I am looking forward to getting back to painting and hope to finish the lily before the end of the week. Here are some photos of the park (my husband is on the bike!) and sunrise with my flying friends. Since I grew up in southwest Iowa (a major flyway for the Canadian Geese) I love the sound of their conversations in flight. It brings back memories of growing up and early memories of my first marriage. My husband was an avid hunter and as a new wife I was taken along to hunt geese. The early morning and late afternoons were the times to hunt, although the geese were so thick at times that you could simply stand in your yard and shoot into the air and have dinner. I am not a hunter since I find more beauty and fulfillment in looking at animals and waterfowl than in eating them. One day after my husband bagged his goose and we were walking back toward the farmhouse, we were followed by a low flying goose whose call was very different from the calls of the flock in flight. The goose circled low overhead all the way to the house. When I commented on it, my husband told me that Canadian Geese mate for life and that he must have just killed this one's mate. I have not cooked or eaten a goose since that day. This memory is bittersweet. Over the years I think about that lone goose and regret my part in that day.
