Local Fauna in Asheville

 F and I were sitting at work this morning in her dining room, a perfectly ordinary Tuesday morning, chilly breeze ruffling the many flowering trees, the grass as green as Ireland.  Suddenly I looked up and saw, a few feet outside of one of the large windows, an enormous bear strolling past.  S/he paused to scratch his/her back on a smallish tree, then slowly plopped back down.

 The bear walked through some of the gardens, patting the ground as though looking for something, and was soon joined by another much larger bear.  It was obvious that the first bear was an adolescent from last summer because the second bear was beefier and taller and not as naively walking right next to the window through which people were staring and snapping pictures.  The bigger bear kept a little distance, but the smaller one seemed completely at home in the yard.

After a good fifteen minutes or so the bigger bear clumped up to the berry garden and then disappeared in the neighbor's yard, and the smaller one wandered into a stretch of woods in back of the house.

After a couple of hours, the pair showed up again, walking right next to the window, hanging out in the yard, unconcerned and comfortable.  We went outside to get a better look at one point.  It was kind of like being on a safari and riding in one of those wide-windowed vans that let you get close enough to a wild animal to check its teeth. 

Later I drew F with her little cat Teenie, who looks like a miniature black bear for sure!

Colony of Strange Stone People Near the River

Michelle, my friend who first found the hut, emailed me this morning with an alert that there was something great on the River Trail.  Sadly, it was pounding rain and chilly, and I decided to wait for another day to go searching.  But by 4:00 this afternoon the rain had slowed to an intermittent drizzle, and off I went.

 I hadn't been on the RT since last fall, but it's my favorite place to look for anthropomorphic trees.  I wore my high rubber rain boots so I was able to stomp in puddles.  I stomped for around 20 minutes before I spotted the something:  a whole colony of stone people, some standing at the edge of the river, others further back in the brush

 and small trees.  These are not ordinary cairns.  They are amazingly human in form and expression.  Some of them are wearing stone clothes and hats. 

I imagine these were made by art students, sculpture students probably.  They are so exquisitely balanced and situated.

Some are together as if they were in conversation.  None are cute.  They all look ancient, perfect.  Thank you, whoever did this!

Yellow Spring Giving Way to Blue and Pink

 Yellow spring comes first around here-- forsythia, dandelions, daffodils and the shy trout lilies.  On its heels comes blue and pink spring.  Today up on the higher parts of Jones Mountain I saw palest pink spring beauties, some aging trout lilies, a few bloodroot--white, but with carmine sap so I group it with pink--, some crow's feet which have no blossoms. But did you know that trout lilies are pollinated by ants?  And that it takes seven years between the germination of the seed and the first flowering of a trout lily?  And that bloodroot is pollinated by small bees and flies?  (finally, a non-disgusting job for flies)

Then some blue-violet fleabane just beginning to bloom, some pinkish toothwort, and some fiddlehead ferns.   And maybe you already know that toothwort is edible and in fact belongs to the same plant family as radishes and cabbage. 

After hiking and then dinner we sat around with our friends and read children's books and poetry to each other. 

Illustration Sketches

 This batch of drawings is what I worked on most of today.  I'm finishing up two projects that will be in a book that my publisher is putting together.  My editor asked for in-process photographs for the illustrator to work from.  I made in-process sketches instead, since in my experience drawings can isolate what needs to be shown so much better than photographs can. 

So these aren't especially interesting as they have no context.  But I enjoyed doing them.  Maya told me what parts of the projects needed illustrations, and I took her advice.

Here's the second one, a
little notebook made out of a snack bag.

An Unfurling of May Apples, a Squiggle of Tadpoles

This icy windy snowy winter seems to have caused a bursting spring around here.   The forsythia bushes are choked with yellow blossoms,  there are twice as many tulips and daffodils and hyacinths as usual, and today I saw more baby may apples unfurling their umbrella leaves than ever before. 

I went back down to the pond at the end of the trail where Maya and I got frog eggs and a few tadpoles a couple of weeks ago.  Amazing!  The spot where the eggs had been was black with tadpoles, wiggling, darting, hovering together in a squiggle over some dead grasses while water striders (renatra fusca) angled past.  I've never seen so many tadpoles in one place!

The Homely

I thought I'd take on the challenge of drawing the homeliest things I could find, things I almost avoid looking at and certainly never focus on.

While we were waiting for dinner at a little Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood, instead of eating as many chips as I possibly could, I drew the exceedingly homely condiments caddy with its slightly crushed Splenda and sugar packs.

At home, I spied Jesse's formerly favorite mousie, fallen out of favor and mouldering away behind the door to my studio.  It still has a yellowed tag that says something about its contents {??} and the word China.  And on my drawing table
                                                                                                       lay a pitiful push pin with a bent tip.

This collection is starting to remind me of the Arnold Lobel children's  story "Tearwater Tea," in which Owl cries over sad objects. So  I give you
"condiment caddies that are covered with greasy dust, mousies that the cat no longer plays with, pushpins that have no further use."

And what about "plastic palette knives that no one ever uses, dish drainers that don't quite fit the drain, a travel toothpick that came free on an airline but that is no longer taken along on trips, the strange little between-the-teeth brush that is too clogged and bent and disgusting to use"? 

A Flotilla of Turkeys and Another Trek

We all complain about the wild turkeys that roam around here destroying gardens as they go, but you have to admire their parallel world and apparent indifference to the human world that they slide past.  This morning I glanced outside just as a flotilla of them was gliding down the street.  Most of the birds were hens, and the hens were ignoring the two toms, who were parading in full display.   Jesse watched from the window for a few  minutes and then demanded to be let outside.  Sometimes he tries to chase the turkeys, but they generally ignore him along with the toms.  This morning he just sat on the sidelines and watched the passing show.

 Maya spent the day and night with us today due to spring break.  One thing we did was take a hike to find the hut this afternoon-- my first solo attempt since Michelle showed me how to find it.  It was a perfect day for it-- warm and mostly sunny with not many bugs.  Maya is a good hiking companion who is adventuresome and careful at the same time.  We found early bloodroot flowers and even a few may apples beginning to unfurl.  But the best find was the many trout lilies that are at their peak right now in the shady, damp places along the river.

 I was really hoping to be able to find the shelter without dragging Maya up Tony's driveway to the north or swinging so far south that we landed on the brambly slope that leads to the Charlie's Spring Trail.  I brought all the maps I've drawn of the area.  I drew more maps today, and this time I included steps that I got from a pedometer app between each feature along the way.

Maya was just beginning to hit me with a chorus of are we there yets when I spied the tree that lies across the gulley and signals the proximity of the shelter!  We left the gulley and turned left up the slope and bingo!  there it was!  We sat around marveling that we had actually found it by ourselves; and then we were able to pick our way down the slope to the chimney and the trail very quickly and without incident of any kind.  I took a picture of Maya in front of the hut, but I can't seem to get it off of my phone.  Maybe it will have uploaded by tomorrow.