Fossils, Shells, Sea Glass, Sea Whip

Today was our last day at the beach. To celebrate our wonderful week I took my journal to the beach this afternoon and settled down to draw whatever I found around where I sat, or on the beach in front of me.

Sitting there I thought about how lucky I am to have access to this beach crowded with wildlife, not by people. Every morning I've seen deer tracks running right along the beach, and today I noticed that both deer and raccoon have a major highway located between the low dunes and the tidal creek that snakes around behind them. Also back there: Great Blue Heron tracks, Little Blue and other smaller bird tracks, and big rafts of brown sea oat stems washed in by high waves. In the cold wind I smelled the beach, the pluff mud of the creek, and wood smoke from somebody's fireplace. The surf was calm, and occasionally there would be a slight pause in wave action that offered up a remarkable silence not usually found on a beach. Dolphin rolled far out in the smooth water and pelicans cruised in single file right over me and the lone pelican that floated on the water. Sanderlings skittered around on the damp sand, dashing in and out of the smallest waves.

Tomorrow we head back to Middlewood. We'll pick up Daisy and Radu on the way, and as soon as we unpack I'll head right out into the woods. As wonderful as the beach is, it is always good to get back home.

Bayberry, Glasswort, Sea Rocket, Sea Oats, etc.

Vacationing on Edisto in November is heavenly. There are very few people about, the beach at Jeremy Cay is empty, and so far, we're the only jon boat and/or kayaks in Frampton Creek. The roads have little traffic. Foggy mornings have given way to overcast days in the 60's with a cool breeze. We hope for sun by Thanksgiving, but really, the cloudy days are lovely, too. So who cares! The peace and beauty of this place is everything.

Using Google Earth I figured out that today I walked over seven miles on the beach. I found some good fossils and saw many birds, including Cormorants, Great Blues, Little Blues, Kingfishers, Egrets, Sanderlings, Willets, Great Black Backed Gulls, Laughing Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Sand Pipers, as well as Ruddy Turnstones, Piping Plovers, Hooded Mergansers... We also saw a dead Cormorant on Botany Bay Island. In the low lying ground behind the small dunes and Sea Oats (due to recent years' erosion) were large patches of Glasswort, vining Beach Pennywort, Sandwort, Sea Rocket, and Seaside Croton. Old turtle shells from this year's hatchlings littered the crusty sand. Along the water's edge I found Sea Urchins, starfish, sand dollars, Sea Whip, and a dead Red Drum that apparently had been on a line that got caught in seaweed. The whole mess had washed up in the recent rough surf.

What a wonderful day!

Rocks!

It's a beautiful day today! Temps in the 70's, blue sky, bright colorful leaves still dangling on some maples, dogwoods, and hickories. My hike with the dogs took us all the way to the far end of the pipeline, to where a fence cuts diagonally across the field to mark a boundary. The gate there is still open from when they did some work on a pipe next to Lawson's Fork in late summer. Once we came around the corner from the lower pipeline, the dogs dashed off into the woods and toward the house that is way back in the woods. I waited and waited for them, wandering slowly along the pipeline while listening intently for the rattling leaves of their running. Nothing. In the end they didn't return to me, but returned to the house. A quick call on the cell phone gave me the answer I needed: yes, they'd made it home and were sleeping on the porch. I did the rest of the hike by myself, and was finally able to poke around in Meetinghouse Creek in peace, and pick up rocks without Daisy leaping around, jumping on me, and sniffing at each rock I pick up.

It was very peaceful!

2010 Jamboread Poster

Since last week was busy and gave me very little time to journal, I thought I'd post this painting to show you some of what I've been working on. Mr. Frog is next year's "poster child" for our library system's fabulous children's reading festival, Jamboread! If you have children in your life and live nearby, plan to come! It's always the first weekend in March.

I hope a journal post will come along this afternoon.... stay tuned!

Maple-leaf Viburnum

This is yesterday's post, but it could just as well be today's. With clear blue skies, leaves falling in the cool breeze, and fall crickets trilling here and there - both were perfect afternoons for a hike with the dogs and a little journaling.

