the snow lavender and then pink.  We listened for elk and heard almost nothing.  Finally we heard some bugling far away from the lake.  The big bulls were cold and not in the mood for love.

But that was okay since the scenery was outstanding.  The air was so still the water in the lake was a mirror for the forest and the grand peaks.  The high fog lifted just enough for us to see the mountain tops and the reflected sunlight.

We took the trail to Leigh Lake far enough we could see Mount Moran and its quiet reflection in the water.  The beauty was mind-boggling.

I shot photo after photo as the morning slowly burned off the mist on the peaks.

The changing angle of the sunrise and the moving clouds enhanced every view.

We went back to Jenny Lake where the sights were just as scenic and amazing.

It was very much worth the early rising and the dark drive to see such magnificence.

Even leaves on the path were picturesque.

So we didn’t see or hear much from the elk but we did see a few birds like this Clark's nutcracker trying to catch a few warm rays of sunshine.

On our way back to Jackson for breakfast at The Bunnery we got a good look at a big bull moose.  What you can’t see in this photo is the crowd of paparazzi with their big cameras and zoom lenses taking the same photos I was.

HANNAH BRIDGE-Linn County Oregon

Oregon has more covered bridges than any other state west of the Mississippi. Pioneers put coverings over their wooden bridges to keep them from rotting away in the Northwest’s damp weather.

  

I did a road tour of some of the bridges of Linn County one bright September morning and came away with a camera full of reference photos for my paintings.  The large side openings and arched doorways of Hannah Bridge caught the sunshine and cast inviting shadows across the interior.   

After some struggles with darks and lights and then having fun with colors, I came up with this portrait of Hannah.

I started with a sketch which I used to establish a composition and some of the values before transfering the line drawing to watercolor paper.

I put in a loose background of backlit greens and some deeper colors of shrubbery.

Then I added more detail to the trees and bushes before working on the bridge itself.

It was a challenge to avoid putting in every detail of the trusses and beams.  When I felt I had that handled, I started working the with complementary colors of purple and yellow in the lights and darks of the bridge.

The finished product has a nice depth and dimension.  It brings back the serenity of that morning and seems to invite further exploration of the lush Willamette Valley.  

You can find this piece and many more of my paintings here at my Etsy site.

OREGON COAST September 2017 – Part 5 - The Final Chapter

Instead of returning across the Oregon desert I drove north up the coast. One of the attractions there is the wreck of the Peter Iredale. It was a steel sailing ship which was grounded on the sand at the mouth of the Columbia River during a storm in 1906.

During World War II Japanese submarines fired several shells at the wreck thinking it was part of Fort Stevens just up the coast. No damage was done to the ship or the fort and Fort Stevens didn’t return fire so as not to reveal their location.

After a few photos I continued on up the beach.

Fort Stevens was built during the Civil War 1864-1865. It was an active military post until 1947 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The defensive walls around the fort give a great view of the shipping traffic moving between the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River.

It was only a short drive to Astoria, Oregon where I made a stop at the Astoria Column, a 125 foot high tower on the hill overlooking the city and the river. It is painted with murals commemorating the history of the area.

I drove my little Subaru into the traffic crossing the Astoria-Megler Bridge and took the 4 mile trip across the river to Washington State.

The last time I visited this part of the country we missed Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. I made the steep hike up the trail to the lighthouse which has a view of the 6-mile-wide mouth of the river. The U.S. Coast Guard keeps watch there over an area known worldwide for rough sea conditions. Nearby is the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center which marks where The Corps of Discovery finally reached their goal.

Due to the Eagle Creek fire near the town of Cascade Locks, all traffic was closed on Interstate 84. So I had to take the winding two lane Highway 14 along the Washington side of the river.

The firefighters were trying to slow the progress of the wildfire but the whole river canyon was choked with smoke. The fire started September 5 and with the dry conditions and wind it continued to grow and spread. It wasn’t contained until November and by then had burned over 48 thousand acres.

It took over an hour of driving east to get clear of the smoke and ashes in the air.

I stopped by the Maryhill Museum of Art. It sits high above the river on the Washington side and was originally supposed to be a mansion where the entrepreneur Sam Hill and his wife would entertain guests.

Among other things, it houses a nice cross section of sculpture and art from European and United States artists plus a display of Native American art.

Three miles away on the bluff is a replica of Stonehenge. It was also commissioned by Sam Hill as a memorial to people who had died in World War II. This was one of the places to be during the 2017 Solar Eclipse.

Alas, I finally had to leave the green forests, orchards and vineyards of the coast and drive on east across the high deserts of Oregon and Idaho to return home. Total miles: 2,098.

OREGON COAST September 2017 – Part 4—Manzanita, Cannon Beach, Seaside

The watercolor artist retreat met at Manzanita, Oregon. Manzanita is a beach town located on The Pacific Coast Highway between Seaside and Tillamook.

It has a huge flat beach which has many moods depending on the weather and tides.

At the north end of the long beach is Neahkahnie Mountain. If you wander way up the beach from town you can even see where the ocean has worn a hole through the headland.

Here is my version of the arch. 

The town is a quiet place but with plenty going on in the way of food, arts and recreation.

If you sit on the hill just above the beach to sketch, you’ll find plenty of scenery plus a good measure of people watching.

 The sunsets are well worth waiting for.

Usually September on the Oregon coast is called “second summer” because of the mild sunny weather. But this time the wind was heavy and the seas rough on several days.

So we got opportunities for challenging seascapes.

I made a trip up the coast to visit Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock.

If you know where to look, you can see Tillamook Lighthouse built on a hunk of rock about a mile off shore. It has quite a history since the waves can be tumultuous and the fog heavy. Just building it cost several lives and many others followed trying to maintain the light to warn ships off the rocks. It was decommissioned in 1957.

It was a windy day when I visited Seaside South Beach to see if I could spot the gray whales reported in the water there.

These young Heermann’s gulls were hunkered down and waiting for better weather to go fishing. I didn’t see any whales.

So I went into town and had lunch at Norma’s. Great food.

If you’re in the mood for saltwater taffy, Seaside Candyman has 180 flavors. I picked out anything with chocolate plus some other kinds to share with the family at home.

For more of my watercolor paintings visit my Etsy Shop.  Or click on the Watercolors by Leenie button on the upper left of this blog page.