perks

'Little Indian Slough' 10x10" oil pastel;  Kathleen Faulkner

One of the ways to get to Edison

is the Bayview road.  

Two sloughs along the way: 

Indian and Little Indian

I see them as I come and go. 

The tide dictates the scene and

it is always dramatic. 

It is usually a high tide when I head north

a low tide when I'm heading home.

There's a whole lot going on along that road

the sloughs are one

an added bonus to my day

did you know?

'Mudscape' 18x24" oil pastel ; Kathleen Faulkner

An estimated 40,000 organisms 

live in a handful of mud.

these are trying times

'Mudflats' 18x24" oil pastel;  Kathleen Faulkner

I wake to another chaotic news cycle.  

I'm at a loss to understand the thinking

behind the deeds 

of corrupt leaders

I head to the mudflats

that landscape always calms me down 

Looks can be deceiving

'North of Here'  18x24" oil pastel;  Kathleen Faulkner

 

The mudflats call to me.

Like a meditation, I gaze out at them and time stands still.

From where I stand, they look so firm and steady

but I know that if I were to walk out there 

I'd sink to my hips. 

epic

'Riparian Rhapsody'  12x12" oil pastel,  charcoal;
Kathleen Faulkner

Low tide

The ducks move about on the mud so effortlessly 

but they leave their mark. 

It's a long poem.

here's mud in your eye

'An Early Summer' 12x12" oil pastel, charcoal;  Kathleen Faulkner

About Mud:

mud / med
*n. soft, sticky matter resulting from the mixing of earth and water.

Other words for mud include slobber, mire, ooze, muck, silt, slabber, slutch, lutulence, sloshiness and slushiness.

Mycobacterium vaccae, found in mud, is thought to be an anti-depressant.

Mice fed with mycobacterium vaccae from mud can navigate mazes twice as fast as usual.

and, never forget:

"He who slings mud generally loses ground."  Adlai E Stevenson

mud pies

'Indian Slough' 16x20" oil pastel;  Kathleen Faulkner

Slough

noun

1.

an area of soft, muddy ground; swamp or 

swamp like region.

2.

a hole full of mire, as in a road.

3.

Also, slew, slue. Northern U.S. and Canadian. a marshy or reedy pool, pond, inlet, backwater, 

or the like.

4.

a condition of degradation, despair, 

or helplessness.*

*Webster:  number 4 doesn't work for me.  I'll change that to 'a condition of glorious mud teeming with life; the thought of which can give one comfort and hope.'

Tide's out

'Mudflats' 29x33" oil pastel;  Kathleen Faulkner

It's a good, long walk.  

Way in the distance, I see Refineries;  all the while I try

 to imagine how this place looked 

a few hundred years ago.  

John's Trees

'John's Trees' 17x17" mixed media; Kathleen Faulkner

We walked for hours.  It was a grey day; the ground beneath our feet was spongy, muddy, wet.  No sound but the slosh of our feet and birds, birds everywhere.  Lost in the thoughts of this place, smelling the salt, the mud, the sea,  breathing it in deep, feeling the healing.  

The week had been tough, filled with deadlines, overextended commitments, drama and worries.  I had been looking forward to this day. 

We stopped for a minute when David said, 'Those are John's trees. He planted them.  His energy is still here'. 'I can feel it', I said, and it was true.  The wind suddenly swept up through the trees singing a song of long, lost memories..    Then we continued on our way.

Tidal Marsh

"Tidal Marsh" oil and regular pastel, 

charcoal, gesso, 9x9", Kathleen Faulkner

It was an adventure.  We headed out early. 

Muted colors, bird sounds and the smell of salty sea grass hosting billions of organisms.. Standing in the midst of it all,  I could hear "it" living, breathing.

I lost my boot but got it back and, once home, pulling it off, I was struck by the blackness of the mud  blacker than the darkest farmland dirt   almost blue. 

"Salt marshes are one of the most biologically productive habitats on the planet,  rivaling tropical rain forests."  Wikipedia

"A tidal marsh is: soft, sticky, living tissue that grows on you.  Once into tidal marshes, you can only extract your person.  The mind continues to wander through with long, complicated, sinuous, personal thoughts"  Josh Collins 1996