Little Fisherman

Charles and Cole took an ice fishing trip on Saturday.
They had a terrific time. Charles caught 3 bass and many bluegill. Cole was so proud of how focused Charles was on the fishing.

Sunday they both spent the day on a goose hunt, but were not as successful. Now there's a little break before the spring turkey season. Cole is looking forward to taking Charles along for that, too!

A Brief Flashback

New Years 2008!

Here's Cole out in our road on that terribly old & windy Tuesday morning. Without seeing it even I wouldn't have believed it.

Pheasant

You can see why Cole & I were so excited about this bird! Cole went out last night to pick him up from the taxidermist. We had a hard time finding just the right spot for him because he's so big. He's hanging between the Southern windows in our dining room. It makes me feel like I'm walking into a museum when I see him up on the wall.

Photographs really do no justice to the amazing colors and iridescence of the feathers. Beautiful bird.

Sorry

This poor blog is as neglected as our garden come September! I really have let it go. But I promise to try harder to post here more often.

I've been kinda avoiding blogger since I put aside painting during our increasingly busy "school" days. It takes me a long time to "do" a painting - from the sketching to the application of color to the varnishing - weeks. Plus it's a rather solitary activity & I haven't had the opportunity to spend even relatively small chunks of time alone with my thoughts. So I've felt like a little less than myself - being not able to create much for myself.

But recently I came across some information about antique and vintage cloth dolls. SO Gillian and I rummaged around in my cloth stash and she selected the fabric she wanted for the doll and the embroidery floss colors for the hair and eyes. It took a couple of afternoons and I had the doll all together. The hair is not the best, but it was my first try, and her first outfit is still in the making. But Gillian is pleased and has dubbed her doll "Jupiter."

Last Saturday we bundled Charles up and Cole donned his hunting gear and they headed out just after 4Am for Charles' first goose hunt. Since he's only 8, he has not yet had his required hunter's ed course. So he didn't have a gun, but he still had a great time. Cole said he was very excited at all the flocks of geese & surprised at how loud they were.

Charles said his favorite part was the "doofus goose." Apparently there was a solo bird flying back and forth between their blind and another fellow's about a quarter mile over. The bird seemed to be looking down at them & flying rather slowly, but none of the shots from either blind hit him, and he repeatedly passed from one to the other. He was high enough to be out of range, perhaps he knew it.... But Charles is pretty sure he had a smaller than average "Bird Brain." The Doofus Goose eventually flew slowly off, leaving the boys both frustrated and amused. Charles is very eager to get out and hunt with his daddy again as soon as possible.

Tuesday the kids and I accompanied a group of local homeschoolers on a visit to the Putnam Museum for a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit. A number of the displayed inventions were made especially for the children to handle. We later joined a few families who stayed to wander through the rest of the museum and see the permanent exhibits. It was a wonderful day.

Cole is spending the weekend taking advantage of the final deer season. We really want to get one more to restock the freezer. It's hard to describe exactly how much his overall health has improved since we've started eating primarily game. He had been having a lot of pain in the joints of his feet and his stomach was always painful. Now he rarely complains of either!

He's repeatedly said he doesn't want to go back to the pork and beef from the store. He thinks it is the lower fat content of the venison, goose, pheasant, rabbit, fresh eggs, etc... I think it's that and a bit more... I can't help wondering about all the medications that are given to livestock to keep them healthy - not so with wild game, nor our rabbits & chickens. But that's my little paranoid thing.

So. I think that's good enough for today.

Homeschool field trip!

Last week we took a trip to the Buffalo Pumpkin Patch in Iowa - but I forgot to bring my Camera! This week we went to the Niabi Zoo and I made sure to bring it. There were 8 families and over 20 children - we had a ball...

wild

(a little back story- As a senior in high school I remember reading a magazine article about a young man who walked off into the Alaskan wilderness with little more than a rifle and a bag of rice. I'd occasionally thought about the guy, wondered if he were crazy, wondered what it must have been like, wondered how he came to that place where his life ended.

Then this week on Charlie Rose there was an interview of Sean Penn & Eddie Vedder - I was only half listening while getting Charles settled with his reading assignment for the day when I heard mention of the name "Alexander Supertramp" and I was startled to recognize the name. I listened to the interview and that night hunted around for more information on the boy and his journey. I ended up picking up the account of his life and reading it in just a few hours....)

I finished "Into the Wild" yesterday. It's one of those stories that needs time to digest. I've read a number of reviews of the movie - but most are really opinions on the character of a dead boy. I suppose I will be no different.

I think that the author of the book was very tangled up with his personal sense of empathy for Chris. I also think that there isn't any way to hear the stories of the people who "knew Alex" and to have the slightest familiarity with that desire to just get the hell out - and not feel some connection. It was a quietly forceful tale. I don't think I can say it was enjoyable - no account of death is. But, since briefly reading the article almost 15 years ago stayed with me, I am certain this will be one of those things that I mull over in the small hours of the morning for many, many years to come.

During the Penn/Vedder interview one of them said the audience is basically either going to love or hate Chris. The author said he received so many letters after the Outdoor article back in 93 that just bashed the kid for his stupidity and selfishness. I have to wonder exactly how far these people have removed themselves from their youthful ideals (or if they had any) and brash decisions made without any experience to back them. I can't believe that desire to walk off into the world and recreate oneself is a rarity among the 16-25 year old kids. It certainly held an attraction for me. It's just the acting on that idea that is uncommon.

Chris decided how he wanted to live and took a leap that, in the end, killed him. But look at the world he experienced that hardly a fraction of the rest of us ever will.

We all make choices (and mistakes) that could kill us: smoking, drinking, speeding, the jobs we do, the hours we work, the people we associate with, the food we eat, running a red light, and so on ad infinitum. So it could take a little longer to kill us, or it could be instantaneous. What joy do they add to our lives? Do these choices nourish our souls? Are we condemned as selfish fools?

He crammed a lot of life into what he had. He accomplished feats of the will & flesh that few others could claim. If instead he had shoved the desire to see & do down into his guts and just existed the remaining years of his life in the way society approves of - would that have been better? And for whom?

His youthful freedom from responsibility gave him that brief opportunity to follow his heart. He took it.

Into The Wild

I picked this book up today after the homeschooler's park date. I'm being blackmailed to leave the pc by Cole who is threatening to make the kids pick up if I don't go outside this instant and shoot the bow.

I'll tell you more about the story behind the book & my interest in it. Later.

Into The Wild