The patch of small Maple-leaf Viburnums have been in our back woods from the time we built our house, twenty years ago. They don't seem any taller, wider, or thicker than when I first saw them but this might be because they grow in deep shade on the side of a dry hill. There is another large patch of these viburnums (possibly?) in the front woods that are twice (maybe even thrice) as large. They grow in a damper spot that gets a little more sun, but they have no fruit and have barely begun to change color... as I write this I wonder if perhaps they are another kind of Viburnum...hmm.

Anyway, when I first noticed this small cluster of trees it was about this time of year, and you couldn't miss the mass of pink leaves in deep shade. They glowed! and for a few years I thought they were just small maple trees. Then, somewhere along the way I read about viburnums and things began clicking - my eyes took in more. The flowers in the spring, for instance - Maple-leaf Viburnums have clusters of small white ones. After reading that I walked into the woods to look, and there they were. How could I ever have missed the flowers? And the tidy pairs of leaves.

Now I admire my Maple-leaf Viburnums every time I walk past them. Not only that, I've also learned to identify other viburnums, such as Arrow-wood, and Rusty Blackhaw. Who knows what will be next!

If you have any interest in shrubs, you might look for the fascinating book written by Donald Stokes in 1981, called The Natural History of Wild Shrubs and Vines (Eastern and Central NA), Illustrations by Deborah Prince Smith. My copy came from the Friends of the Library book sale, so I don't know if it's still available new, but used books are easy to come by these days.

Cranefly Orchid, Spotted Wintergreen, and more

Today was cloudy and damp, misty at times, windy, and chilly! When we headed out I was so surprised! I went back inside and checked the radar to see if the fine rain was going to turn into something worse. My peek at the radar/sat page made it look like it should be sunny here, and as I walked, I could indeed see blue skies and sun way out on the western horizon. The sun never made it to Middlewood, though, and the misty fog is still here as I type (4:30ish).

The dogs and I wandered down the pipeline. About halfway to Meetinghouse Creek we took a sharp right and climbed a bit of steep north-facing hill. I placed my sit-upon under a canopy of thinning bright red and deep yellow leaves that shivered in the wind. There were green plants all around me and I realized they were all small evergreens: slender Carolina Jessamine, Woodland Sedge, Spotted Wintergreen, American Holly, Moss, and the lovely purple-backed leaf of the Cranefly Orchid. My pen scritch-scratched as I drew, crows cawed loudly as they flapped overhead, the dogs panted as a result of an earlier deer-harassment run. The leaves clicked as they landed in the woods.

My fleece jacket and the scarf around my neck helped me stay warm on the hill for an hour or so. As soon as the chill set in, I packed up and headed back. Radu and Daisy ran ahead and led me through the colorful woods to home.

Red!

The cloudy skies set off the leaves' beautiful colors this afternoon. The yellows of the hickories, poplars and maples glowed like they had a lamp inside them, but the reds outshone them. The Red Maples are in full (red) leaf. The Sumacs are shorter but grow in mass along the pipeline and therefore make quite a show of orangy-red. Dogwoods turn a purply shade of red, to contrast with their shocking orange-red berries this time of year. Sassafras trees turn various colors depending on the light available where they grow. Some are a school-bus yellow (like the hickories), some are orange, and some, like the small tree from which I picked this leaf, are deep red.

Red, yellow, orange... whatever their color, the trees in the Piedmont of South Carolina are putting on a beautiful show right now, and I love it. Fall is my favorite time of year!

Eastern Redcedar

The maples and sourwoods surprised me this morning as the dogs and I headed out for our walk. I didn't realize how much they'd turned. Could some of this color change have happened overnight? Or maybe today's heavy clouds accentuate the bright reds and yellows. The wind definitely makes the leaves shiver and shimmer and look downright energetic!

Daisy, Radu and I headed down to the lower woods, where an old homesite lies under years of fallen leaves. The foundation stones are moss covered, and all that remains of a barn is one corner's logs cut to fit like Lincoln Logs, and portions of the old tin roof, now on the ground and covered with leaves and compost. There were mushrooms galore in these woods, purple, red, yellow and brown, some buttons and some fully open. In this same area is this remnant of an old Redcedar - a natural sculpture rising from the leaf litter. It's beautiful enough from a distance, but up close it's amazing. Oak, Poplar, and Sweetgum leaves flew about in the wind and landed on me as I drew the old tree. I wish I'd gotten closer to the tree to draw it, although when I did get closer I saw that it would be an overwhelming task... and too much for today. Maybe some other day. In the meantime, a suggestion: stop occasionally and look closely at everyday things. Most will look completely different, not to mention totally amazing.

