Swordwhale Walking: illustration, webcomic, stories, photojourneys, videos
  • launch here
    • welcome aboard
  • art & stories
    • Tales of the E.L.F. >
      • cast and crew
      • I dreamed of black horses
      • fanfiction: If Wishes Were Elves...
      • fandom >
        • Radagast's Rabbit Ride
        • the Lone Ranger >
          • LOLs and Trolls
          • but wait, there's Moore, and Silverheels
          • Hi Yo Silver
        • black panthers and night furies
        • tales of Middle Earth >
          • Mirthwood
          • Loth-LOL-ien >
            • Im-LOL-dris
            • Smirkwood
            • well, that coulda' been worse
        • Sherlocked
        • catz and doges on fandom
        • Faithful Sidekicks
    • playing with water
    • Tradigital illustration
    • environmental education >
      • Christmas Magic Mural 2020
      • animal alphabet and counting murals
      • the salamander room
      • more touch room ocean
      • more: touch room forest
      • wetland
      • wetland art
      • greenleaf
      • reptile week murals: Nixon Park
    • Just Animals
    • just animals: photography
    • murals
    • scribblings
    • coloring pages
  • mermaid tales
    • Gramma Swordwhale's Mermaid Blog >
      • how to mermaid
      • merfolk on the Chesapeake
      • my life as a mermaid
    • privateers and pumpkins and ponies oh my!
    • stupid gravity (the adventures of a mermaid on Eastern Neck Is.) >
      • stupid gravity credits
    • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass >
      • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass: credits
    • Stupid Gravity: Misty Cloudy Windy Stormy Augh! >
      • Misty Stormy credits
    • Stupid Gravity: the search for mermaids
    • mermaids, Moana and Maui, beached on Christmas Eve
    • horseshoe crabs forever
    • stupid gravity: hot hot hot >
      • hot hot hot credits
  • Chincoteague
    • identify that pony
    • chincoteague pony art
    • Fall Roundup Oct 2019
    • Chincoteague 2019
    • pookas pumpkins and swamp ponies
    • Chincoteague November 2018
    • the 3rd Sea Voyage of Makenuk's Fin
    • wild horses and kayaks 2017
    • wild ponies in camp
    • North Beach
    • on island time
    • saltwater cowboys
    • Chincoteague
    • Christmas by the Sea
    • island ponies
    • Ace and Unci revolt
    • beached
    • running water in between
    • Assateague Light
    • the Haunted Lagoon
  • crafty stuff
    • ModPodge rules
    • chalk paint
    • rock it: paint rocks and use or lose them
    • faerie gardens >
      • more faerie gardens
      • faerie festival at Spoutwood Farm
    • sea this tutu (and make)
    • I found Dory
    • knit me a mermaid, or chicken, or Hei Hei
    • sea treasures
    • sea glass
    • sea horses
    • rehabbing horse epic fail >
      • do you wanna build a snow pony?
      • do you wanna build a sand pony?
      • Barbie horse gets a makeover
    • mermaid saddles
    • Yule Laugh, Yule Cry... >
      • a Brandywine Christmas
    • Uncle Bob's Toys >
      • Uncle Bob's Toys 2016
      • more: Uncle Bob's Crafts
      • the Adventures of Mortimer
  • photo your toys
    • how to photograph Breyers in the wild
    • paint and wet snow pants
    • derps (or how not to photograph Breyers and others)
    • wild Breyers >
      • printable prints and downloads
      • beach Breyers
      • Lotus Legolas and Arod
      • teeny tiny Breyers
      • backyard Breyers and Schleichs
      • vintage breyers
      • Hartland Horses
      • Black Horses
    • educational display
    • Schleich and Safari Faeries
    • North beached
    • more model horses
    • beach party
    • advenatureData
    • Finding Hank
    • Otterlock and Hedgejawn >
      • Hounded in Baskerville
    • how to photograph your dragon
  • adventures
    • Go Play Outside
    • Nature Deficit Disorder
    • I heart Nature
    • autumn light
    • cats
    • mushing 101 >
      • dogs on wheels >
        • Autumn Run on Wheels
      • dogsled
      • dogsledding: running on snow! >
