Day at the Farm

 I still work at the horse shelter two days a week, with a reduced workload that doesn't require much from my shoulders.  When I arrived Tuesday, BJ, Anna, and Tina were there, along with baby Damon.  I am getting soft in my old age and found the baby cute......so cute that I took his picture.  His big sister BJ was riding Lena, her horse adopted from the shelter at Christmas.  Anna, whose father just died of cancer, came along to watch while her mother made funeral arrangements.  Tina, mother of BJ and Damon, has worked at the farm for a long time, but obviously is busy elsewhere for awhile.  "What were you thinking?" said I.  "I wasn't thinking, obviously," said Tina with a laugh.  Damon  has a congenital heart defect that has to be repaired surgically, but is expected to recover completely.
                                                               
I am so glad that I am still part of the farm crew.  I am grateful that I have a chance to keep my contact with horses, despite my age and physical limitations.  So often it feels necessary for my continued satisfaction with my life. 

Picture for the last post.

 

Today's Effort

This is part of my recent work.  I plan to cut it to this size because I messed up the rest of of it.  I'm trying to learn how to use the bigger point and keep cutting gouges into the wood.  I need to remember that I am burning the wood, not engraving it.  Still, I like the image, so will get out my trusty jig saw and get rid of the right two thirds of it.

Amazingly, I seem to have a cold.  One wouldn't think that worthy of mention, but the last time I remember having one was in 1997.  And even that one was after many many years of absence.  It's not a bad cold, but I am quite interested in it just the same.  I observe symptoms I had forgotten existed and experience them with amazement.  Each cough is noted and evaluated, measured against nothing since I have nothing with which to compare it.  Each sneeze fascinates me, each sniffle , each nose-blowing.  My throat is sore, another unfamiliar occurrence.  So far it is all so fascinating that I haven't had time to consider if I "feel" bad.  What does that mean, exactly?  I feel different, but can not judge it as good, bad, or simply unusual. 

Once I had pneumonia, in 1978 I think.  This cold is a little like that without the machines and shots and pills, the nurses and the respiratory therapists.  I was in the hospital then, which certainly made the experience more notable.  I existed outside of the regular world.  People brought me my food, visitors came.  I watched TV and read.  All that was required of me was to go to the bathroom myself, though I could have had help with that, too, if I had wanted it.  I rode in a wheelchair whenever by presence was required elsewhere in the hospital, usually the X-ray department.  My doctor visited me twice a day , appearing to have nothing on her mind but my well-being.  I was tired then, too, but it was completely acceptable that I sleep during the day.

No resort could have been more enjoyable.

More Fun with Pyrography

Even though I am painting, I can't seem to stop playing with my wood burning.  The more I do it, the more possibilities I see.  I couldn't resist trying a version of my old "Apple for the Teacher."  It has had its day as a life sized sculpture, a monoprint, a lithograph, an etching, a drawing, a painting.  I like this one.....much less menacing than any I have done before.  The original was a cast of my own body, which I did myself out of modesty.  The only part I couldn't get were my shoulders, so I used Jesse as a stand in.  Then I built a coffin out of foam core and put the body in it.  I packed it with real apples, which rotted in a delightful contribution to the whole concept.  By the time the show ended, the whole gallery smelled like rotten apples.  I was delighted.

I've said it a thousand times.....I loved school and would like to have remained an art student for the rest of my life.  Certainly I did my best work then.  The other one is from a photograph of Lubec that I have always liked.  I experimented with a different point to see if I could get a different look.particularly a wider value range. I accomplished that, but the wood is gouged to pieces from my lack of control.  I see its potential, though.

That point sure makes great shingles.....