Wildlife Tracks

Late yesterday afternoon I hiked with the dogs along the pipeline. It was warmer than the weekend, but still pretty cool for mid-October. The late afternoon sun felt good on my back as we headed east. When I go to the top of the farthest hill, a spot where there's a pale orange, sandy stretch of path, I noticed what I think are tracks of a Red Fox. They were so - so- (bear with me here) so cute! and so clear in the damp sand, the shadows sharp due to the low sun. As I admired the fox tracks I noticed that a Wild Turkey had also walked through the sand. There was a soft track near the fox tracks, and more, clearer tracks nearby. I drew one of the clear ones that even showed the rough bottom texture of the turkey's foot.

Deer tracks are everywhere along the pipeline, even on the woodland paths around our house. It's interesting to note the size of the tracks and to picture the animal standing next to you. Some deer tracks are splayed wide and show, as well, the dewclaws - these are made by running and leaping deer. The print near where I was sitting had just small dots to indicate where the dewclaws would have been, and are pretty far back, so I'd say this is a deer's back foot print. The smaller and sharper print is from a small, young deer.

I finally got up and started studying the prints and counting toes, and soon realized that some of the small prints were not fox (four toes) but something else (five toes). I drew them and came home to look in my Animal Tracks book to id them. I'm not positive, but I think the five-toed animal could be a skunk.

The other obvious track in that spot was a REALLY BIG one, quite clear and deep in the wet sand! Oh... yeah. I happened to have some good track-makers with me on this journey. I think the big track belongs to Radu. Daisy's prints weren't represented in this particular spot.

Local Color

It was a cloudy afternoon that finally broke up and showed patches of blue sky and - yes - some SUNSHINE! The dogs and I headed out for a walk around 4, and as soon as I got to the pipeline I turned and stood with my face in the sun, loving the warmth on my face. The breeze was still damp and cool, and as I headed downhill toward Meetinghouse Creek, it was welcome as it kept the gnats away. We are deep into Mushroom time, and today it showed. They're everywhere! But it's also fall flower time, and the pipeline is full of the beautiful blooms of many asters, goldenrods, bonesets, gerardias, etc.. Today I chose a few more blooms to paint, and was forced to add, as well, the Black Tupelo fruit that was falling onto the pipeline, for their gorgeous deep indigo blue color. The leaves of the Black Tupelo were scattered around, as well, their rich scarlet coloring bright, beautiful and SO noticable. Goldenrod is everywhere, as are various asters. Don't know what this Aster is called. If I figure it out I'll post it!

Hickory Leaf, Aster and Gerardia

Beautiful sunny day! Yesterday's soaking rains are gone, leaving us with blue skies and a waning crescent daytime moon. While we were out this morning we walked under/into a flock of blackbirds that reminded me of the movie, The Birds! There were squawking and chattering so loud they didn't hear us crunch into the woods to look up into the trees. I could hardly hear the leaf-crunch myself. There were easily thousands of them. I walked all around under them and finally settled on the pipeline nearby so that I could enjoy the aviary feeling of being close to their noises and activity. Suddenly, they all stopped squawking at once and took off with a loud collective WHOOSH. They flew out and over the pipeline in formation and veered and rolled in the blue October sky like a school of fish in the sea. I was awed by the sights and the sounds of this beautiful flock. They whirred around over me for a few minutes before they disappeared. In the silence that followed I started hearing the usual woodland birds again - Chickadees, Titmice, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Blue Jays, Pileated Woodpeckers, etc.

Pick-up Sticks

This is yesterday's post that didn't get finished until today! It was started out in a field full of fall asters, goldenrods, and bright red and yellow catbrier leaves. So why did I choose to draw a little pile of sticks on the ground? I honestly don't know. The flowers would have been easier.

