Fauna and Flora and Art and Decor

The Atomic City Retiree Lifestyle can be horribly dull, as it was during the Great Winter Freeze-In, so when the Spring has Sprung, and before the Heat Death of Summer arrives, this retiree must be up and doing while she can.  Last week we had oodles'o'sunshine and temps that stayed mostly in the 70s,  It called to me, so I answered!

Naturally, that meant walks along the river every single day.  On one particularly fine day, we had a bunny on the path who didn't seem intimidated by dachshunds.  We got within ten feet before it scampered off.

The Hounds enjoy cooling off in the river so much that I bought them a kiddie wading pool for their patio, which they have also been making good use of.

The sketch group met last week at a member's home, and there were GOATS!  Not only that, there were youngsters -- the kids were about one month old.

There were Nubian goats and Alpine goats.  The wee ones were all Alpines.

I failed at sketching them, as they moved around too rambunctiously.  Other sketchers, as you can see below, did just fine. 

Instead I chose some decorative items by the front porch.  It was a fine outing and after sketching, the hostess fed us snacks and tea in her lovely home, which was full of antique oak furniture and art nouveau decor.  I was quite envious but did not rush out and buy lots of stuff, mainly because I had to fork over for a new fridge instead.  Sigh.

Also on the agenda this week was opening day of the Farmers' Market.  The Hounds got a lot of attention there, which Pippin loved and Truman ignored.

I bought some cheese and snagged a few free samples here and there (fresh mini-donuts, chocolate-ginger bark, molasses bar).  Yum.

Also on Friday I attended the Gallery at the Park's weekly "Paint-In" where artists hang out together to work on whatever they want to and chat a lot, which we did.  I worked on a quick watercolor and ink sketch of a Great Blue Heron...

And a more finished watercolor of a Great Egret.

I found out recently that there is a Mid-Columbia Watercolor Society (founded in 2015) that meets once a month at a spot one mile from my home.  They exchange ideas, offer demos/lessons, and practice new techniques.  And it turns out that the same core group of artists who hang out regularly with the Urban Sketchers and hang out regularly at the Friday Paint-Ins also go to the watercolor society meetings.  The next one is on this coming Tuesday and I'll be checking it out.

In home decor news, while driving back from the daily doggie river walk on Saturday I stumbled upon a yard sale that turned out to be the Motherlode of Knickknacks.  Two sisters were eager to dispose of their 92-year-old mother's collections so she could shuffle along to assisted living and they could close on her home sale.  The Aged Mother was there too, and she seemed fine with the plan.  In fact, they were all so eager to empty the house that they were selling most things for fifty or even twenty-five cents!

This is what I bought:

Plus they tossed in these faux flowers (and pots) for free (the flowers are made of silk and are now on my patio).

Some bigger pictures of the haul -- these four decorative hanging thingies are about 14" high and now hang on the four handy posts that hold up the patio roof.

This wooden hanging thingy came from Bulgaria.

There were bird figurines!  Two of them are also music boxes!

This miniature tea set came from Japan.

So did this tea pot, which is also a music box.

What did I pay for this knickknack bonanza?  Five dollars.  TOTAL.  At this point, between this haul and my recent antique store outings, the house is pretty darn well decorated.  At least, until I get more shelves.

Another fun outing on Saturday was the annual sidewalk chalk art festival, held at the Uptown shopping center.

A hundred or so artists turned out, young and old, and the Hounds and I had a lovely time checking out their work.

I particularly approved of this one -- Go Twins!

Pippin approved of the dog art.

One of the antique malls had a sidewalk sale going on, which would have been quite tempting had I not been to the Motherlode Yard Sale earlier. 

Okay, we're nearly finished.  Sunday morning I decided to hike partway up Badger Mountain in search of chukars.  Chukars are quail-like birds that hide in the brush and are not seen that often, and they've been regularly reported on the mountain. 

There were a lot of Cliff Swallows zipping around, and a lot of finches, and several Western Kingbirds:

The mountain is 1,579 feet high, and the path to the top is a low-incline switchback trail that takes nearly 3 miles one way, so I knew I'd be stopping about half way.  You get great views from there:

The halfway point turned out to be the place where I heard chukars with their distinctive calls, coming from an area of dense brush.  Did they come out of the brush?  No, they did not.  Dang.

It was frustrating, but there's not much you can do if a chukar doesn't feel a duty to entertain the birders.  Oh, well.  So I entertained myself with wild flowers instead.  I am trying to learn more about the local bioregion, and though April-May is best for wild flowers, I managed to find a few stragglers.

