Glaciers still in the yard but its Spring!

Great Blue Herons in the valley

 (photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

 

Spring has finally arrived the the valley here and we have been most fortunate as far as our flooding here.  A week and a half ago we were taking on water pretty fast and the valley in front was threatening lake front property once again, but fortunately all the culverts broke open in time to spare the road and its been dropping back to the channel since.  

 

We are so, so lucky and count our blessings as we watch the dire situation in extreme western Iowa and the eastern half of Nebraska...a perfect storm did happen after a heavy snowfall and rains exacerbated the completely saturated soils from last year's record rains - it was all downhill from there for anyone in the flood plains of the Missouri River and its tributaries.   Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected by the flooding going on right now.

 

Things are starting to look "normal" here for a change...we still have 4 foot drifts covering most of Georgie's barn garden but she was able to get into the yard garden and peek under the snow flattened hoops and see that the spinach did survive the winter this year - YAY!!!  Last year the mice had set up shop under her row covers and dined on spinach all winter...we have strong mice out here!

 

Juvenile Bald Eagle

 (photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

 

We have been seeing a few Great Blue Herons returning to the Waterman Creek rookery the past few days, but in low numbers so far.  Yesterday we had 8 herons riding a thermal high above the rookery.  The last time we witnessed this there was "Eagle trouble" brewing.  Well, sure enough, a couple juvenile Bald Eagles were harassing the herons - one flying around the hovering flock and another sitting smack in the middle of the rookery!

 

Eventually the two trouble makers tired of the game and headed off right over the studio deck where Georgie and I were watching - giving us great neck bending looks as they passed.  In the next hour 8 more Bald Eagles flew past the acreage - bee lining straight north on the wind.  On top of that uncounted flocks of Canada and Snow Geese streamed past heading north as well - spring is definitely in play now!

Grateful that Spring has arrived - prayers to all those being faced with loss to flooding.  

 

Take care and be good to one another!

 

How Many Days???

Raccoon napping in the crotch of a tree 
photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

It's February and I guess that's a good thing right?  Closer to Spring!!!  I don't mind February so much...its the shortest month of the winter and still looks like winter.  Now March looks like a mixed up month!  Sometimes like winter...sometimes like spring - usually all goofed up and a sloppy mess!

Had a Big old Raccoon in the gate tree this a.m. When Georgie first spotted it, it was rolled up in a ball on a fork in the tree but with the snow turning to a freezing mist it decided to try a nearby hole. The hole it tried hiding in was apparently too small as it kept coming back out to reposition itself...kept hiding when I'd take the camera outside but later showed up napping in another crotch outside.

I know it knows I'm there trying to take its picture, but I just settle for a nap shot and head back inside...hoping it'll stir for the camera yet...

 

Red-tailed Hawk pair hunting in tandem

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

February is a time when many birds of prey begin getting serious...seems early but the Great Horned Owls already have eggs they're sitting on and the Bald Eagles are setting up shop too.  Another local favorite of ours - the Red-tailed Hawks, have been known to set up nesting late in the winter...we had a pair here hunting together behind the barn.  Sometimes one bird would sit and watch while the other dipped around in the pasture trying to stir something up and other times they'd fly together and swoop into the grasses...don't know what they had going there?   Maybe a rabbit sitting tight or a mouse...who knows?

Red-tailed Hawk - close fly-by

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Its fun watching things begin to stir since the frigid air has left its mark everywhere...kind of has me stirring myself!

How many days till spring??!!!!!

Mid Winter at the Studio

"Late Morning Sun Dogs"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison 

A little winter action here at the studio this morning - I would have missed this brilliant late morning display if I hadn't walked over to the house to check on something.  On my walk back I was faced with a nearly full circle light display!  I ran inside and grabbed the camera and this was the first image I took - the right side was dropping out and after the first shot it was gone!  Things can be fleeting! 

Most of us wish winter were fleeting too but I feel less like being outside during this frigid weather and that can mean I get something done inside!  Or something like that?!

Stay warm!!!

 

Happy Winter Solstice and a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Wishing everyone out there a great winter ahead and a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas to you and All those you Love!

See you next year!!!

 

Trying Our Best

"Winter Morning at Don's Old Place" 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

I've been trying my best to keep up...to stay on target, but life is a bit more complicated than all that; I just have to quit fighting the tide and go with it sometimes I think.

Our winter finally began...first with a full night of rain, then turning to snow.  Made for terrible driving but also a good reason to stay put and do some work in the house. 

I caught a bug from somewhere - haven't the slightest idea where, but it took the wind out of my sails...still trying to hoist them back up.  Woke up yesterday to the results of an overnight freezing fog...it was spectacular!  Around 10:30 in the morning the sun started cutting through and the time was now or never so I grabbed the camera and went for a short visit in the "neighborhood" to see what views might be found.

