From Daisy to Crosman Pumpmaster

Once upon a time, I wore an NRA sharpshooter badge but time brought me to an occasional tin can shoot with a 1970's Daisy BB rifle.

I complained, not loudly, about the antiquity of the Daisy preventing amazing hits - I couldn't hit the wide side of a hill and, as I'm wont to do, I blamed it on the equipment.

A recent birthday arrived and my oldest granddaughter gifted a Crosman Pumpmaster 760 BB/pellet rifle.

Incongruously, this came hot on the heels of replacing my living room window which was gut shot by the neighbor boy's girl guests while his mother labored at her daily work. The window hole was about five inches above my head where I sat outside trying to absorb enough warm and sun to last through the lengthy gray cold winter. Much ado.

Even though I experienced a brief temptation to shoot the neighbor kid, I took the new toy to the woods and found it to be powerfully accurate - I might still be a sharpshooter!

Taste of Warm

I ache to swallow summer
without paring or pitting
hold it inside warm and rich
while winter
slings shards of ice
frigid wind rises in the night
moans through canyons
like the cry of a loon
vibrating mountain-tall pines
with threat
wild enough to crack my bones,
when grey eats the sun and moon
clothing knots my easy walk
I want to swallow summer whole.






Frame of Summer, Photo by Sue Turner

Sailing to September

Dawn pulls the sun
to the mountain crest
wild turkeys grumble up hill

a doe challenges
the Shepherd pup
bound to keep us safe.

Before full light,
turkeys retrack clumsy steps
the doe backs into the forest

one hummer checks the feeder
departs to grapevine tidings

early risers start the coffee,
aroma rouses others

hungry folks fill the kitchen
planning lazy time
during hearty breakfast prep.

A zephyr from the lake
stirs red geraniums
blue lobelia in deckside planters.

Whiny jet skis heat the day,
sailboats stalk the shore
for the last of summer play.

Watercolor

This painting was one of the first of a series in a watercolor course taught by a local artist. There is something about it I like, actually there is a lot about it I like, but it is so far from what I usually paint that it surprises me to find my signature on it.

The instructor was very insistent that we students follow his exact brush move and color combinations. Difficult as it was, I managed to follow his direction as closely as I could. Another surprise was how different others' paintings were even though we were shackled.

My current preference is for abstract, bright and bold. Tight hasn't captured me yet, although I find photography quite exciting! I guess my theory is that if I want tight, I use the camera. If I want loose, I use watercolor and brushes.

Pitch

imagine
senescing
inside amber honey
biding the millennia,

imagine
dwelling
in the glow of suns
the echo of moons,
preserved. unchanging.
embraced for eternity,

imagine
reflecting
the birth of all time
in the numen of amber

wooing
sages with loupes
enamored by eons.

Shooting Stars of Summer

Summer to this point has been hot and dry - I like it like that! However, there's a distinct and sudden change. Morning air brings a hint of fall, the sun sneaks farther south and evening air is downright chilly.

I must learn not to say I'm cold. While camping last weekend with my younger daughter, I felt a chill and said erroneously, 'I'm cold.' Within minutes she had a blaze going that threatened to burn down the entire cabin - fortunately, it did nothing but melt the side off the television.

When I pointed it out, she sighed and said, 'I told them not to bring a tv into the woods.' Purist, she is. Someday, someone will notice the side is missing and we'll have to 'fess up. In the meantime, I've gotta say I enjoyed being overly warm that night - felt a lot like a full blown dark summer day.

Bats swoop and hummers slow. The full moon and Perseid meteor shower were better than any tv finds.

Daniel Smith has a new trio of colors. Prussian Blue is a name I remember from the old Crayon box. Yummmy. I'll have three new watercolors in four days.


Watercolor: Top Shelf

Welcome home!

Today we'll see the young man whose tour of duty was extended, extended and extended. He was sent all over the world, released twice, then recommandeered and sent off again ~ most recently to Baghdad.

He'll be off duty for 10 days, then returned to stateside duty for several more months before a final 'out' date. Fortunately, he returned with no visible physical damage.

My heart goes out to all those who've lost friends and family and those who've returned with massive damage. War is a sad and useless thing for those who are actually required to participate in it or are attacked by it.

Welcome home, Nate!! And thanks for your brave service in the face of an unpopular and unnecessary war. Now, maybe you can tell us the truth...

Smoke and Mirrors is a fractal created in Apophysis.

Screenless in Idaho

Screen doors always annoyed me. The screens are invariably misshapen by casual hands which don't mesh with the handle. The slamming noise always startles me, even when I'm the slammer.

Grown up and free, I designed my own second door.

A sheer curtain hangs in the door jamb by a tension rod to allow the view, light and fresh air through the entry while deterring bugs, birds and stray cats. It moves a bit in the breeze. Too much? A length of chain in the bottom hem keeps it more stable. It's easy to put up and remove (night and morning), washable and silent while at the same time it fascinates children and tickles old friends.

The German Shepherd who visits occasionally backs up and makes a run through the filmy stuff even though the rod falls and clips him smartly on the head about half the time. But, hey, that's better than staying outside alone.

Some pleasures come late in life!

The picture is a digital photo of a hummingbird superimposed on a fractal background. The editing and manipulation were done in MS Digital Image Suite.

Possibilities and Magic

Three Year Old returned intending to swim like a fish but got sidetracked by the pool noodles which, last visit, turned into rainbows in his hands. Yesterday he convinced us that the noodles were fishing poles and soon the adults were sheepishly 'catching', 'reeling' and challenging others to pull in a bigger figment.

That's where children live and play. It's no wonder they have trouble with no and can't do that. To them, possible is now and impossible follows about thirty seconds later.

We fished and kicked our legs while sitting in magic chairs (made by hanging one-armed to the pool coping and raising our legs) and in some strange way, I dread the day he gets a grip on his imagination. It's rare that magic returns until it's encouraged by a daring three-year-old.

This photo was taken (with a Minolta Dimage E50) when the dad took the tyke out of the water for a little rest. The next dream is visible in the eyes.

landscaping

dry as old shoes
tumbled rocks grow fine
slide inside bedrock cracks

drought checkered
summer parched earth
scratched brown

space in the shadows
fills with silence
drifts to join the wind

distant planes
free a hundred dreams
smooth the root of night


Fractal created in Apophysis program by Sue Turner