The day was lovely when I started out on my hike, sunny and coolish with a slight breeze. But, once I stopped to draw the gnats came to visit. The irritating little biting kind. I waved them away for a while and was considering moving on without completing the drawing when a heavy cloud cruised in from the west and blocked the sun. The temperature dropped ten degrees (or at least felt like it) and the breeze became a bit stronger. The gnats then retreated to wherever they live during off hours. From then on the day was delightful once again and I drew for another hour or so, taking breaks occasionally to stand and stretch and enjoy the beautiful flowers I wasn't drawing. I finally headed home because I had other things I had to do, not because I was finished with the pick-up sticks.

Today there is a soft and gentle rain, ordered up by my grass-seed-sowing husband. It is just the rain to soften the dry flakes of Fescue seed and help them to germinate. The rain will also make the wildflowers happy. (See photo of last year's fall flowers on the right side of this page.)

I used today's rainy-inside morning to put a light color wash on my pile of sticks, but I think my next post will show off some of fall beauties growing out in our little prairie.

Resurrection Fern

Today is all blue skies, dry air, and wind waving the treetops. A great day to be outside. Radu, Daisy and I headed out around 11:00 to hike to the rocks in the woods at the far end of the lower pipeline. My family refers to this ridge as the "Lion King Rocks" because of the way they jut out at an angle from the top of the hill - smaller versions of the the big rock in one of our favorite movies. The scent of rain soaked earth still smelled sweet as we walked. There were lots of wildlife tracks in the dirt, and many mushrooms rising from fields and the woodland floor. We passed two that looked like small irish potatoes nestled in the ground. Will they grow taller? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

In the woods near the rocks I almost stepped on a 5" long Eastern Box Turtle who was crossing the path. The dogs ran right over it at first and continued on, so I sat to draw the little guy. However, it wasn't long before Daisy and Radu came running back to investigate why I had stopped walking. TOO bad, too. Sniff sniff sniff, paw paw, a growl or two from Daisy... I felt very sorry for the turtle so I decided to keep moving and let him get on with his day. Wild critters are hard to draw when you have dogs with you.

Arrived at the big rocks and saw that the Resurrection Fern, one of the Polypody Ferns that grows on this ridge, was lush and completely unfurled. The fern grows on the granite boulders, on ledges that accumulate old leaves that break down into and humus. In other places I've found it growing on tree trunks and branches. Its leaves are leathery and evergreen when there is enough water. During dry spells the leaves roll up and look quite dead.

While I was drawing a strong wind blew the treetops around. Occasional CRACK's and THUD!'s told me where branches were snapping and falling in the wind. A Red-Bellied Woodpecker chirred and pecked in a tree nearby. After investigating the hilltop, Radu and Daisy both took naps. On the way home we hiked with the wind in our faces... wonderful!

Rock, feather, acorn, hickory nut

It was hot today, surprisingly so for the end of September. Thinking we were early enough for cool temps, Radu, Daisy and I headed out around 10 a.m. for a good long hikeabout. Within minutes I was sticky and had walked through three or four spiderwebs - the kind that wrap around your face and leave a small black spider sitting on your shoulder... has this ever happen to you? The best way to handle spiderwebs in the woods is to pick up a long stick with branches at the end, and constantly wave it in front of you (like a big clawed hand) as you walk. I know this, but I often forget it.

I was hoping there would be a breeze on the pipeline - usually there is one. Today we had no such luck. It was just plain sticky, as if even the water molecules in the air around me were hot. This could be atmospherically correct, I suppose. Whatever, in spite of heat and no breeze, I made myself continue.

As we trekked, I noticed something weird. In the still air I could smell the scent of red clay - small pockets of fragrance that rose from the ground and swirled around me. When I got close to the woods it was the scent of pines that was the strongest. Near the creek it was the smell of damp earth mixed with fresh hay (recently strewn about by the pipeline workers to help the grass seed to germinate). Heading up the far hill I could smell crushed plants, left after the trucks and machinery finished their jobs. Maybe it's because usually a breeze freshens the air so that no one scent stands out, or maybe it was the humidity that held the air in place so I could walk through it. Whatever the reason, it was nice.

At the top of the hill I found a 4" tall honey-colored bolete mushroom rising through the weeds. I settled down to draw it. It didn't go well. First, Daisy, being only nine months old, was curious about the mushroom. She came to stand right in front of me to nose around. Second, gnats came out to buzz around me and then some tiny biting thing landed on my arm and my journal page. (not no-see-ums, but just as aggravating) Third, I was sitting a little too close for comfort to an ant bed. They worried me. I found myself looking back at them frequently. Finally I decided to just keep walking and enjoy the sights and scents of the morning. The journal could wait.

