Well hello again. More photos of the last month or so. As usual, not necessarily in chronological order and weirdly formatted due to my uploading directly from my phone (I really am annoyed by this Blogger). In June I took a ferry from Anacortes to Orcas island in order to spend two nights with M&A and M.'s mother, S. It was lovely to see them all. I hadn't seen S. since my departure from Pennsylvania back in January. M&A, the dogs and I took a little tour of Moran State Park, which was quite pretty. We went up a mountain and then down it again. So the following photos are of me and M. enjoying a pretty view and kind of wetland area. Then the delicious scones and bacon that S. made one morning, as well as the puzzle we all worked on at one point or another during my brief time there. The view from their rented cottage at different times of day and, finally, a photograph I took before I got on the ferry to go to Orcas in the first place.
More rabbits met their ends as of late. This time I got my hands dirty, learning how to quickly and humanely break their necks before E. got down to the butchering. I didn't really do any butchering, though I did cut the head/feet off the last rabbit with a very sharp knife. Next time around I hope to try my hand at some of the more delicate work of truly butchering, which includes pulling out various organs (carefully as to not puncture the gallbladder) and taking the skins off. One thing at a time.
While he-E. was doing the detail work, she-E. was working on cleaning up the pelts.
Rodo couldn't help but get blood drops on his coat due to his desire to be where the action was.
Another day entirely we played croquet. I think I ended up coming in third or fourth.
And then yet another day E. and I milked together and this happened.
After my return from Orcas Island I decided I wanted to try my hand at watercoloring. I struggled at first to think of anything I actually wanted to paint until I came up with a way to give myself some focus. I asked E. to tell me two things she liked and one thing she didn't and then I painted it...and then I asked everyone else on the farm to do the same and have been working on a series ever since. Here is D.'s...his reply was that he liked unicorns and everything...and that he disliked nothing. So there you have it. To me there is a narrative to this painting...the unicorn is in some sort of doctor's office but has a choice to make. This actually is a photo of the painting before I painted the doors.
S. said he liked mountain views and golden larches, and did not like I-5 (main interstate round these parts)...this, too, is a photo before it was finished.
W. said she liked Bella's (a visiting Boxer/Mastiff mix) cheeks and raspberries, and she did not like nettle stings on her calves. In my mind Bella's cheeks are soothing W.'s nettle torn legs. Others that I have made include ten-year old A.'s liking falling trees and golden flappy bird and disliking little murder clouds; L.'s liking of a spotless/shiny kitchen and everyone getting along and disliking being surprised by snakes, H.'s liking of dogs and ice cream and disliking mushrooms; C.'s liking of peeing when you really have to pee and sandwiches while disliking heartburn; M.'s liking of nice light and foxes and disliking ketchup; and E.'s liking of Rodo and Fluffy and disliking of George W. Bush. I'll probably attempt to upload all of them at some later time. S. was so taken with this basic idea he asked me what my likes/dislikes were and then painted me a picture, which made me incredibly pleased. My likes were floating in calm water and peonies while my dislike, which probably won't come as much of a surprise, was caterpillars. I will definitely have to share S.'s lovely rendering.
H. with her longtime companion Douglas the ram and me.
The final part of the stairs leading to the farm's beach. They get too steep for Rodo or Jett to deal with and both need to be hoisted. This was when Rodo stopped walking on his own.
And this is me wearing muck boots and a bathing suit at the beach, because obviously.
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