One last Boundary Waters photo before I move on.  Can you imagine the happiness of sitting on this rock, split by time and water, with a hot mug of coffee and a slice of grilled banana bread?  The fog slowly burns away as the sun rises; a small island appears.  The day begins with solitude and peace.

Ah, the Boundary Waters.  Never a dull moment and gloriously beautiful as always.  We had so many inspiring moments including seeing three martins, two moose, otters, beavers, loons, eagles and more.  The most exciting moment, unfortunately, was bidding farewell to my glasses as they sank, quickly, to the bottom of a lake. Total operator error. Since I can’t see my feet without my glasses and had one eye swelled shut due to bug bites, I was happy to make it out in one-eyed safety wearing my sunglasses on a dark and rainy day.  I’m looking forward to a bug-free Fall adventure in the Boundary Waters.

This is the scene that really captured my attention on this trip:

A lovely stand of birches.  Each morning the sun would blaze through the black lines of the straight trunks while the reflections remained dark and mysterious in the water.

Yes, it’s that time of year when I take a break from the computer and dash about to various family events. And, OF COURSE, make time to go to the Boundary Waters with my sister in our 17.5 foot Kevlar canoe.  

This is our thirteenth trip since 2003 and I am still excited to go and see what there is to see.  I love everything about the Boundary Waters — the solitude, the partnership with my sister, sleeping in a tent, carrying everything we need for ten days on our backs, and paddling our lovely golden canoe.  You never know if the days are going to be sunny and bright, dark and stormy, calm or windy, buggy or delightfully not.  Or all of these in one day. I’m sure I will have some photos to share when I return.

In case you need your own Boundary Water fix, some places to visit include:

How I unexpectedly came to love the Boundary Waters (even with a Kleenex for a sleeping bag and a child’s PFD) here.

Artwork:  The Boundary Waters Series 
The Portage Series 
Portage artist book

My sister and I after ten days out in September 2008 with photos of rock, wood, water.

The ultimate journal – our tent!

A wilderness “Andy Goldsworthy” photo challenge

A Sense of Place II, curated by Peg Keeney, is an invitational exhibit for artists working in a series with landscape as their inspiration.  Three artworks are required and they must be vertical in orientation.  That’s always a tough one for me as I love the horizontal, due to, I believe, the Midwestern horizon line.

I knew I needed to choose as inspiration something that in itself was vertical in nature.  Of course, inspiration would come from the Boundary Waters and the three artworks would be Boundary Waters 45 – 47.

I chose for inspiration a photo of the cliffs in the Boundary Waters with Fall color beginning to show (photo above) and laid it next to my sewing machine on hand-dyed cheesecloth and silk in greens and oranges.

I then pulled from my seemingly endless storehouse of scraps and pieces this palette of green, blue-green, orange and brown.

This is one of the three works in progress.  I cropped it to not show the background, so the VERY irregular edges do not show.  I’m going for organic and the pieces are not flat, not square, and pretty darn exuberant.  I’ll be sharing more after I finish them up.

You knew it had to be a photo from the Boundary Waters today. A depression in a log fills with water and offers much to study.

Haiku count since July 14: 320 (230 plus 90 in the Boundary Waters)

Tender yellow leaves
Shy in the wind, flirting and
Turning. Bashful dance. 

A very fiber-ish report today on The Garbage Day Project.