"Winter Morning, Passing Don's Old Place" 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

I thought of the wonderful little gem of a summer place, one the owner used to spend summers at in his old age...he'd then slip off to one of his children's to spend his winters.  Its sold now...I don't know who owns it but I still refer to it as Don's old place.   When I arrived the sun was already dropping the frost from the trees...not that it's melting but that the air currents are starting to become active and the breeze is tipping the heavy ice crystals from their delicate balancing act.

 "Frosty Morning at the old Farmstead" 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

It was a beautiful setting but becoming quickly undone!  I tried not to spend too much time taking it in and recording it as best I could instead.  I then drove down the road a bit to a nice old farmstead and turned around as a bridge down the road had been wiped out by last September's epic flood in the valley.  The long early morning shadows at the farmstead's gate were wonderful and they were the last strong holdouts on frost that morning. 

By the time I arrived back to the acreage, the frost was all on the ground and the moment was over.  It was a beautiful 45 minutes, not just a visual memory. And now back to the business of the day...trying our best.

 

Rekindled...

"In the Wild Plum - Nashville Warbler"

oil painting on canvas - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I was having one of those days last spring where I was in a funk of some sort, and Georgie came into the studio and said the plums were full of warblers and "Why didn't I get outside and take some warbler pictures!"

To make a long story short I gabbed a chair and sat under the plum across from the studio deck and photographed these little, almost hyper warblers catching tiny insects pollinating the profusion of blooms...come to think of it, I may have even blogged about it.

I had been working on other things at the time but while going through the files of warbler shots one caught my eye - a male Nashville Warbler "on the hunt"...the camera caught the small fly and the warbler's posture about to spring and catch it's prey...the photograph was "OK" but it needed something - I knew it needed painting.

Finally, in mid June I got around to stating the idea of this painting...I began by laying in the entire background of out-of-focus and blowing branches, trying to create some kind of movement of color and shapes.  A couple of days into the piece I felt I did have something I needed to finish.

My Dad had just taken ill and I wanted to make a trip to see him, so I broke loose from the studio and headed to Ft Dodge - it had been raining A LOT and on the way I was detoured twice by water flowing over the county black tops I drove...it delayed me and when I arrived I found my siblings there at Dad's side; he was unconscious and slipping away.  

We spent the day together there in our Father's room, trying to stay calm and together; later that night Dad left us as I was talking to him.

My Father had always supported my work...I keep a note he wrote me a few years ago, here on my studio desk...sometimes it makes me smile, sometimes cry...its signed "your proud Dad".  He liked being a part of my artwork in earlier years, when I was obsessed with drawing, silk screening, photographing and painting birds...even  surprising me by showing up at "Birds in Art" exhibitions I was accepted into, at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI.  He always asked what I was up to in later years.

I was hoping to show him my latest painting, it is more reminiscent of those early passions I fed off of...I think he would have liked it.

It wasn't easy picking this back up after Dad's passing...it was weeks before I finally kicked the stool out from under myself and finally got in front of the easel again; but even then my progress has been less than stellar. 

I feel a rekindling of sorts now.  Its hard to explain.  Have I come full circle?  I don't know, but I've got too many things in my head now - I'd better get busy before they disappear! 

 

Who Needs the Stink'n Grid?!

Been off the internet "grid" in a couple ways lately – one way – Good! In another way...ugh...annoying. I'll get the annoying part out of the way – we've been without internet service for about 7 days this month...maybe more, don't know because we were also gone on vacation a week this month too – a Good thing!

We spent a week up along the north shore of Lake Superior, visiting old haunts and enjoying the beautiful autumn colors. We built a small cabin on the shore of Lake Superior nearly 35 years ago, enjoyed 18 summers and a few off seasons there and loved it very much. But things change – usually beyond our control, and we sold our small north shore paradise and luckily found a new retreat on the prairie to call home year-round. But it had been 16 years since last visiting NE Minnesota and it was a good return visit.

Sometimes you really can't “go back”, things change, situations evolve...you know what I mean. But even though the weather was mostly gray and wet, it was a pleasant reunion with the natural surroundings...I'll leave you with a small sampling of our “Good” internet free week!

 

Cascade River Falls - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

Lake Superior and the distant Sawtooth Range

west of Grand Marais

photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 Grand Marais harbor 

photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

Pincushion Mtn overlook above Grand Marais

photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 Along the Kadunce River canyons - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

Along the Flute Reed River - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

The Moose Valley Road - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

Mt. Josephine and Hat Point - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 Teal Lake - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

The Pigeon River - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

The High Falls on the Pigeon River- photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 Lutsen Mountain color - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

  Along the Sawbill Trail - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 Back country marshy stream - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

East branch of the Baptism River - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 West branch of the Baptism River - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

And now that we're back I had better get back to work - I've got a lot of unfinished business here...unfinished paintings and half formed ideas stuck in my head that need to be released before they disappear.  But I feel renewed, like after visiting with old friends I haven't seen in a long, long while.  

Now waiting for my internet service to be restored...if you see this you'll know I'm back...at least for a moment...