Abundant September

Hands Full of Beach Treasure

I LOVE September. The evenings cool off, the colors and light change, the summer memories are still fresh and satisfying. And usually life slows down a tiny bit, so I can take more deep breaths. This year I am in the middle of abundance of all kinds and although deep breaths are a little harder to come by most of the time, I am not complaining.

August finished with a successful show of my art work in Saranac Lake. The opening was a wonderful party - loads of friends (including my mom) and some new friends came, all very supportive and making for a festive event. Several friends even bought my work, so now my collection of 10 little fiber collages is 6 in number and several other pieces went to good homes as well.

 

This weekend I participated in the Adirondack Artists Studio Tour (Sept. 25 and 26). I met some lovely people, saw some friends, and led a wonderful mixed media collage workshop this afternoon at the theater. It is always so amazing to see people claim they have no creative talents producing amazing little works of art. Thanks to all of you who attended. I loved working with all of you!

Next - a show of my work in Old Chatham, NY at the sweet little Old Chatham Country Store and Cafe (up on Sept. 29th with the reception on Oct. 10th). Lots to prepare and think about.

So, our birding trip to Cape Cod two weeks ago was a welcome break. Nothing like the beach, wind, and sun to restore some equanimity. The bird migration out there seemed to be either slow or mostly past. Or the weather was just too nice. (Experienced birders know that stormy, miserable cold fronts in the Fall bring the birds through.) Well, we settled for nice, without too much complaining. Our last morning there, we were getting ready to walk from the ocean beach across to the salt marsh when at least 500 Tree Swallows arrived and proceeded to make themselves at home for the day. It was quite a spectacle, with swallows sitting in groups on all the vegetation with any substance in the dunes. Imagine a goldenrod clump with 3 or 4 birds sitting on each stem. They all rose into the sky again every 15 minutes or so, then settled back down. We assumed they had just landed after a night of flying from somewhere to the north and were resting and feeding until evening arrived to make another leg of their long journey.

Tree Swallows at Sea Gull Beach