beach and marsh wildlife

As you can see, we saw a lot of different animals. We only saw a glimpse of the miniature deer that live on Hunting Island, so I didn't get a picture of them, nor of the numerous dolphins. I did however get a lot of shots of the water where the dolphins just were. I also didn't get shots of the zillions of tiny hermit crabs in various shells, or the live sand dollars we found in the water. The strange creature is a shrimp. The crabs are fiddler crabs - only the males have the claw and they can be left or right clawed. The birds flying overhead were pelicans - one day we saw more than 40 in a line. And of course, that last picture is of two of the wildest things on the beach.

Vacation - Harbor and Hunting Islands, SC

We are back from a family visit and vacation in South Carolina. Hunting Island is a very special place, a gorgeous beach and a wonderful ocean, but only has a few state cabins and camping. Harbor Island is right next door, with a lot of rental properties, but it's ocean is very shallow (less than knee deep for a long walk out) and has no waves. We ended up spending most of our days on Hunting. Here are a few photos of the trip, more to follow in the next few days:

Memorial Day

I took these pictures two years ago in Normandy.



Cliffs that were somehow scaled by Allied Troops.



A small humbling portion of the American graves.

Spring in Colorado

I actually took these pictures a week ago, but haven't had a chance to post.



The lilacs are gorgeous this year, all around town you can catch their sweet soapy scent.




I can never remember what these are called. The rest of the year they are straggly, but in spring - so pretty.



The beginnings of our square foot garden. We actually have four boxes, this one is for herbs and we've already harvested a few basil leaves for a pasta dish. It felt like a big garden until we worked on the community urban garden today. We planted corn, basil, and sunflowers. The day started out rainy and very mucky, but ended up warm. And when I say we, I do mean all of us. It felt odd, but good, to all be raking a cornfield together, and to be forming furrows and planting and covering the seeds. We have a new appreciation for the work that goes into farming.

Instead of Blogging..... ATC's

I've been busy with a lot of things lately, instead of blogging. One of those things is making Artist Trading Cards. (Also known as ATC's) At first I really resisted the idea. While I feel like I'm a creative person, I don't feel like I'm an ARTIST. That's such a loaded word. But for a few months I've been a part of a cool creative community group and our first project was ATC's.

And I found out that ATC's are a lot of fun, once I got over the artist word problem. The rules are the cards are never for sale, only traded. And the card sizes are 2 1/2 by 3 1/2. Other than that, anything goes. Pottery, scraps, collage, stickers, stamps, paint, cloth - anything is fine. And that to me is a lot of the charm. It's amazing what people come up with. And the size is freeing in a wonderful way. It's such a little thing, not a big canvas, not a huge ART project, not intimidating, just a tiny piece of creativity.

For more information on making your own ATC's look here.

You can see a lovely poem of a slide show with some more pictures of our show here.

Brenda Novak Auction

The fifth annual Brenda Novak Auction is going on now. Many editors, agents, and writers are offering signed copies, lunches, partial and full manuscript reviews, and query letter help. There's also jewelry, baskets, vacations, and all sorts of fun things. This unique auction raises money for diabetes research.

Thursday Thirteen

Since it's been awhile since I posted, here are 13 links for writers, readers, music lovers, bloggers, and the curious.

1. The Reader in You from CoolPlums blog, an inspiring post about some of the psychological aspects of writing.

2. Scribbit is offering a free ebook download on how to start a blog, market a blog, and other blog related things. This is a very thorough and well thought out book from a successful blogger.

3. I Listen to Everything is a very fun blog for "people who are sick of the music on their ipods". You can read about new bands and listen to their songs and their favorite songs!

4. Here's a live videocam from The Franklin institute recording a red-tailed hawk nest in Philadephia. You can watch the fledglings eating, or go back and look at when the eggs first hatched. Thanks to my niece, Lorien, for the link!

5. The Fiction Matters blog is doing a neat series on Vonnegut's Rules of Writing. Here's a link to the third rule.

6. And here's a great article on the visceral part of writing by Emily Hanlon.

7. The 10 Rules of Writing from James N. Frey, thanks to the Writing Nag for this fun link!

8. Here's an amazing link for music lovers, all sorts of old 78's that you can listen to online!

9. Twenty by Jenny is another fun book recommendation sight for kids.

10. If you've ever considered a creativity coach, you can apply here for a free twelve weeks with a coach in training. Scroll down until you see "becoming a free client".

11. Mira's List has all sorts of good information for grants, fellowships, and residencies for creative types.

12. Encouragement to read to your child!

13. And instructions for making ever so cute miniature books.

Sunday....brains, spring...and memories

Saturday afternoon I left our snowy neighborhood for a talk on teaching reading by literacy expert Barbara Swaby. She talked about how our brains are built to talk and hear, but not really to read. She talked about how reading actually physically changes our brains.

Two hours later I left the library. As I drove home, I realized not only had the snow melted, but it was spring! A few brave flowers were blooming in the sun, the melting snow had left the grass green, and lilac branches had tiny green buds on them. Spring!

Today I had to go to a different library to pick up a book on hedgehogs. (One child's current obsession. Please. Can I have a hedgehog please? They only bite until they get used to you!) The library was hosting an opening for an art show from the Alzheimer's Association. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much - I only went into the gallery to be polite -the woman who stopped me in the hall was so hopeful. And then I saw the pictures. All painted by dementia patients. The images and colors were so powerful. Some did look like kindergarten pictures, and some were artistically done. But all of them were incredible. It was like looking into someones memory. Truly. An old barn. A glossy black mare and colt. A child sitting at a window, bathed in gold light. Hyacinths. I wondered why these pictures in particular were left in ravenged brains. They were stories. The whys behind them are probably lost. And I was not the only one with teary eyes.