        • Groundhog Day
      • kids and dawgs: first sled run
      • Klondike Derby
      • Sled Dogs and Pirate Ships
      • Christmas Day Run: Rail Trail
      • Horses and Huskies: when predator and prey share the trail
      • Schipperke doo dah >
        • Runnin' with the Big Dogs
        • Hobbit Husky
      • women who run with the wolves
      • Play Time
      • wubba wubba
      • New Year's Dog Day
      • Team Swordwhale
    • trains, sleddogs, and horses oh my!
    • butterscotch and sprinkles
    • horses >
      • horse reference for art
      • ponies small but mighty
      • First Horse: Saraf
      • the Wild Black Mare
      • between thunder and lightning
      • Goliath, Nevada Mustang
      • Yataalii
    • Planet Water >
      • planet toadpool
      • Planet Pond
      • Planet Stream
      • Planet River
      • Planet Marsh
      • Planet Ocean
      • Planet Water Bird >
        • Planet Water Bird: gulls
      • Planet turtle
      • Planet water snake
      • planet amphibian
    • kayak! >
      • blue boat home
      • kayaking 101
      • kayaking Assateague and Chincoteague
      • how to train your dragonfly
      • Chasing Raven
      • the Susquehanna River >
        • the Rock Garden >
          • return to the Rock Garden
        • Conewago Dreamin'
        • the Conejehola Flats
        • Thunderbird Island (petroglyphs on the Susquehanna)
        • to the White Lady and Beyond
      • Calvert Cliffs fossils
      • Sassafras River Lotus Paddle >
        • Return to the Sassafras
        • sassafras river 2015
        • sassafras paddle 20160814
        • Sassafras River 2017
        • Sassafras river 2018
      • Eastern Neck Island >
        • winter marsh, winter beach
        • Eastern Neck Island: under the supermoon
        • more Eastern Neck Island
      • Pinchot Park
      • Lake Marburg >
        • where are the manatees?
        • ...and the dolphins???
        • macros and SAVs
        • Lake Marburg 2018
    • beached
    • dive in! (SCUBA) >
      • Gourd of the Rings
    • mid Atlantic seashells
    • longship company >
      • December sail
      • Sae Hrafn at Oakley
    • pirates and privateers >
      • Sailing 101
      • Schooner Sultana 1768
      • Capt John Smith Shallop
      • Pride of Baltimore II
      • Kalmar Nyckel
      • downrigging 2010 >
        • Chestertown autumn
        • Downrigging Weekend 2014
        • Downrigging 2015
        • Downrigging 2016
        • Downrigging 2017
        • downrigging 2018: pink tardis
        • Downrigging 2019
      • privateer weekend
    • horseshoe crabs and red knots >
      • slaughter beach
      • horseshoe crabs and semipalmated sandpipers 2019
    • surfboards and watchtowers: Cape Henlopen >
      • beached
      • Watching Whales >
        • Watching Whales...again
    • Seadogs: Newfoundland water trials
    • wind hounds
    • wild things! >
      • baltimore aquarium
      • there's a hummer in the garage...ceiling ...
      • critter cam
      • sky walking
      • leaf-fall
    • The Adventures of the Good Ship Fearaf
    • the incredibly dead blog page
  • art class
    • framing 101
    • watercolor: how to
    • sip n paints
    • acrylic painting 101
    • wildlife art class
    • (drawing) horses 101 >
      • horse color 101
      • gaits
      • ponies in motion
      • tack
      • Draw: a horse
    • dogs and wolves
    • go ahead, draw a pirate ship
    • anthropomorphism (cartoon animals and stuff)
    • the Little Kids Page of Big Ideas
    • mural: how to >
      • Gabriel's Whale
      • stuff you need
      • drawing (mural)
      • drawing mural 2
      • painting
      • mural jungle
      • mural bat cave
      • mural cats
      • mural ocean
      • mural arctic
      • mural leaf smacking
      • watershed mural
    • crayons and colored pencils
    • palettes
  • Swordwhale's Store
  • wait wait! let me get the camera!
  • who perpetrated all this???
    • swordbroad
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links to learning
(and some very cool adventures)

