The Magnetic Plein Air Painting!

After work this evening, I went to the wildlife refuge to paint.

As I was walking by the water, on the start of the path ai always go on, I glanced to my left and the painting was RIGHT THERE.

Like, there was a Force that pulled me sideways and said PAINTING HERE!

And yep there it was.

This one practically painted itself, I got a good learning download, and I'm pleased with it.

8x10 oil

DTBH 4th

I do not do the hotline on Saturdays or 4th of July.

But our scheduling person has a sparkly influence glamour or something, so I was on the Saturday 4th of July Overnight!

It worked out well with logistics and timing though and I didn't mind.... because it was a great day at the boathouse!

Because of the overnite shift, I missed the many 250th celebration happenings on the river in the morning.
It's ok, I didn't really mind.... I did see pictures of some very cool ships.

When I arrived I saw that Martin bought many new toys for the boathouse- including pool rafts and inflatable sprinklers...we tried putting one of the pool rafts on the jousting platform but it got lopsided and started to sink......

After being in the river, I was relaxing...the manager from the restaurant next door came over and asked if I would like a frozen margarita?

Um, yes please!

I'm pretty much off alcohol except rarely. 

My system doesn't like it anymore, but I could not say no to that!

Judy and I took the sunfish out!

That was... interesting.... because there wasn't enough wind.  

It was still fun tho.

Sailing! ---sort-of!

This year we were not allowed on the water for fireworks- 250th celebrations and security.

Stiil a great show!

Apparently, Jersey City likes to compete with the neighboring shows- and they do a great job!

Boofers!

This weekend was our whitewater kayaking trip on the Lehigh River, hosted by KCCNY, the Kayak & Canoe Club of NY.

Oh my gosh.

It was SO fun!

On Saturday we had theory and drills for river safety- defensive swimming, wet exits, boat-dancing to practice hip snaps, crossing eddies, ferrying, learning about reading the river. 

It RAINED ALL DAY.

Seriously, it was so, so cold. Aside from the cold rain, the day was awesome.

We had a good campfire back at camp with everyone.

Camp pics & boat fitting:

My tent.... i did miss my hammock but the tent was fine.

My tent was mostly water-proof, except around one edge.

We all thought the dry spot underneath was funny.

Aimee did bring her hammock.

On Sunday we did a for-reals river trip. It was all Class 1, with 1 bit of Class 2 rapids at the end... they call it "graduation rapids". In the morning before lunch we practiced ferrying, high bracing, and low bracing. 

We learned the pry stroke, which is used to move sideways. 

I have a particular bad habit to use a reverse stroke to turn sharply, which isn't good because you do lose all your speed momentum.

That's not good on the river!
So I need to really get in the mindset of doing a forward sweep instead- which of course is more difficult. I can do a good sweep stroke, but I need to practice. It's like we learned this whole vocabulary of strokes and maneuvers- but practice is what brings the fluency and proper use. 

But I'm a rank beginner, so it's ok.

However- I BOOFED A ROCK!

I was SO EXCITED about this!

And Jason- one of the instructors- said my eddy crossing was "sick"... I know it was good, but also I think I had some beginners' luck!

We divided into 2 teams after lunch.

At lunch there were meat sticks for the meat-inclined people- and there was much talk about the love of meat sticks from the people who... love them.

One of our instructors is named John.

And I guess earlier there was a joke where someone said "Do you need a hand, John?" but it was..... mis-heard, to much laughter.

And that's how we got to be Team Meat Stick and Team Hand John.

Despite being veg, I was proud to be on Team Meat Stick!

Team Meat Stick:

Team Hand John:

The class picture:

Whitewater kayaking is very, very different than the sea kayaking I am used to.

Some of the skills are transferrable though, and I was glad to have previous kayaking experience... otherwise I think I would have been overwhelmed.

There were people in the class who were brand new to kayaking, and they did well, which was impressive. It's not easy and there is a very high level of physical stamina.

This is something I definitely want to do again. 

It really was awesome.

Last-Century Cactus

Janae has been going through stuff and she found this:

This is from Pratt, probably our second year when we had to take photography.

So 1996-1997-ish.

Ponkapoag!

This weekend Aimee and I went to MA to do a 2-day map/compass hiking navigation class.

We took Amtrak to Boston and rented a car.

From there we drove to our tent site at AMC Ponkapoag.

We were right on the water, which was very pretty.

We brought tents instead of hammocks this time.

A few things about Ponkapoag:

1. You have to snail-mail a check plus paper registration form to book the site.

(I did this back in April)

2. There is no potable water.

3. The Spang tent site where we camped is next to a hiking trail and everyone will just hike right through your tent site, even though they aren't supposed to. And they will stay in your tent site to look at the water- even while you are cooking your dinner and brushing your teeth....

4. The airplanes overhead going to and from Logan are INSANELY LOUD AND NONSTOP until very late at night.

5. We were not allowed to have a campfire because of the wind and also a drought.

6. The pond is absolutely amazing.

7. After a sweaty grubby day in the woods, swimming in the pond left me feeling surprisingly clean and refreshed, almost as good as an actual shower!

8. A Squirrel Friend joined us for most of our meals.

******

I did 2 paintings of Ponkapoag Pond, both 6x8 oil;

My Belly River Box, sitting on the fire pit........

******

Because of a lot of wind plus a drought, we were not allowed to bring a campfire.

This brought a whole new meaning to I'M SO GLAD I BROUGHT MY JET BOIL!!!

Seriously it saved me.

So... three nights of camping and we cooked all of it on our camp stoves.

Aimee had hers too.

I did what I always do best, I still drank a lot of tea.

*****

We both brought tents instead of hammocks.

Here is the night view through the top of my tent:

******

We did a wonderful compass/map navigation class.

Some of it was review, a lot of it was new for me.

I LOVED it.

When we went bushwacking and finding bearings, we ended up at the EXACT point on the map we were supposed to be!

********

Ponkapoag Pond really is beautiful and I took a lot of pictures....