My trip back through the woods gave me a few more spiderweb encounters - oh joy! After a hot shower (to remove spider webs) I assembled the goodies I'd picked up on my walk and drew them in the comfort of my kitchen.

Mushrooms under a Virginia Pine

Such a nice morning to hike! The pipeline guys are finally gone, thank goodness, and they've taken all their heavy equipment away. What they left is a wide, very packed track to walk on, and a whole bale of hay waiting to be spread over the far bank of Meetinghouse Creek. I picked up several pieces of orange twine and sprinkled the remains of another bale along the closer creek bank. If they don't come back to finish the job in the next couple days, I'll probably do it. The hay really does help hold the grass seed they threw out, and the grass helps hold the soil.

Radu, Daisy, and I hiked back to a piney stretch of woods between two pipelines and settled under the trees - mostly Virginia Pines with various hardwoods here and there. The dogs, never completely settled for very long, soon hopped up to chase a scent into the field and then the far woods near Lawson's Fork. The clouds were heavy, the air damp from the past few days' bit of rain. Once I was sitting I noticed that all around me in the woods were tiny mushrooms rising from the ground. Some were 1/4 the size of my pinky nail. The larger ones were about thumb nail size. They were white, buff, gray, brown - all neutral, natural colors that helped them blend with the pine tree and leaf litter. I didn't see the two I drew until after I sat down.

The woods were very quiet while I was drawing. So quiet that I started hearing the soft clicks of falling leaves as they hit the ground. Click - Click - Click A wild grape leaf landed beside me. Click It was yellow with brown spots. After about thirty minutes there was more activity around and about, beginning with a crow calling his friends together. His, "CAW! CAW!" soon led to a convention-style gathering of crows. Other bird and insect sounds were identifiable as well, as were human made ones. All are listed on the journal page.

Yellow Leaves on a Windy Day

Today's weather was amazing for the first day of September. It was windy and cool on the pipeline as the dogs and I walked east. When we left the open field and followed the path through the woods the trees cut the wind a good bit, but I could still hear the wind and see the treetops swirling. Yellow leaves broke loose from stems and twirled through the air and onto the path. As I stooped to pick up a few leaves I noticed the huge Tulip Poplar tree they'd probably fallen from. It's still green, but was dotted all over with yellow leaves. Under the tree lay a carpet of yellow leave that had fallen on windless days. It reminded me of a Christmas tree skirt. Other kinds of leaves were blowing around too - all yellow.

Buckeyes

This is yesterday's drawing - another from Waynesville, NC. It was so nice to be in the cool, lush mountains after suffering the hot, rainy Florida beach for a week and then the hot and dry SC piedmont. It has been raining plenty in Waynesville, according to my happy (and new) flower garden that goes unwatered while we're away.

I took a walk mid-afternoon down Raspberry Lane to see if the old garden down at the end might have some surprises for me. Instead, my surprise came when I reached the spot where the huge Buckeye Tree grows above the road. Scattered around the base were a dozen or so big nuts very recently fallen. I thought they started falling late Sept or even in October. The exterior of the cases I found were still a little green, and some hadn't dried enough to split open yet. Some popped open in my hand as I picked them up.

Buckeyes are a most beautiful nut when they are fresh. I usually pick them up without the case, from where they have bounced or fallen out after the case dries out. It was fun finding the why's and wherefores of the sizes of the nuts by examining the cases. They all seem to have at least two, sometimes three, and even four nuts in one case, but the largest nuts have grabbed all the nutrients and left the second nut with none (see picture) whereas two equal nuts grow in something like this yin/yang case. I opened the largest case later last night and found four funky shaped nuts inside. These often have one flat side where they've pressed up against another nut.

I have a big red bowl full of nuts from the last two years. They save well, with only an occasional cracked or moldy ones discarded. Yesterday I tossed four that were bad, but added eight new ones.

