A heron video I took last Friday on The Cobb

A quiet little video of a heron out on The Cobb, on Friday the 13th of May, 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAVDLNT3p_8

And here's a still of when he finally did take flight.

Here's another photo of him perched in a tree.

I got up early on Friday morning and cleaned up the studio from some glazing I'd done several days ago, wedged up some porcelain balls and threw six tumblers.  I then took a short nap and threw some stuff together and drove out to camp, stopping in Augusta to buy a Brita water filter pitcher.

Got to camp and filled the feeders and then jumped in the kayak.  I paddled for about 2 or 3 hours; went over in the cove across from camp and then down to the Route 126 bridge, and then back around the back of the islands where the osprey nest used to be.  That's where I took the video.  I came back to camp and put things away and headed back home to shower and get ready to go to Guthrie's.

I slept in late on Saturday and then spent a few hours cleaning, sweeping and washing the kitchen floor, vacuuming, dusting, laundry, etc.  Rick had to go up to campus for graduation.   Sara graduated but the ceremony was held inside and tickets were scarce so I didn't attend.  It was nice to stay home alone, even though I spent most of the time cleaning.  Once Rick got home we spent most of the afternoon and evening watching movies.

This morning I got up before 5 a.m. and went up to the studio to trim the tumblers I'd thrown on Friday. I also put up the rest of my pottery collage posters.

I thought we had a graduation party for Sara today but found out about 10 a.m. that the party is next Sunday.  That was a big relief because I really just wanted to vegetate, which is basically what I ended up doing.    I did actually get around to painting these tumblers I'd made a couple weeks ago with underglazes.

Loons, Eagles, and Assholes

Discovered Friday morning that our neighbor somehow managed to get a building permit to build a house on a beach front lot to which 40+ families in the Tobey Development have a right of way.  We dealt with this issue two years ago at the Planning Board and they agreed that the ordinance did not permit a home to be built on the lot.  Somehow, under the cover of secrecy, he managed to slither back in this spring and get the permit.  We'll be consulting with an attorney tomorrow to see if there is recourse.

Friday was a beautiful day but I couldn't stand to sit on my deck and listen to the construction noise as they further raped the beach front lot with more tree cutting and digging.  So we decided to take some supplies to camp so that we could go back out there Saturday afternoon to spend our first night.

We went to Danielle and Shawn's adoption party Saturday and headed right out to camp afterwards.  Unfortunately it started raining just as we left the party and was still raining when we got to camp.  We hung out for a bit and by 5 p.m. the sun was out and the wind had died down.  So we unloaded the kayaks and went for a paddle.

As soon as we got to the other side of the stream we saw this beautiful juvenile eagle perched high in a tree.

We explored around the area for a while and noticed some dark clouds moving in so headed back to camp.  About half way there we came across a couple of very vocal loons and I took this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7PYrfBD3L4