I'm still here!...

Kejimkujik Lake, at Peter Point Beach. 21 April 2007.

Boy, have I been slack with posting. And with art, as well. I've worked on a few things these past two weeks, including a few stones. I tried carving a chunk of raw amethyst I found on the North shore a few years ago, but found out that it's too hard to carve. I burnt out three diamond bits right away, and barely made a scratch on the stone.

I have been outdoors since last Friday enjoying the beautiful spring weather we've finally been treated to. The photo above is from a ladies-only hike into Keji I took with four friends on Saturday. It was such a great day - no kids, no men, just good friends and a couple bottles of wine. My kind of hike :) . The temperature rose to 20*C, and I hiked in a t-shirt. It was really the nicest day of the year so far. And it was a lovely day to begin life - another friend delivered, with the help of a midwife at her home, a beautiful baby girl early Saturday morning. Welcome, Synia!

So, please forgive my slackness, dear readers, for spring has finally arrived, and spring fever has struck full force. I hope to be back soon with something more to post.

Keji morning... new ATC

Keji morning, 2.5" x 3.5", watercolour on watercolour board.

I'm not too thrilled with this one, but they can't all be fabulous, can they? The eagle in the sky wasn't s'posed to be there, but morphed out of a drip of dark grey paint that happened at the very last moment. I had fun doing the wet-in-wet washes for sky and water.

Hiking at Kejimkujik

We drove to Kejimkujik National Park yesterday for a 7 km (5 mi.) hike. I love Keji - I camped there often as a child with my family, and spent weeks there every summer. I love canoeing to the wilderness camping sites on the islands, and I love hiking the extensive trail system.
My favorite hiking trail is the Hemlocks and Hardwoods trail, a loop through one of the few remaining pockets of old-growth forests in Nova Scotia. 350 year old hemlocks tower above to a thick, green canopy. Within the forest, it seems to be perpetually twilight. It is a totally magical and otherworly place. I would love to visit in the winter, but it would have been a 15 km. or so hike... so maybe some other time.

The trail we did yesterday was Peter's Point, a trail we just did in September. In the winter, the dirt road leading to the parking area for this trail is closed and groomed for cross country skiing, so that makes for a longer walk than in summer. There was 5 or 6 inches of snow in the forest. The trail follows a point of land out into Kejimikujik Lake. The tip of the point, at the trail's end, is just a short skip across water to a small island. The point shelters two sandy beaches, one facing north, and one south. It was beautiful to witness the blanketed hush. Beech and Pine

Frozen Lake


Towering Pine

Twilight brook