Weekends at WillOaks

 This has been our third weekend of the new season but the first one that was "crazy busy" with lots of campers.  I took this soft photo of the pond, and the ones below, just after we finished our weekly mowing and prep work, but before about 100 campers moved in for the weekend.  Looks peaceful here!

 There's a visual softness at this time of year as trees are just beginning to leaf out and on the audio side, I think I actually heard the first "peepers" (little frogs) of the year begin their first little call and answer just a couple of days ago, and then the first amazing reverberations of our resident bull frogs just yesterday.  In due time, these become the steady background sounds of life here through the summer.

And I'm really glad we pushed to get the beach up to speed this past week, because it was full of swimmers already today!  Methinks the water has a nice chill to it yet, but when it's 80F, maybe that's a good thing?  After that frightening drought last Summer, to see the pond full to the brim with clear, clean water and lots of healthy fish in all sizes was an enormous relief this Spring, and I hope we can just skip the drought drama this year, thank you.

I'm totally exhausted and since the majority of our campers this weekend are kids with families, I feel pretty safe going to sleep early as crazy midnight parties, etc. seem pretty unlikely.  OTOH, early morning fishing and swimming are very likely.  So good night for now and best wishes to all for a lovely Sunday, folks, and thanks so much for dropping by!

A Week in the Life....

....of the WillOaks Farm manager, WillOaks Campground Hostess and, lest we forget, WillOaks Studio artist.

Heavy weather moving in...again and again...

Studio window view, deck view

Moving in includes getting the deck ready for action

New studio corner in the camper

New silk thread order

Outdoors comes indoors through interesting natural artifacts, a growing collection

Purrmeister rules the roost as the newest resident at WillOaks Campground, Site #1

A pair of Mallard ducks are the newest residents on the pond at WillOaks Campground

And what a season this is shaping up to be! Lovely balance of the familiar and many surprises and if I can find new balance, I'll resume my regular blog posts here soon, rather than try to jam everything in at once. But obviously, that balance is missing at the moment....

Weather is a big deal this time of year and we've seen it all in the past few days. The nip of late frosts, pounding rain that caused quite a bit of local flooding, and occasional bursts of sunshine. As I write, we're in the busiest weekend we've had to date, tenters everywhere, but wooo, it's really chilly outdoors. Great for firewood sales, tricky in a tent if you're not well prepared. I'm snug as can be here in the old camper.

Slowly, things are getting more and more organized. I hunted for and found the makings of my new "studio corner," got the parts installed and so have just begun to bring some supplies from the main studio. My camera gear and my laptop are now in service here. I need propane and hot water yet, but repaired the electricity the past week and thankfully, the repairs done last year to many bad leaks are holding fine, despite the intense storms.

And what is really fun is, of course, the animal side of the equation. Dakota is an old hand out here in camper mode, but Purrmeister is new to this and seems to be adapting very well. Granted, he's not especially calm and can cause quite a ruckus when he finds new and creative ways to "blow steam." Shredded toilet paper roll? Every little thing left on a counter knocked to the floor? Crawling into the tiniest nooks and crannies just to check it out? He can be quite a handful. Last night, he decided to knock over both a glass of water AND of tea such that they soaked my bed so I guess a bedside drink isn't a good idea out here....I must learn to think more like a cat....

I'm delighted to mention my new residents here at WillOaks Campground: a pair of Mallard ducks have chosen to stay on the pond and I'm so happy they are here. When I first spotted them, I thought they were passing through, but they are still here and now, I'm so curious where they will build their nest. I must learn more about the habits of ducks because these haven't stayed on the campground pond before. I don't want to get my hopes up about baby ducks...too many bad things can happen...but the thought has crossed my mind.

And I'm amazed to mention that I have filled numerous studio orders all around this seasonal chaos and have made a lot of progress on a whole new series of neck pieces. I have not had the time, together with the right light, in order to photograph them yet, however. There were amazing bright cloudy days here late last week, but I was struggling with car repairs, shopping, and my parental duties....am hoping to get a dose of the good light during the coming week and then, can photograph and post my new work!

Sorry I've been so negligent about posting, visiting other blogs and dropping for EC, etc. the past week and a half but as I've mentioned, I'm seeking new balance with all these things soon--thanks for not giving up on me!! Happy Sunday everyone.

These Days....

'Tis the season...for camping here at WillOaks. I don't think I've discussed this on the blog here yet, but from May 1 through mid October, our family owned and operated campground, called the WillOaks Campground, is open for business. And running it is mostly my job. I have put a little travel trailer back there to use while we're open and the Memorial Day weekend, a semi-official start of summer in this area, promises to be full and very busy. In fact, although the campground is rather small, it will be completely full over this long holiday weekend and we've been working hard to prepare things.

It's a beautiful property, abundant in nature and wildlife, and tends towards the best of "old fashioned" camping in either tents or RV's and travel trailers. A one acre swimming and fishing pond features catch and release fishing and a swimming beach and raft. Some of the sights and sounds can be amazing and no doubt, as I capture new images this season, some will appear on these pages.

Last year, I was delighted by regular visits by this great blue heron (this bird was an amazing fisherman!) and finding many different frogs, toads and snakes who all call the park "home." The bird life includes cardinals, finches, redtail hawks, many different woodpeckers, bluebirds and sandhill cranes, among many others, and I've identified numerous wildflowers, shrubs and trees.

My little trailer is undergoing a renovation right now as I had some pretty bad damage inside of it over the winter. This has been a perfect excuse to remove some of the furniture that's built in and after the new floor is installed, I hope to create a kind of workbench in one end of the main room instead of standard camper fare. This way, as I switch hats back and forth, from artist to campground manager...maybe I can squeeze just a bit more time for the creative side of my life into the "regular summer job."