Near Toad Lake Today….

Local author Nancy Ritsema alerted me to an article on the history of Toad Lake in the October 10th issue of The Antrim Review. Since it’s one of my absolute-most-favorite spots to go, I zoomed down to the Eastport Market and bought a copy. I was happy to learn that the lake and surrounding 81 acres have been donated to the county to preserve its natural beauty. Trails are coming! The article gave instructions how to find the new parking lot (which currenly lacks a sign). Of course I made a beeline over there this afternoon. The view I painted is on the west side, up the hill from the lake, on the edge of the forest. Rain is moving in (or so they keep promising) and I had about 10 minutes of sunshine to paint this. After that it was purely imagination.

Here’s my setup:

And here’s a little friend I met along Toad Lake road: a painted turtle. He was heading south, across the road and yes — I told him he was beautiful and carefully set him on the south side.