17 Feb 14

SEWE SATURDAY

We ventured out on Saturday to visit some friends showing at the South Eastern Wildlife Exhibition in Charleston.  As some of you know I have exhibited at  shows like this one for some 25 years and I experienced a whole range of mixed emotions.  It was good to see some old friends, with the emphasis on old.  These folks have aged and I am the senior citizen of the bunch, so where does that leave me?  And you can also tell that there is a changing of the guard by the nature of the art the newbies are showing.  Some fantastic stuff!

Charley Bear still kills it with his wildlife images on ceramic tiles.  His unique art is a hit at most shows.  Charley lives in Jacksonville, FL and travels the East Coast to do these types of shows.   Each of the images you see here consist of a number of tiles from one for a coaster to eight or ten in a major piece.

John Ohrehovec is still working, but doing only two shows a year now.  Much like me he has reduced the number and the distance travelled.

John's work is top of the line for wildlife photographers and he steadfastly holds onto the old ways of film.  Life the rest of us, he cuts his own mattes and frames his own images.  And spins his own yarns.

The crowd seemed to be a reasonably large Saturday group.  I guess a lot of Carolinians were a little anxious to get out an about following almost a week of foul weather and at least one earthquake here about fifty miles away.  It was sunny and breezy and a great day to be outside.

The crowd formed about 45 minutes before the wild bird exhibit expecting to see owls and raptors flown over their heads.  

They had flown the raptors in the morning, and one of the Peregrines flew away.  They still had not found it at three in the afternoon, so the flight part was limited to one Eurasian Owl.  And from a long distance we couldn't see much.  People were disappointed, but they may still be looking for that bird.  The pigeon population in Charleston is now at great risk with a falcon on the loose. 

We had a great lunch at a little french bistro which was wonderful.  The trip back home confirmed that we had had an ice storm last week.  Hundreds of pine trees along the interstate were down and it was obvious what had transpired.  Today we woke up to mid forties going to the mid sixties and then almost eighty by week's end.  Most of the ice and snow is now just "Snirt".  That's a mixture of snow and dirt....coined by the Weather Channel.  I am not quick nor smart enough to figure out those types of descriptions.  

 February thaw I guess. 

Have a great week!