SPIDER SPIN

 Time for another Photo Story. These were taken at the bushes around Deeper Pond.

1 He said he was interested in

2 What was on the inside, not just the outside,

3 So I trusted him.

4 I forgot he was a SPIDER

SNAKE RESCUE - THANKS MOM

If someone said they knew a serpent story about a mother who threw comfort to the winds for the safety her young, most people would imagine a human mother dashing out to rescue her child from a snake.

Two years ago, when the greenery at the park had not been cut back so much, there was a bush at Corner Cove on which I saw an Ao Daisho, a nonvenomous tree climber snake. All of a sudden, it released the branch it seemed inextricably coiled around and fell into the creek below with a splash. Almost in the same instant--and then I realized it hadn't fallen off the branch; it was a purposeful DIVE, and its tail had HACKED the water intentionally--I saw it curled around and hurriedly ushered tiny tapeworm-like snakes into a side rivulet. Safe.

From her perch on the branch above, had she seen a predator in the water about to prey on her little ones? I don't know how reptilian mothers feel about belly flops or headaches due to sudden changes in air pressure, but I do know even the staunchest, most dangerous swimmer below would have been scared away by suddenly descending shadows from the sky accompanied by exploding tsunami sound.

Thanks, mom.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Most snake stories make the serpent the "bad guy". This was the first time I even thought of associating a Snake with Mother's Love!

HI ME ANDY

The artist site I mentioned several posts ago gave out encouragement to make various types of books. One such simple book was actually made of a single sheet of paper cut in from opposite sides in alternating ways three separate times then folded in an accordion manner. The end result was a "book" that had to be turned every which way to be viewed.

I made one and drew the animal I'd come to identify myself with, added paint splotches. Since it was called a "Meander" Book, I decided the turtle would say, "Hi. Me Andy."

P.S.: (I really have used curved needle and threaded pages together to bind my own booklets so do know how--some of you may've read them so wonder what I'm doing making meander books--but that was years ago, and I'm tired.)

ROCKETTE

I suppose the time I really started to like turtles was that winter when it seemed most of the animals were either gone into hibernation or had migrated down south where it was warmer, and everything was icy and dead, except for that turtle. It was actually carp that first came out swimming that warm day in December when the ice melted, and I was thrilled to see them playing--THERE WAS ONE TURTLE THERE TOO! I took a picture and had Kinya confirm it to be sure it wasn't just my imagination.

The tragic thing is, no other turtle came out of hibernation, so that turtle struggled through 6 weeks of winter alone. I remember seeing it paddle the icy waters of the pond by itself and cheered it on. Feeling it had to be the rockiest winter of its life, I named it Rockette.

Rockette toughed it out until the other turtles came out of hibernation in the spring, but her milky eyes witnessed how tired out her body was, and she had to turn in her shell a few days later.

I guess no turtles look like this...

Last year, staffers of an art site were influenced by a regular user, "Blue Wolf Spirit", who always signed comments with a wolf logo on a navy background. They each chose an animal and drew it on a field of color: Orange Cat, Red Goose, Fluorescent Flamingo, Magenta Bower Bird, Naples Yellow Sheep, Purple Platypus, Burnt Sienna Moo, Quinacridone Rose Owl."

Whenever I sense the least bit of danger, I find myself shrinking back inside a hard shell. afraid of getting hurt. I want to think of myself as someone who actually has a lot to offer but is too timid to reach out so no one will know about it...The more I saw at the pond, the more I identified myself with the turtle, so I wondered if I could call myself "Teal Turtle".

But I'm near-sighted. I love turtles and have seen lots of them, but it's hard to imagine one wearing glasses! I wonder if a spectacle-wearing turtle can influence anybody.

NATALIE

Yesterday, a friend--Natalie, the Black Wasp (Mar 26, '23 "Preposterous" post)--came to the Irrigation Ditch. I got excited and began sketching her right away. The park personnel has removed the dangerous wasp's nest, and I told her then she needed to make herself scarce; if they found her; they'd probably try to kill her too. Since they got rid of the nest, I've seen her only twice.

"You're friends with a wasp? for real?" Yeah. You don't have to be smart to do it--stay away from dark colors; don't use scents; avoid threatening actions; just be friendly and courteous..."Maybe, but I'm not interested."

Well, you're free to stay uninterested; but the longer you do, the longer you'll keep yourself open to wasps' and hornets' aggression.

