This little cicada shell was gleaming in the sun like a miniature bronze, and naturally it beckoned to come home with me. It is the moulted shell from the final stage in a cicada’s growth. You may have happened across a similar empty shell tentatively clinging to a tree branch. You’d bring it home too, wouldn’t you?
The escape hatch. A little tear up the back.
*If you are curious about method, this cicada shell was photographed on a mirror.
All images © Karen McRae. 2012
Mixing it up, just a little. I confess that I love this first image. The shifting colour tones and the soft focus of the form make me think of the seasons flying by. Sigh.
All images © Karen McRae
A scrap of lost thought. A slipping away.
The thin gauze of light. A settling in.
A pending heartbeat, the rhythm grazed.
Goat’s-beard seed head
All images © Karen McRae
During my recent trip to Cape Breton I had the opportunity to go out on a lobster boat several times. The lobster fishing season in this particular area of Cape Breton runs from May 1st to the end of June. Generally, the boat leaves the wharf at 5:00 a.m.!
Above:Lobster boats in Petit De Grat being prepared for the fishing season.
Below: A private wharf in Arichat loaded with lobster traps.
The first day out involves setting all the traps in place. The crew of the boat I was on set 250 traps for the season.
The traps have long ropes and buoys attached allowing the traps to go to the bottom with the buoys marking them for daily retrieval. Each fishing boat has its own unique buoy style. Below: a buoy trailing behind the boat.
This fisherman has been lobster fishing in this area for over 55 years.
The gaff is a long stick with a hook on the end and it’s used for catching the rope and buoy so the traps can be pulled up for emptying each day. The rope then goes into a hydraulic pulley system that raises the heavy trap.
Baiting and banding stations. The strong claws of the lobster are secured with rubber bands otherwise they will grab hold of anything, especially fingers!
A knife wielding lobster.
There are strict rules about the size and condition of lobsters that can be kept. Female lobsters with eggs have to be returned to the sea; as do unhappy looking codfish that accidentally get caught in the traps.
Some seagulls like to hitch a ride on the boat.
When fresh bait is put in the traps, the seagulls, very willingly, take care of the old bait as it is thrown overboard!
A big thank you to the wonderful crew of the Della & Donna!
© Karen McRae, 2012
There is a sojourn to the sea on the very near horizon.
It may be quiet here for a fortnight.
All images © Karen McRae
There are days where you head out to try to work on a specific idea, and then there are days where that doesn’t happen at all, and you have to just follow your intuition.
And when something in the back of your mind tells you to bring along your rubber boots, you listen. Because you never know what might call you into the water. What might be waiting there for you to come along.
And although, whoever might be waiting there, regards you with suspicion; they may make allowances for your curiosity. Probably just this once.
An early season, slow-moving snapping turtle, sunning himself almost unflinchingly, while I gently talked his ear off. I think we bonded.
I have had other encounters with snapping turtles that were quite different, you can see another post here.
I am extremely grateful to WordPress for selecting drawandshoot.me for their blog post: 8 Gorgeous Nature blogs for Earth Day Wow! I’m honoured. Thank you.
All images © Karen McRae
I’ve been thinking about the textures of spring. The things you slowly come to notice. Like the way the air sort of rushes through you instead of around you. The yellow-greens that hover at the tips of the trees like a dancing mist. The velvet carpets that slowly roll out under your feet. Some of them solid. Some of them shifting. How your senses heighten and make everything more absolute. But with this, a softness.
The temperate softening of the landscape. There is a beautiful energy to the spring; a measured growth and a bursting freshness.
All images © Karen McRae
I had a chance to visit with the wrapped trees today. I thought they might be released from their winter trappings, but no. Surely, it must be well past time. The little trees are trying to fight their way out with the aid of the prevailing winds. They are ready to feel the sun and the rain on their restrained boughs. There are bits of green popping out.
I brought a little sun-shower with me but it’s not enough. The earth is cracked and dry.
Some of them are looking rather defeated. Who will come and start the unraveling?
*All these trees are as I have found them, along the highway and wrapped for the harsh winter. I have been documenting them through the seasons and you can find the whole series here.
All images © Karen McRae
I have a lot of love for the forms and colours of these beautiful rock dwellers. A little lichen spring green.
All images © Karen McRae
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