Thanksgiving Day, the 24th day of the 11th month of Emergence

Happy Thanksgiving to all you gobblers out there!

The day before Thanksgiving in the year of Emergence

It snowed in New Hampshire over night.  This is a capture from a webcam in Wolfeboro an hour ago.

The coffee pot, set to automatic, is my alarm clock and this morning the "Pikes place roast" is calling unusually loud only becuase it is so quiet in the cabin.  No red squirrels scampering over the roof.  No great horned owls hooting the woods away.  And certainly not wild cries of the loons penetrating the silence of the lake.  Just the drip, drip of the coffee perking. 

It is one of those mornings that one can simply lay awake and listen to the silence.

I throw on a set of long underwear, woolrich shirt, jeans and boots.  A pine knot or two under a couple of red oak logs will restart last night's fire.  Camera over one shoulder and the old Ithaca double bore  over the other.  I am more likely to shot something with the camera than the gun, but who knows a ruff grouse or even a turkey might present itself in a suicide run. 

And there is an old pine tree that probably predates the native americans that might offer a good image.  Not that I really need to expand my library of 50,000 or so images but my training tells me never, never to go out without the camera. 

I pass the little metal boat called "Putt", upside down on the beach and awaiting the spring fishing crowd.  Sneak through the parking lot with the sign stating that this is where the anglers park.  And on up the hill of the road.  Some one else has cross country skied before me.

Thats ok, the silence is still deafening.  I think that the silence of a new snowfall is the thing that amazes me the most.  It's as if the world has been insulated.  On mornings like this....no wind and the storm clinging to every exposed surface that can catch a snowflake.

The stream that feeds into the lake still runs clear and clean.  One could almost drink the water running over a stream bed created thousands of years ago.  Just incredible when one thinks about it.  A flowing stream is always alive.  The water that is.  Sure there are all kinds of little critters living in the water, but the water itself is never still.  Always moving.  What was, is.  What is, will be.

Eventually, the last sip of coffee is cold.  The morning light is too late for that tree.  No grouse or turkey, which is probably a good thing because I did'nt have to interrupts God's stillness.  No bear or moose for that "Will you look at that moment".  Just a pleasant moment in a lifetime of sometime pleasant moments.  Just the kind of moment to wish my family and friends a happy and wonerful family Thanksgiving.

The 21st day of the eleventh month of Emergence

On a clear day, you can see forever!

My gratitude to Dr. Bristow, another of Dr. Smith's fantastic posse.

You guys are keeping me alive with duck tape and bailing wire, and I appreciate it.  My little procedure went well and I have written proof from my proctologist that they in fact did not find my head.

The 20th day of the 11th month of Emergence

Life is just an adventure.

And I guess that's how you got to look at it.  Today's blog will fall into the TMI category but as I have said in the past it's my blog, so suffer!  A few days ago my idol was decimated by scandal and now he has lung cancer. So when it rains it pours.  I looked at the Drudge report a day or so ago and was sure the world was coming to an end within the hour.  It started out at 34 degrees yesterday morning but got up to 80 by three o'clock.  What did the guy say....if they give you lemons make lemonade?  Or maybe whiskey sours!  God.....the glass has to be half full and not empty.  So for all you guys living in your mother's basement or garage, go back on your little puter and be positive.

This morning after building my cup of Pikes Place Roast (bless you Starbucks) without cream, it was then my chore to mix the Dy-NO-Mite cocktail in preparation for tomorrow's colonoscopy (hence forth the "C" word).  See, life truly is  an adventure.

Now why in the world would we as rational human beings pay $7.00 to put themselves through the anticipated agony that even an afternoon of professional football won't cure.  We all know that the results of this stuff will be challenging, but another adventure.

I got a call from the nurses yesterday to A.) check if I was all ready and remind me that I have to be there at a certain time and to call if I was going to be out of the country.  And 2.) to assure me that they were all ready.

Well, that was encouraging.  I just wonder what possesses a man, or woman for that matter to become a proctologist.  "Hi what's your Major............Oh thank you for asking it's proctology".  God I pass enough of those on the streets everyday, why do all that studying just to see another one?  And up close and personal at that.  God Bless em!

I think there's a reason why the sign at the right says "No trespassing"

  Furthermore, if that Rib eye in the fridge winks at me again I will grill the SOB up just for practice.

The 17th day of the eleventh month of the year of Emergence

I just posted the banner for this blog on FAA

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/lookin-in-skip-willits.html

Here are a couple more images of  "Looking In"

I will probably post him to FAA shortly.

Maybe her too.

Then there's the laughing pony.

The 15th day of the 11th month of Emergence

Two new listings of FAA!

Both of these images may be purchased as note or Christmas cards on Fine Art America along with tons of the same type of cards from thousands of artists.

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/farmers-christmas-skip-willits.html

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/a-christmas-gaggle-skip-willits.html

There will be more to come in the next few days.  Who would of thought of it, getting ready for Christmas even before Thanksgiving.  It's as bad as the politicos running for office a year and a half ahead of time.  Eighty degrees here today....Happy Fall!

The 14th day of the 11th month of Emergence

Minding the roots at Tavern Creek-12

I suppose the weather in the Mid-Atlantic is becoming a little more like winter, but if my memory serves the real winter won't show up till Jan and Feb.  One of the nice (?) things about winter on the bay is the congregation of Canvasback ducks. Called "The king of ducks" because of their superb flavor.  Me, I just like to watch and photograph them.  Remember to double click the photograph for a better resolution.

These are diving ducks and that means only one thing.  They need water to live.  Open water!  And when their home body of water freezes over, they congregate wherever they can find it.  Ice is not their friend.  Often hundreds, if not thousands, can be found in flocks around the bay and the area around the Tavern and Swan Creeks is a perfect place.

This is the western edge of Swan Creek at it's mouth.  The Tavern lies just beyond that cedar tree in the middle of the scene.  Out of frame to the right and up against the shore there is a deep hole that holds all kinds of fish during the summer months.  This is a spot not known by many but I have been seen catching my fill of white perch there for over fifty years. 

It can be seen that the bay is pretty much frozen over.  Not too many years in history has it been completely frozen, although some of the old timers (Who am I kidding?) will tell of the time that they drove their tin lizzies across to Baltimore.   (If you don't know what a tin lizzie is, you're way to young so Google it).  Now fishing tales and the reminiscences of old men alike should be questioned for their veracity, but that's the story and I for one will stick to it.

The little channel to Tavern starts at the left of this image and runs roughly to just off the point of land to the right.  Not a big channels as waterways go.  I can remember many times running the little fourteen footer aground either to the left or right as I moved across the big creek.  The open water to the top and off the point is for the most part two to three feet deep depending upon the tide.  Once the point is reached, a hard right turn takes one into the Tavern.  Swan Point is just beyond the Tavern to the right.  Actually, the whole area is known as Swan Point as a general term of location.  Not that many are familiar with the Tavern.

  This is basically the view I had to live with throughout my teenage and early adult life.  It is absolutely amazing the things one can see if they take the time.  From this location I have seen container ships headed to or from  the port of Baltimore along side of a hundred year old sailing vessel known as a Skipjack.  The beginning and end of wonderful summer thunder storms.  Flat bottom waterman's boats rigged for clamming, oystering, drift netting, and or crabbing.  Just about every size sailboat made.  People with clothes and without.  Muscle boats that one can hear from miles away, even before they come into sight.  Each of the latter it seems complete with the required and factory equipped pretty girl (for the politically incorrect insert dumb blond joke here). 

But when I sit back and really look, some of the most amazing things I have seen have always been associated with mother nature.  Her beauty and power.

Probably could have done worse!