Dear deer...

More about the Maine Wildlife Park, which I mentioned in the previous post:

Since I'm working on the artwork for Pond Babies now, the visit was a great chance to photograph baby animals. Well-intention hikers and woods walkers sometimes come across what they think is an abandoned or "lost" fawn, scoop it up, carry it away, and then call wildlife management folks for help. The truth is that a white tail doe carefully "parks" her fawn in a safe place while she grazes nearby. The human would-be rescuers have actually kidnapped the baby. Five of these little critters now make their home at the Wildlife Park, since their moms couldn't be located again. There's a fawn in the book, so this was a good opportunity for me to observe them.

My good friend Nancy went along on this expedition, and came to my rescue with her own camera when mine ran out of battery power. She took this great image of three of the fawn.

Turkey tale

I've spent a lot of time this summer working on block print and collage illustrations for a new picture book called Gobble, Gobble which will be out in the Fall of 2011 from Dawn Publications. The idea for the book came from observing the various antics of the wild turkeys who paraded around here on a regular basis throughout the year. Once I began the actual work, however, the turkeys apparently took up another residence. No turkey sightings all summer---at least not in my backyard. Until this morning. It's good to have them back.

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UPDATE:

A long overdo trip to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, Maine was a real treat today. The park is home to many injured, orphaned, or human dependent animals. Most are now permanent residents---some are rehabilitated and released into the wild when possible. In addition to some injured wild turkeys, there are other turkey "visitors" who come to the park on their own accord to take advantage of the free food. This fellow was one of the visiting opportunists:

Zen Heron

The bubbles in the foreground are coming from the aeration membrane,

which is hooked up to our new windmill. See post below.

I learned a little more about patience at the pond yesterday. I waited quietly, camera in hand, mosquitoes biting, for more than half an hour as a young Great Blue Heron waited quietly, too--eyes alert, food focused. Just when I had decided to give up, there was a splashing victory for the heron.

Don't watch this if you're squeamish. A sad day for the poor bullfrog, but I was pretty impressed with the heron.

Watching for Quixote

Our new windmill, installed a week ago, will pump air through tubing down to the pond where it will exit two membranes in tiny bubbles. This much-needed aeration will bring a healthier ecosystem to Frog Song Pond. Plus, as my Dad said, "It will look cute on your blog."

Do you agree? Let me know! And for more pix, including the installation, check here.

I'm financing this project (hopefully!) with a new book, Pond Babies, which will be released next spring from Down East Books.

Searching the web

I've spotted several of these gorgeous black and yellow garden spiders around this year. Their distinctive markings, as well as their size (torso is about an inch to an inch and a quarter) make them look a bit scary, but they are harmless to humans. The females weave a zig-zag pattern into the middle of their large webs, thus giving them their other name---writing spider. There are lots of theories for why they do this. I wonder if E.B. White was inspired by these clever creatures when he created Charlotte. Look closely: Can you see "radiant" written in this web?

I made one of these lovely ladies from cut paper for my book, Scoot!, a few years ago.

Garden Bounty

First tomato! Yum!

A froggy in the garden

Today I will pick the first ripe tomato in my garden! This year I'm also growing peas, beans, lettuce, cukes, peppers, basil, carrots, squash, and maybe eggplants (if they get their act together), but tomatoes are why I plant a garden.

I've proposed a garden celebration book to a publisher---we'll see what happens!

If you have a surplus in your garden this year, consider what my young UU friend here is doing. She and her mom and brother stop by the farmers' market each week at the end of the day, gather donations of unsold-but-still-delicious produce, and take them to the local soup kitchen. Healthy food for the hungry, and a great way for kids to get the Big Picture.

from Mystery Vine, 2009.

Bzzzzzzzzzz......

A bird feeder that hangs from a pergola post near our back door has become a perfect home for paper wasps. These little critters are welcomed around here because they go after some of the nasty pests that attack my garden.

They also leave behind their gorgeous nests which they construct from plant fiber and saliva to make paper. I've used this lovely material for collage in a couple of my books. The tree branch on the cover of Scoot! is made from wasp nest paper.

I shot this little video of the wasps at work. Sorry for the jerky quality--I don't have a tripod.