"Last Year on the Farm 07-16-2006"
Last Year this time, there were cows all over these gentle terraces. We had a draught last summer and a VERY harsh winter (for central Texas) and when a few cows died, our family decided to sell the herd.
I really have missed the many cows moving over the pastures. There presence invited all the cattle egrets, and now they don't stop by, either.
When I painted this, the egrets were gathered by the tall grass at the bottom and as the cows began to move, one by one the birds joined in procession to tag behind. They like to eat the bugs stirred up by the movement...
The cows are gone, the egrets are gone, and recently all the horses left, too.And finally gone are every family here, my husband's grandparents, parents and 2 families of aunts & uncles.
Leonard and Ella Fae and their family is gone...I will tell about them another time: lifelong residents of this farm....all have moved on...Except us...
This is a powerful story. It makes me sad.
ReplyDeleteHow many photos did I take of Cows in Nova Scotia?
Too many to count, The funniest thing though. The pastures started higher and gradually dipped into a small ravine where there was water and then back up the hill to another pasture. When we stopped the car at the ravine there were cows on the upper hill to the left making there way down into the ravine, cows in the ravine and cows up on the hill to the right of us. Well, one by one, they began to moo until the whole herd was bellowing!
I think they knew we weren't Canadians ;)
Sad how once the animals leave, the birds leave too.