Art By Mary Hughes

March 2, 2008

It's hard to believe that in a few weeks we might actually see the lake again.
But then again it's always possible it will still be frozen over with a foot of
snow on top. Anything is possible here. I look forward to planting flowers
this spring and to seeing color outdoors again. It's rainy today and tomorrow it
will change over to snow. But spring is near!! I miss the orchard with it's
fresh offering of fruit and vegetables. Soon, very soon.

I'm keeping my mind and eyes open for painting inspiration. I have 5 paintings
started and 4 more in the planning stages. One of my latest:

November 7, 2007

Lunch today looked like any other lunch in the beginning. A ham sandwich at the
table with Ron, looking out over our little bay leading to the lake. This time
though most of the boats are off the lake for the winter and it's a cold gray
day. I'd noticed as I sat down that birds outdoors were having lunch too.
Usually by this time they've emptied the neighborhood feeders. Today though
Nuthatches, Purple Finches, Woodpeckers and various others were crowding to get
what was left of breakfast. Then I saw him out of the corner of my eye. Just
feet from the shoreline stood a huge Blue Heron. He was facing our direction and
well into the neighbors yard. I'd seen this before, but usually at sunset and
not nearly as large a bird as this. He turned around and began his cute walk.
That walk they do that looks like they're sneaking up on something even if
they're not. I didn't run for my camera this time. I was glued to the sight of
him. We watched closely as his right foot lifted up and ever so slowly down back
into the water. He was stalking fish. The water is crystal clear now that it's
cooled off, but finding fish has been pretty tricky for the human fisherman the
past few weeks. Looking into the water we've seen a lot of empty lake bottom.
All the sudden the Heron turned around with a long narrow Pike in his mouth. It
had to be a least a foot long. The fish was wiggling back and forth, but the
Heron had a good hold and patiently waited for the fish to give up. The
Heron walked back well onto shore and stood with the fish in his mouth and then
tilted his head back and swallowed bit by bit. It was quite a sight!! Well I
thought that should be dinner for today at least, so I was pretty surprised that
just moments later he went right back to fishing. I don't know if he caught
anything more. He slowly walked the shoreline beyond the trees where we lost
sight of him. I can't say I've ever witnessed that before at my lunch table.

The Heron have been migrating, so every evening dozens of them come flying over
the lake just before sunset. I counted 30 one evening all in one group. They
look prehistoric in flight. They fly in large circles before landing for the
night in a clearing on the other side of the lake. It's quite a sight!