tree sketches

white cedar tree trunks viewed from our 2nd floor studio

beech tree trunk Manassas

white pine tree trunk Manassas

Randolph St. dying Norway maple

Randolph St. maple tree

banana tree trunk peeling layers

banana tree sketch

My daily morning routine is almost set as a habit now. I have continued past the three month marker which I have read is how long it takes to get a habit embedded in ones life. After I did my morning pages and sketch I found myself with no Internet but access to Keith's computer/scanner where I figured it was a good time to scan my recent sketches. I discovered there was a nice group of tree sketches in the book. Lots of flower sketches but this tree group stood out as a quick edit for a blog post. I have 42 more sketches to edit and I am going to take time to do a few each day instead of all in one sweep. Seeing all these sketches gets me thinking it's time to start work on some more prints but getting some more time drawing trees is a priority too. The weather is milder and I want to go out and do some more sketches and studies of some of the great trees in our neighborhood. The big ones often don't stick around as long as one would think they will. The big tornado and thunder storms that went through NYC is a good example. Dozens of trees were toppled. NYT readers photos of the aftermath on their website here. Be good to your trees friends.

aquatic gardens

Keith by a lotus pond having a happy birthday

great flotilla of lavender blue water hyacinth was the first sight to greet us as we arrived at the Kenilworth Aquatic gardens in North East Washington DC.

female black swallowtail butterfly sipping nectar rarely sat still for a portrait

one of many beautiful water lilies in the ponds blooming

this blurry photo reminds me of the great stained glass artists John La Farge and

Louis Comfort Tiffany

Keith kneels to make photos by one of many ponds at the

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

This memorial holiday weekend Washington DC has had a perfect string of days after a hurricane Earl passed by at sea on Friday sweeping away the 90ºF heat wave for a while. All week I have been dreaming I wanted to go outdoors on the first day that wasn't going to get over 80ºF. Saturday was Keith's birthday I didn't want to dictate where we should go. I let him decide on his own and sure enough after 11 years together he chose the exact place I wanted to go on his special day. Kenilworth Aquatic Park and Gardens! We spent two hours strolling slowly with our cameras looking at the birds and flowers and the whole scene along the Anacostia river where the tides fill the marsh with river water then drain it nearly dry and back again.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens is one of those out of the way places that takes a little navigating to find but once you are there it is heaven. US Parks runs it and does a pretty good job maintaining the 11 acres of ponds, wilderness trails and board walks. It is teaming with wildlife some native and some invasive making it a demanding job to keep under control . First I saw a large river muskrat rustling the dried lotus leaves to build something in one pond. Much later we spotted a beaver den not 15 feet from one of the boardwalks. The first bird we discovered was a small adult green heron in a shallow lily pond fishing. Keith and I both took some pictures of it moving along slowly on the hunt. Then we spotted a few turtles on a log sunning which reminded me of one I had as a pet in the 1960's.

Soon we saw there were bigger birds closer to the river. Canada geese were making a lot of romantic declarations. A great blue heron perched on a fallen tree in one channel while preening some blue gray feathers before it slipped into the water to fish. Finally from the board walk we saw several Snowy egrets also on perches and in the water hunting small fish. There are tad poles and minnows in all the ponds making it a great buffet for so many of these marsh birds I am sure it is a haven to them as well as for me. There were butterflies, eastern tiger swallowtails, black swallowtails like the female one seen above, a bunch of orange and brown smaller butterflies and the migrating wonder, orange and black Monarch were everywhere. Numerous dragon flies were hard to catch near enough to photograph clearly. It was a challenge to get perfect photos but the excursion was well worth the effort and one I would gladly repeat soon. I took 98 photos and haven't yet finished the editing but you will be able to see them in my flickr Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens set soon.

local trees

workers planting new trees at the far end of the community play grounds

new redbud trees at Turkey Thicket Community Center

more new redbud trees along the edges of the ball field

tall locust trees at either end of the ball fields

Yesterday, the last day of August, I came by Turkey Thicket community center and was delighted and concerned to see a few dozen new trees laying on the ground. Hours later they were planted in the ground with mulch and green water gator bags filled. Since the center opened a few years ago no new trees have been planted around this huge area of game fields. During the heat of most summer days walking or exercise on the track is rough with no shade. In a few years now there will be some and having more trees and a wee bit less grass mowing will help absorb some of those green house gases that make our summers hotter.