Clyde Jones and his Critters

Stuart and I spent a few days last week at Lake Jordan State Recreation Area. Lovely, rambling, dammed lake project. The well-done Visitor's Center taught us that the lake was created in the early 1950's to provide water to the middle part of the state. The hard rock shelf prohibits water from soaking through, so there is no chance for ground water to support towns . The Haw River is rocky, but the New Hope Creek is soft. The dam was designed to back up the New Hope Creek, and it caused the water to meander into the low areas, creating pretty little coves for wildlife and campsites. There are several campgrounds, boat ramps and swimming beaches around the lake. We stayed at Poplar Point campground, which was almost deserted in mid-week.

We also learned that Jordan Lake is the MOST popular place in the US for summer Bald Eagle migration! We saw one, perched on a dead tree close to our campsite.




Wednesday, we drove over to Bynum, between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro. There, we found Clyde Jones and his Critters. When we arrived, we found Mr. Clyde driving around his outside gallery on his riding mower, hand-made trailer loaded with logs. It was hothothot that day, and he was soaked in sweat. With a wave of his hand, he invited us to 'walk anywhere, take all the pictures you'd like', and continued to unload the logs.










His Critters are life-sized and all of them have attitude! He uses found materials for eyes and ears and other body parts, and paints them in bright colors. We had a visit under the catalpa tree with him, and he told me he has pieces at the Cameron Art Museum...loves his friend Ann! We loved seeing his work, and meeting him.