I found a helpful web page that showed photos of Badger Mountain wild flowers, and I believe this is the Sagebrush mariposa lily:

I'm not 100% sure of this one, but it looks closest to the Slender hawksbeard:

I spotted several butterflies about, and I'm pretty sure this is a Checkerspot Butterfly, though which of four possible species of Checkerspots in this area it is, I've no idea.  Even using the 500+ page book Insects of the Pacific NW that I helped to proofread, insect ID is hard!

So that was another full and formative week in the Atomic City.  It may sound busy, but it's really mostly the mornings that are full -- afternoons are for lounging on the patio swing seat, and naps!

Outdoor Fun and Indoor Fun

It's been in the 90s here for a while, so I've been taking the Hounds out at eight in the morning.  I imagine that some retirees enjoy sleeping in after a lifetime of having to get up early for work, but not this retiree.  Ever since I discovered the joys of birding back in 2008, I've been a morning person, even on weekends, because birds are most active in the mornings.  Birds such as this Black-chinned Hummingbird:

This hummingbird is a resident of W.E. Johnson Park in Richland, where it likes to hang out near the trailhead (which happens to be near a few houses that put out feeders).  I've been seeing Black-chinned Hummingbirds at this same spot ever since I began birding -- if you ever want to see one, come on down and I'll take you there!

My favorite bird, as most of you know, is the pelican, and more specifically, the American White Pelican.  One day this past week I went to Chiawana Park in Pasco again, where this stunning bird was near the shore, preening.

I watched it for a good half hour, and when I left, it was still busy preening away.  

At one point a Canada Goose swam past.  As you can see, an American White Pelican is considerably larger than a Canada Goose.  They're even more impressive in flight, with wing spans up to nine feet.

They have a lot of feathers to keep neatly in place....

And sometimes they have an itch to scratch:

Such a thrill to get to watch this magnificent bird.

There was also an Osprey at Chiawana Park, carrying nest material.  I admit that I didn't pay nearly as much attention to it, though I should probably go back to see if I can find the actual nest.  I miss watching the Ospreys at the Montlake Fill in Seattle.

While I was in Pasco, I decided to take a scenic drive to the northwest part of the city along the river front, where I had not been before.  From here you can see the north end of Richland across the Columbia.

The area has some lovely views.

It's a mix of newer housing developments and old farms.  I preferred looking at the old farms.

This place had goats, sheep, alpacas, and a couple of ostriches.  Much more entertaining than a bunch of contemporary houses with no character.

Speaking of houses, we now switch gears from outdoors to indoors, and my own home, where the walls are the wrong color.  You may recall that after visiting a friend's brightly painted and decorated house, I felt inspired to change everything in my own.  Well, that didn't last long.

My bedroom had green walls, which the photo below does not properly convey, but trust me, they were not attractive. 

I found a lovely light blue and went to work.  Since it was light over a darker color, I had to do two coats.  I managed to do one wall per day.

About halfway through my back was sore, my shoulders ached, and my neck felt stiff.  The new color is wonderfully soothing and I'm glad it's done, but I never want to paint another wall again, and have decided that the other wall colors are just fine.   The only way they are going to change is if I pay someone else to change them!

The only painting I'll be doing is the small kind, with watercolors.  Or watercolor brush pens -- remember those?  I've been enjoying them, but wanted to find a better way to cart them with me.  The cheap plastic trays they came in were not useful, and it was hard to get the pens in and out of them, so I invented this:

I divided it so I could put color families together.

Then I took it with me to the Gallery at the Park's weekly paint-in session, where artists can hang out in a big, well-lit room with plenty of tables (for free!) to work on whatever they want and to socialize.  This was the first time I'd attended, and I was happy to find that half of the folks there were people I knew from the urban sketcher group. 

I had a pleasant time chatting and working.  I brought a book of nature photos along so I could practice using the brush pens on something colorful, and chose this toucan to paint:

I did a pencil sketch first, then an ink drawing, and then added color with the brush pens plus a little bit of regular watercolor here and there.  This took about an hour and fifteen minutes, at which point it was my lunch time, so I left it unfinished -- and then decided that I liked the unfinished foliage.  I think it helps make the bird stand out more.  At least, that's my theory, and I'm sticking with it.

Turns out the gallery's paint-in room has a small kitchen, so I could bring food next time and stay longer (the room is available from 10-1).  Or I could stroll two blocks up the street to the Farmers' Market for a snack -- it opens this coming Friday, which is the paint-in day.  Yay!

Now I just need to figure out what to work on there -- usually I draw and paint in the field, not in a studio setting.  And if I do studio work, I want to use my own photos.  This week I plan to go through my photos in hopes of finding something to take to the next paint-in session.  Stay tuned!