Take Mom on Camano tour
Some mothers, bless them, cherish every construction paper heart, every five-finger turkey painting, every dandelion bouquet.
Mine subscribed to a different philosophy. She opted for discrimination.
My brother’s illustrated novella, “The Man Went,” for instance, made the cut. A sweeping tale dictated to his kindergarten teacher, it featured ghosts, pirates, bags of gold, resurrection and sawfish run amok.
A couple of my crayon-on-butcher-paper depictions of princesses on roller skates qualified for the permanent collection as well. But a lot of our creations surreptitiously found their way into the trash.
The woman, you see, had standards.
So I’m pretty sure she would have approved of the Camano Island Mother’s Day Studio Tour.
From May 6 to 8, more than 60 actual, professional artists open their galleries and studios to the masses; 26 of the spaces are usually closed to the public. Admission is free.
Browse to your heart’s content among watercolors, pastels, oils, mixed media works, bronze and silver sculpture, ceramics and porcelains, metalwork, jewelry, hand-blown and fused glass, garden art and more.
If you plan to make a weekend of it, Camano’s got options there, too.
You can set up shop at a B&B, country inn, cabin or cottage, motel, hotel, even an RV park. (You’ll have to bring your own RV, though.)
Get the lowdown at www.donothinghere.com or (888) 747-7777.
For the birders
In addition to sawfish fiction, meadowlarks got a big thumbs-up from my mom. A Mother’s Day visit to the third annual Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest surely would have been a hit.
The event connects with International Migratory Bird Day on May 14, a celebration of the long journey birds make from their wintering grounds in Central and South America to their North American breeding territory.
A night hike on May 5 serves as the prefunction. Grab a flashlight and head out for a moderately strenuous 2- to 4-mile hunt for barred, great horned, flammulated, Northern pygmy and screech owls.
(I looked “flammulated” up in no fewer than three dictionaries, to no avail. We’ll all have to take the bird people’s word that it is indeed a word, and hope the owl it describes is easier to find.)
Friday dawns with a bird walk at Confluence State Park. A local expert will lead you to warblers, herons and other water lovers. Or you can join Kent Woodruff and other U.S. Forest Service biologists for “Songs of the Sage,” a morninglong look and listen for horned larks, Western meadowlarks and various sparrows.
Some other Friday highlights: Wood Duck Walk, accompanied by Chelan County PUD wildlife biologist Paul Fielder; Wheelies – Feathers and Fins by Wheelchair, a visit to the bank of Icicle Creek; a bird photography art show; a 1-mile walk in pursuit of sagebrush wildflowers in the Jacobson Preserve; Raptor Afternoon, a search for hawks, eagles and falcons from a scenic viewpoint above Wenatchee; and another late-night foray into the woods, this time to observe frogs, beavers and bats along with the birds.
Saturday brings more hikes, or you can bird by pontoon boat, river raft or mountain bike. Birding by Ear will teach you to distinguish your feathered friends by the noises they make, and a binocular workshop will clue you in to everything you need to know about this all-important tool.
Mix things up with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fish biologist Judy DeLaVergne. She’ll tell you all about salmon and bull trout migration, and how radio telemetry lets the government keep an eye on their activities.
The Birdwatcher’s Barbecue Dinner brings everyone together for ribs and bluegrass at Red-Tail Canyon Farm.
Sunday’s equally packed.
Author Chester Marler reads from his new book, “East of the Divide: Travels Through the Eastern Slope of the North Cascades 1870-1999;” area student Daniel Anderman shows off his bluebird houses; poet Derek Sheffield shares bird-related verse from his own work and that of Pablo Neruda, Li-Young Lee, Colleen McElroy and others; and musicians from Icicle Creek Music Center join the Leavenworth Marlin Handbell Ringers for the Canyon Wren Songbird Concert, featuring music by such composers as Beethoven, Haydn and Schubert that was inspired by the natural world.
The above does not begin to list all your choices. Look for a complete schedule at www.leavenworthspringbirdfest.com or call the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce at (509) 548-5807
Regional events
•Milk River Lewis and Clark Festival, May 6-7, Nashua, Mont. This sounds like a real guy thing: hands-on demonstrations, a black powder shoot, an 1800s mountain man camp and more. (www.visitmt.com/406-746-3416)
•20th Annual Kootenay Children’s Festival, May 7, Cranbrook, B.C. The cookie-decorating, face-painting extravaganza is back, complete with local entertainers and a nylon zoo, whatever that is. (250-489-5819)
•Nelson’s Fourth Annual Garden Festival, May 14, Nelson, B.C. You’ll find workshops, garden tours and more than 30 vendors with plants and garden-related wares to sell. (250-229-5489)