sheep and other animals

so this morning got up early-ish, had forgotten we'd lost an hour thanks to summertime and in just one minute felt as if I'd overslept. Fed the dog, emptied the dishwasher and had breakfast by myself, I love getting up early and love the silence in house - always have, as a teenager I'ld get up at six to have some quiet time, not always easy in a 5-person-household, and savour the extra time thus acquired  - other household chores to be done, all the while the dog was whining: please can we go now, as in NOW?! Finally we left and the sky looked like this:
the farm is across the road, at the back of the fields opposite us, to the right you can see the woods; we, i.e. the dog and me, go there most days.

Anyway, off we went and it wasn't long before we encountered two girls, one pony, three sheep and a bike. The pony girl stood by her pony and was watching the other girl tugging a huge, white sheep back into the field. They, the sheep that is, had apparently tried to escape and this fearless girl was determined to bring the sheep back into the field and out of harm's way. One of them, a dark brown sheep decided he'ld attempt a second escape, but he caught me standing there watching. He wavered, turned around and headed back to the safety of his mates. Tungsten had gone on ahead and I followed suit, these country girls clearly didn't need my help.
We came to the lake, T sniffing the dog scents, his nose glued to the ground, he drools contendedly. There were geese and ducks and coots on the water, in pairs mostly, with the occasional male bird trying to steal away a female.... I noticed there was no noise, no cars or tractors, just the birds whistling and cooing, cries of warning or perhaps delight. 





wThe only other sounds were of the dog panting by my side and my sneakers on the dry grass underfoot, a soft rustle. I felt the warmth of the sun on the back of my head and my left shoulder. No distinct smells. There was a couple with a dog walking ahead of us on the other side of one of the many waters that run through the woods There was a dog with them, the couple hadn't noticed us: of course the dog had, T saw him too and wanted to check him out, No I said, Stay! You never know with Tungsten, he's a lovely, friendly dog, but also very dominant, so with strange male dogs he can suddenly become aggressive, I didn't feel like having to intervene this quiet sunday morning, so I kept him close to me. As it turned out the couple continued on ahead and by the time we'd reached the bridge, we could cross it without risk of the two dogs colliding
we continued the walk along this 'slootje'and I saw a large grey shape almost towards the end of the path: a grey heron











I wanted to get as close as possible and see if I could photograph it. I walked slowly and took a photo every five metres or so. Eventually I came too close for his comfort, he turned towards me and back again and gazed at me, then the dog, finally decided flying onto the other side of the sloot was probably the wisest move and so he did.









on we went, through the pollarded willows where we stumbled upon mr. Fox:
We came out of the woods by which time a slight breeze made me feel the chill in the air, a precurser to snow later on, a good time to be heading back home, to studio and a warm log fire. 
A picture here of a small piece I sewed together last evening with bits of cloth that had gathered in my embroidery thread box.  I have pinned it against this blue cabinet and the second pic is with the door open: more animals: Malle mouse riding the silver pheasant and tiny rabbit looking on from a safe distance, another bird skeleton dangling; my eldest son found him dried and preserved as is, out back stuck between something or other and he had probably starved to death, ugh not a nice way to go; anyway here he is with us, surrounded by new friends, or so I like to imagine and my collection of heart shaped stones.
'moon boat with whale cloud'

Comments

i
LOVE
walking with you and Tungsten.
Saskia said…
...as much as I LOVE walking with you and the goats
i wish we had a distance.
like you and T.

that may be offered someday in
the not too distant future and will be something, SOMETHING that
will tip the balance.
to walk with them. i can't imagine the joy of that.

tungsten

tungsten

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