PELLE

Meet, no, not a soccer player, but Pelle the Pellucid Fly at the park. I'd first wondered if it might be a black bumble bee but then realized it had only two wings, not four. So it was a hoverfly, not an actual bee...but I'd never seen a fly this big before! I'd been photographing roly polys, butterflies, turtles, damselflies at the Irrigation Ditch when I saw Pelle on a nearby bush, and decided to take a picture of it too to check what it was after I got home.

There has been another hoverfly who comes to the Irrigation Ditch to listen to stories; I wonder if Pelle will join him now?

3 BUTTERFLIES

I stayed home for the past few scorching days.

When I went back to the park, a butterfly came wanting to be sketched. When I told it I'd draw its picture if it held still, it stopped on a water lily pad--much too far away to see it clearly.

I wish this butterfly would've seen the next one. It stayed nearby plus opened its wings for me! It was a tiny thing, the kind that welcomed my sisters and me to the resort in Okinawa. If you didn't look carefully, it looked gray; but it was actually dusty blue and silvery mauve.

When I went home, yet another butterfly came to the bush along the back wall. It had pretty red-yellow-black wings but didn't stay very still. I must say tho', it was easier to sketch than the first one!

First Photo Story: COOL CHICK

I wasn't sure what to do with some of the "Photo Stories" I've made at the park--I don't even know what to call them. I'll just post them, let you figure out what they are, what to call them.

The first is actually ONE photo divided up...well, you can figure it out, I think.

1 You hear it'll get scorching today?

2 You sorry you got hooked up with me?

3 Yes, heard. No, not. Too hot to talk.

Born to be Wild...a wild boar, that is

I was born the year of the Wild Boar. I didn't like it until I heard Martin Luther described as a wild boar...maybe it wasn't a completely bad thing to be identified with such a person!

Altho' I'm not great like Luther, God can use wild boar ole me any way He wants.

The pic? Bubba. It's actually a Baby Boar, but since I kept saying "Ba-B-Bar", I decided that would be its name.

FASTER THAN I THOUGHT

I really thought it would be way more than a year.

Last year, at the park, I saw a baby lizard come out of a bush; find himself face to face with a large dragonfly. I wondered what the two would do. They just looked at each other as if paralyzed--or sizing each other up, perhaps. After a long moment, the dragonfly flew off and the lizard disappeared back down into the bush as if nothing had happened.

That moment...I remember wishing then I had the ability to capture it on paper. I knew I couldn't then, and I stared hard at that place on top of the bush and burned the image in my mind so I would remember it when the time came I could draw it. In ten years' time? twenty? I didn't know.

I know I still have a long, long ways to go--my little lizard looks like a green mole!--but I thought it would be better to get it drawn poorly than to forget it completely, so...here 'tis.

Doesn't seem to matter, but it Satisfies

Remember my drawing of the Bearded Lady? ("Drowsy Drawing", June 5 post) I'd stayed up all night to compose a poster for my grandchild, so that's what resulted when I was too sleepy the next day (yes, that's me!). I was able to look at that drawing again today and touched it up a little.

Actually, I don't really like this picture very much. But I knew I needed to correct it, couldn't just wish it away. For some strange reason, I think I'm glad I did it, even if it's not great art by any means.

I guess some things we need to do, even if it doesn't seem "to be that important." If God wants us to do it, we simply do--and for some strange reason, we can know satisfaction then.

PERMANENT HEEDING

I heard a type of art was gaining in popularity I wanted to try. My second try, I managed to compose a design with a colored "pointilistic" background my "Black Iridescence" friend likes. See? The first try? I didn't think it was important to do the initial outline with permanent marker, so did it with watercolor marker, and when I went to color it thinking I'd get bright swirls, well, it kinda smudged.

Do it right, I learned. If you don't heed warnings, you really can't get mad at the result.

Like people who say they're angry at God for messing up their lives--it's really that they didn't listen to Him in the first place. 

FRENCHY CROW

Meet Ble Curie de Sans, a raven friend who has stayed by my side since the beginning of my art journey starting 2021.

Yes, his paintings today at times boast "pointilism" characteristics, but back then, he was holding drawing utensils between his beaks! I can't say anything. In 2021, I was still holding pencils like a writing implement too.

Good friends have sent me art supplies, but I use them up so fast; I end up drawing on 100-yen things.