Kudzu, Gerardia, and Small Wood Sunflower

This morning was cool and breezy when I headed out to hike around 8 o'clock. As I walked through the woods I noticed a beautiful fresh black feather with regular white spots down one side. It's about 4 " long and lay peacefully in the center of the path. My guess is it's from one of our frequent woodpecker guests - red bellied perhaps, or Hairy or Downy. I emerged from the dark woods and really felt the damp breeze in my face. Daisy and Radu and I walked along the pipeline (well, they ran - I walked) and I started seeing the many things I've noticed before but have forgotten to mention. So, today I decided to make a list of things I noticed as I went along. I always do this while in a kayak, or hiking in other places, so today I did it here.

Woodpecker feather in the woods

Slow-moving Buckeye lands on Aster

Upland Bonset growing on NE slope above Meetinghouse Creek

Evening Primrose blooming in thick growth along creek

along with Pale Indian Plantain

and Dodder Vines coiled around Joe Pye Stalks, blooming

as well as Starry Campion in full bloom

Winged Sumac on far hill in bloom - although the actual blooms and greenish

white, they look yellow from the thick pollen on

stamens of newly opened flowers

Wingstem

British Soldiers are wearing their red caps

Dew on Grass Spider webs

Heal-all blooming

Hyssop-Leaved Boneset and Tall Goldenrod blooming everywhere

With all that going on it's amazing that I noticed the small yellow flower drawn above. The blooms are just opening - only two were open on this plant - and they are not very tall - no more than 2 feet, and growing amidst the wild growth of the pipeline. I looked them up at home and think they are Small Wood Sunflowers. Their rough topped leaves (minute hairs all pointing toward the leaf tip make them feel like a cat's tongue) were helpful in identification.

The middle lobe of a Kudzu leaf was so distinctive that I couldn't wait to paint it. To me the spots are like a brown-spotted pony's. Then I noticed how hairy the leaves and stems are! I guess I hate how Kudzu acts, but enjoy the plants details. If you've never smelled the flowers of this pest, go out now and look for vines. The purple "wisteria-like" blooms are hidden beneath the huge leaves but give themselves away by giving off a scent reminiscent of NuGrape Soda. Yum.

The bright pink Gerardias are just beginning to open on the hill around our bench. Last year we had a profusion of them interspersed with goldenrod. It was an amazing site. I hope this year's show will be the same.

St. Andrews Cross, Pencil Flower, Bitterweed

This is the first day in a long while that I've had time to wander on the pipeline, so I was glad to find that it was overcast and breezy this morning. I could tell that summer is losing its grip and that fall is just around the corner. It's interesting to note that in middle-age those once distinct seasons are now much more blurred together. I seem to notice many more slight differences in the patterns of nature as the seasons turn: the color of male goldfinch feathers, hickory nuts that fall early, Slender Lady's Tresses that bloom again, Cat Brier leaves that turn red as early as mid July, and small oak trees that are still putting out tiny, fuzzy leaves. The seasons are beginning to soften as I get older - each blending with the one before and after.

During this morning's ramble I discovered two new flowers (as yet unidentified and amazing that after 20 years I still find new flowers), and saw my first blue aster blooming for fall '09. (The Grass-leaved Golden Asters have been blooming for a couple weeks.) Thoroughworts (upland, round-leaved, and hyssop-leaved) are in late-bloom, Tall Goldenrods brighten the woodland edges, Elderberries are ripening, and the Joe Pye Weed is in full-glorious bloom. It was a beautiful day.

Feathers and Shells

Visiting Atlantic Beach, Florida is more than just a vacation - it's coming home to a place I've known my whole life. My grandmother built the house when I was 6 months old, and I've been coming here ever since. The beach here is wide and flat and has a healthy set of dunes that periodically get eaten half away by storms only to grow right back during the next season. Today the dunes and upper beach were covered in trails of bird prints of every size criss-crossing each other, circling, winding and wobbling, appearing and disappearing. Ghost Crab holes were tucked into the shade of dune plants and radiated the scratchy claw prints of the side-ways walking crab living there. Discarded feathers littered the beach, especially around the gathering spot for almost 150 birds (I counted) of various species: Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, Least Terns, Sandpipers, Sanderlings... On my walk I found plenty of fossilized bone, tiny skulls, mouthplates of parrotfish...

There may be another journal post from here, but I make no promises. It's family time...!