Sketching, an Airedale and her human, then photoshopping to compensate for forgetting my "real" camera.

 After satiating ourselves at the Portsmouth, NH Barnes and Nobles (books AND panini purchases!) we took the very long way home down the coast through Strawberry Banke, New Castle (island), eventually pulling off after passing Odiorne Point State Park.  What a lovely series of coves.  Scalloped, shallow, sandy with mostly smooth stones, minimal seaweed, and at the dinner hour on a cool Sunday evening, quiet and uncrowded.

 

 It's been too long since I deliberately got outside in a new place to draw.  I can easily imagine these sketches turning into abstracts.  IF I had remembered to bring my "real" camera from home, they might have turned into more representational paintings.  Not sure that I have the imagination or talent to turn my phone's photos into anything inspiring.

There was a gulp of cormorants settled on sand bars about 50 yards out... The sand bars (at least at low tide) were walkable... by others who intuitively left their marks by erecting stone cairns.  With my eyesight, I needed my binoculars (which I DID remember!) to separate the birds from the rocks. 

My husband was most fascinated with a huge driftwood tree.  It's placement made it seem more likely it had washed up... than fallen down from the nearby woodlands.  Surprisingly, it had thoughtful graffiti

and carvings.  There was a nicely lettered directive:  dream a beautiful dream.

For the less intrepid, or less likely to try walking on water (or sand bar) there was a stone stack at water's edge.  The tide must have been coming in, because it had toppled by the time I left.

At right, the "lumps" are mostly cormorants rather than people or rocks.

A photoshopped version of me and my shadow.

 I met a beautiful, aloof Airedale named Sheena and her human, Ben.  While Ben and I chatted, Sheena found parents with toddler sons who threw a stick for her.  She could not remain aloof near a stick throwing playmate.  With Ben's OK, she also chased sticks into the waves, swimming with happy confidence.

   Can you tell I am partial to Airedales?

I am often surprised by the colors my computer filters find in my photographs.  I think this would make a nice acrylic impasto abstract.

I hope I will draw, chat, paint and photograph more.  Soon.  It is such a barometer of how things are going.

Exploring with wide eyes over the weekend.

Have you ever noticed how reminiscing, or a little reflection can actually improve one's viewpoint?

Yesterday had little promise, weather wise, although the temperature was perfectly cool without being chilly.  The sky almost always looked like it was going to burst with rain.

But we went to the Westford, MA Strawberry Festival, just the same.  The DD had secured a booth, tend and table to hawk Microbrews Polish to the teens and trendsetters in town.  We were proud to support her entrepreneurial efforts.  (And I will be sporting very ORANGE nails in the near future!

 DH and I avoided the Fresh Fudge tent, and even the enormous plates of strawberry shortcake.  But the number of vendors was quite manageable, for even my weak ankles.  I was quite taken with Ms. Strawberry from Springdell Farm in Littleton.  They had yarn, too.  Hand dyed and reasonably priced.  I'm just still on a "yarn diet."  They may deserve their own day trip!

Even though I was (unreasonably) disappointed that I didn't have more chat time with DD, and that she wasn't selling polish hand over fist, looking back, I totally enjoyed the well-behaved puppies, and children on the green.  CUTENESS prevailed.

And then, there is nothing like a white steeple to represent New England. I will have to investigate and see how similar or different the bell towers are from town to town.  I'm thinking this one would be a challenge to paint AND make interesting.

Do you like the full length angle or the close up?

DH had another nearly sleepless night, and so I wasn't optimistic about having any adventures today.  The only thing I thought needed to be done was taking out the trash. After the overdue trip to the "transfer center" (i.e. town dump), we picked up a late lunch and took the long way home.  Next weekend is Hampton Beach's "world famous" sand sculpture contest, and I wanted to check out traffic, parking, etc.  At the South end of Hampton Beach, we ran into a traffic back-up because the drawbridge was UP.

 There are a LOT of drawbridges in this neck of the woods, but they are rarely up.  It was startling and kind of fun to see the road go perpendicular right in front of us.  Especially since we didn't see any tall (or even big) boats near by.  I did have time to be amused by the audience of seagulls, one per street light.  I don't know if they fish from the west side of the bridge or not.  Since they are not known for reading, I imagine they do when they can.

  
Finally the boat came into view.  It must have radioed ahead to the bridge. My Google research indicates that it is 90' long and can be hired for deep sea fishing or cruises. I have NO interest in deep sea fishing, but today would have been a great day for it.  Perhaps WHALE WATCHING!

 In addition to seagulls, there were sails over the beach. The strange thing is that even though I believe there must have been people attached to these kite-sales, I never saw any people attached to them.

We liked the look of the house... last one on the point of land.  If you had a house with a turret, what would you put in it?

The bridge itself was dedicated to Neil Underwood, a native of Hampton, NH who was killed by friendly fire, over France in 1944. I enjoyed the candor of the write up from the Hampton Library. 

Very late in the day, I got a few close-ups of an enthusiastic Columbine which is blooming in the front yard.  It must be in a good place! 

Whimsical, aren't they?

 The groundcover, Snow in Summer is not thriving quite so much.  But the fact that it came back at ALL after being under 2 feet of snow for 6 months is a near miracle.

Maybe the fact that I'm still here after all that winter is pretty amazing, too.  I think I need to be more dedicated to storing up internal sunshine, though.  I'll need it come January.