Most of my art is viewed digitally; I didn't think expensive artist grade was necessary. Do I just not realize how bad my Crayola colored pencil drawings are and should do them with Caran d'Ache?

THE STORYTELLING TREE

It's just an old wrinkled tree, and it looks like it had its branches cut numerous times in the past. But there's still green sprouting out from it here and there, and the twisted limbs seem to want to dramatize the decades of happenings it's witnessed. I've seen that tree for several years now--and this year, whenever I walked past it, I heard myself saying,

"I've never seen a tree that looks so expressive. I think I want to draw it sometime. Maybe I'd title it 'The Storytelling Tree' or something like that." The other day, as I walked past, I thought I sensed the question, "When already?" So here 'tis.

But after looking at what I posted, I kept wondering if maybe I should've left it alone too, like my "Mime Mime" carp sketch.

This is what the original sketch looked like before I put in the leaves/grass/windows, etc..., I'd seen, then of course, colored it.

Nah; since I want it to look dramatic--colorful--adding the above color was okay, I think.

FLYING INSECT AT KORNER KOVE

I told the pond animals I'd be telling them a story today about a flying thing and an insect. I was going to tell them Aesop's fable about the bird and ant who saved each others' lives. I saw the carp, mallards, turtle who'd come to hear the tale appointed.

But a few moments later, I noticed, hanging on a vine nearby, a dragonfly. "I'm a flying thing AND an insect; today you're going to talk about me, right?" It seemed so sure.

I wondered if the dragonfly would be disappointed with the story, but after I was done, it kept flying around the area as if to say it had really enjoyed it.

My Mom used to say our disappointments are often God's appointments.

Don't I find myself surprised with and enjoying his appointments too?

SPECIAL GRACE

The past few years, I've been memorizing the book of Hebrews (I would never have attempted it until I heard a friend, Katie Sisco, had done so.) Last week, I finished chapter 11, and to give myself a little break, I've been doing Psalm 84. Verse 3 reminded me of the feathered friends I've been seeing at the park.

"The sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest to lay her young" (Psalm 84:3)

I've sketched many more pictures of the sparrow than of the swallow. They are both little birds, but the sparrow is around all year, whereas the latter is a spring visitor.

Isn't God's faithfulness awesome? He makes Himself available all the time to meet our every need...yet unless we're sensitive to His voice all the time, we may miss some of the special treats He visits us with.

I wonder what whispered blessings He has for me today?

NO WAY OUT

The 9-11 Terrorist Attack was mentioned in the message several weeks ago. I was working in Koriyama Baptist Church in northern Japan at the time, and a short-termer had come from the U.S to help out at fellowshipping churches in the area. When she heard the news, it seems friends and relatives had been affected by the attack, and she was rather depressed for a while.

About ten years later, the Quake/Radiation fiasco hit Koriyama, and our family ended up moving here to Saitama with whatever we could carry in our backpacks.

It's okay; God knows what He's doing, I had to remind myself.

Sure enough. The family workplace had had no way of repaying a mammoth corporation a debt by the time they demanded. They threatened to move in on our business in Koriyama as well. The Quake, however, enabled us to sell our apartment and pay off the debt--plus the radiation discouraged the company from coming to Koriyama. God had come through for us again.

Actually, there was much more that happened those few months, but I'll mention just these two things. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. How can we forget?

The Kawasemi was at Duck Pond!

The bright blue flash that should've perched on that branch in yesterday's drawing was what I saw on the boulder when I first got to the park!

A few years ago, this is where I'd seen it--on a different rock, when I'd actually been taking pictures of turtles basking. This was my first encounter with the little feller.

The Japanese name, Kawasemi, means "River Cicada", but even the tiny insect-like thing, borrowing rays of the sun in its stunning way, is transformed into the "Flying Sapphire". Couldn't peon created beings reflect the Son to become prisms of living light?

BUTTERFLY DRAGONFLY

This is one of the drawings I made at the park.

This perch was actually made for the bright blue Kawasemi bird. Award-seeking photographers scramble to get shots of it, but I think this butterfly dragonfly's rich, iridescent blue is just as pretty. The insect is smaller than the bird so harder to photograph. But I am sure if they once got a nice picture, they would wonder why they never tried.

Again, it seems this dragonfly was beckoning me to sketch it, because this species usually flies all over the pond, but kept coming back to the branch and stopping there today.

Please do not use my sketch as any indication of how pretty it really is--see one for yourself, if you can!