A few of my favorite things, places and adventures. Most of these are great for anyone of any age, particularly families and kids. The ships and paddling sites are on the lower Susquehanna River, in the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay and east/mid-Atlantic Coast. The mushers are mainly in southcentral PA and northern MD and run mostly on wheels. Nixon Park is part of the York County Park System which includes the Rail Trail, an excellent place for hiking, biking, mushing and riding horses. 

Click on the pics or highlighted type to go to the pages or websites about that subject.
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Go Play Outside

Cool places to take your kids... and yourself. Parks, beaches, trails. Southcentral PA, Chesapeake Bay, and DelMarVa.
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Nixon Park

York County has one awesome set of little parks: mountain bike at Rudy; paddle Lake Redman (watch for Night Herons, bats and the glowing jeweled eyes of fishing spiders at dusk!); hike, bike, ride a horse or mush those huskies (really: scootering or bikejoring with your dogs is great here!) all the way to Maryland on the Rail Trail; explore the Nature Center, the trails, and the Sensory Meadow at Nixon Park (hands on stuff for kids!), participate in one of Nixon Park's excellent (and usually free) programs; do an archeaological dig for summer camp.
Lake Redman rents various kinds of boats (row, peddle, kayak, canoe) in summer.There are public starwatches (info at Nixon Park). Moonlight Boat rides (Lake Redman, call Nixon Park), and owl prowls! And an aquatics program where you can uncover treasures like the salamander above. Go outside and play!
horses

Horses

I grew up watching westerns and riding ponies, then training my own horses in 4-H. Here's a tip of the riding helmet to Saraf, Lor and the others who helped me be a centaur.
wild things

Wild Things

Some pages of wildlife art, some links to websites (like critter cams watching eagle nests and zoo animals).
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Chestertown Maryland

A day trip from southcentral PA, this colonial town on the Delmarva Peninsula has great eateries, cute shops, art galleries, bed and breakfasts... and its own pirate ship. Schooner Sultana is a reproduction of a topsail schooner from 1768. She spends most of her year educating middle schoolers in the fine art of sailing, ecology of the Bay, history, math... and makes it a riproaring adventure. You can sail too, even if you've graduated from 4th grade, just sign up for one of Sultana Project's public sails or kayak paddles.
   Chestertown boasts several fun public events: a Tea Party in the Spring (the kind where the colonials throw the tea, and the Tories, off the ship), and Downrigging Weekend on Halloween. This awesome little waterfront festival brings great food, music, and tall ships from all over the east coast and Chesapeake Bay.
   Just down the road from Chestertown is Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge (hike it, bike it, paddle it, photograph it, swim it), Rock Hall (nice little hidden beach, good eats), and Bayshore Campground (luxury camping on the Bay).
mush!

Mushing 101

Sleddogs, Iditarod, history, Siberians, the serum run, how to train your pit bull to mush, your mini-poodle to weight pull, scootering with any dog, and other goodies.
kayaking 101

Paddle This

There's no simpler, more elegant way to explore Planet Water than a kayak. This long lean boat, originally designed by northern tribes as a hunting and fishing vessel for use in rough arctic water carries us into places bigger boats can't reach.
pirates and privateers

When You Want a Bigger Boat

Now that's my idea of a cruise ship. Masts, sails, cannons. Most reproductions of historic tall ships do public sails or guest crew passages, hands-on experiences where you might sing a sea shanty, haul on a line, and heel on the wind till the cannons are drinking the sea!. The Pride of Baltimore II, Schooner Sultana, Kalmar Nyckel, Viking ship Sae Hrafn, Downrigging Weekend in Chestertown MD, and Privateer Day in Baltimore MD are a few of my favorite high seas adventures.
click here for scuba

When you don't want any boat

Except the floatin' one to jump off of to look at the sunken one. SCUBA, and snorkelling, are easier than you imagine. Here's some excercises for kids to learn about Planet Ocean.
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On Island Time

Chincoteague and Assateague are barrier islands off the coast of Maryland and Virginia. Chincoteague is home to watermen, artists and craftsmen, and the only wild horse roundup in the east. Assateague is home to wild things, including pony herds descended from early colonial horses.
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