Old Travel Journals

I decided to play around with using my camera to see how pictures from long ago would appear. These pictures are from two trips taken in the late nineties.
Keeping journals is a great way to remember a trip.


Belgium,  most from Brugge

I was using the Canson Standard Black Sketchbook in those days.

Villers-la-Ville Abbey

A Beginage, which was home to a  community of women

 These last two are from Rome.  

I was near the back of the Instituto Sacro Cuore,  and nearby the Gardens of Villa Lante.

Cattails and Weeds in Winter

Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge

While on Mississippi River Blvd. on the way, I saw three wild turkeys very close to the houses and driveways and two white tail deer on the edge of the bluffs close to the walkway....more wildlife than I saw at the refuge.

When I am chilly I tend to work fast.

A very sunny, cold day....temperature in low thirties again.

Minnehaha Creek in Late November

 Three in the afternoon, 35 degrees

When I arrived, the sounds of chickadees and a white breasted nuthatch seemed to dominate the scene.

Eventually some Mallards arrived and checked me out to see if I might toss them some food. I did not.

In a sense, everything about the time was ordinary and yet the light, the atmosphere.... was lovely and the nuthatch did show up on the big tree in front of me to traverse the trunk in the upside down nuthatch way, not quite quietly but scolding a bit.  These birds seem as accustomed to people as we are to them.

The Button Shop

Victoria, British Columbia

The colors in this photo from my recent trip to the Northwest are actually quite similar to the new winter colors seen from the dock at the National Wildlife Refuge.  The amazing thing about travel is that the new sights can be a source of life after returning home.  We carry all the places we've been within us.

Just Before the First Snowfall

It is hard to believe this is just minutes away from the Mall of America.

I saw swans although I am sorry to say I am not able to identify the particular kind of swan. I think Trumpeter, but I'm not sure of that. I also saw lots of Mallards, Canada Geese and flocks of Robins. The surprise for me was the large flock of Cedar Waxwings and they allowed me to come so close. In fact they flew in close to me.  This has really been my Cedar Waxwing year.  I knew snow was predicted, so I was thinking it looked as though everything was prepared.  

Quite a bit of ice as you can see.

The truth is that it was so cold that I took the easy way out and worked from my photograph at home.

I have painted in much colder weather outside! but it was windy and maybe felt colder because I am not quite accustomed to winter yet. (I held down the pages for the photo with a plastic triangle which explains the unusual bottom portion of the picture.) I do like the winter palette colors even though I will surely miss all the green of spring and summer.

Weaving Again

During the summer I began to weave again after twenty years, and did some sketches in my journal to mark the occasions.  So far I have woven a hefty and warm woolen scarf for a friend and some fun exploration pieces that will probably be used for covering pillows.

Enjoying the Last of the Leaves

On a trip to Milwaukee for the birth of a grandchild, I took some time to continue to enjoy my love for the season of Autumn, by painting the wonderful very temporary color as the trees prepare for the winter.

near Mt Mary College, Milwaukee