Pyracantha on a Weathered Window

Does to Fawns: Look Both Ways Before Crossing the Road

We have a herd of eight white-tailed deer who we frequently spot on our land.  One morning they were in our meadow which is our front yard and when they got to road, they stopped and patiently waited for a car to pass by before crossing.

Is This Blog Going to the Birds?

Cluck, Cluck, no!

Chickadee

FINALLY I was able to get a decent shot of something other than a cardinal (although those cardinals are pretty photogenic birds).  I think Magpie once mentioned that the chickadee was one of her favorite birds, so I hope you like this one, my friend.  I have become somewhat fascinated with how birds position their feet on whatever object they choose to perch upon.  Notice this fellow (or lady?) has her feet in opposing directions!  Pretty cool, huh?  Could you do that?

Betty White

I first posted a picture of this female cardinal on my picture-a-day blog back on December 20 (see it here) and called her Golden Girl.  I have since changed her name to Betty White.

Mist

Winter

A Watchful Eye

An answer to two questions on yesterday's post about the Old Pot.  Two people asked why would someone buy an old rusty pot like that.  Here in the States, such items are collectibles if they are antique, rustic, and/or depict early Americana.  Others view them as decorative.  I could possibly envision using a pot of that type as a planter.

Old Pot

Photographed at First Monday, Canton, Texas

One of my favorite finds at First Monday in Canton last week was this old cast-iron pot.  It brought back memories of my grandmother ~ at least one of them.  One of my grandmothers was fairly affluent.  After about 1936 she drove a new Buick every year.  Even though she lived in the country, she got up every morning and put on makeup and jewelry and stockings before she donned her apron.

 My other grandmother was a little less privileged.  I remember when she still stoked a fire under a huge iron pot (much, much bigger than this one) to do the weekly laundry, when she churned butter, when she got her first indoor toilet in the early 1950s.  She is the grandmother that came to mind when I saw this pot.  It was probably no more than 20 inches in diameter and I barely had the strength to pick it up.  It was for sale for $30.  My grandmother probably paid 2 bits for hers (that's a quarter to those of you who don't know). 

As I often struggle through the day to get everything done that I want to accomplish, I often think of her and what her life was like.  She got up before dawn every day of her life, built a fire in the fireplace and the wood stove, made biscuits from scratch, sliced bacon from a slab that she had fetched a few days before from the smokehouse, ran out in the cold and found a few eggs in the chicken coop, fixed breakfast for her husband and a bunch of little kids who were always hungry, got the husband off to work in the fields and the kids on their way to school ~ a walk of several miles.  After breakfast came cleaning the house, working in the garden during the spring and summer, mending and sewing clothes from flour sacks in the winter, canning the vegetables in the late summer and fall, milking the cow, feeding the chickens, slaughtering one for supper, baking a pie, scrubbing the floor on her hands and knees.  At dark the kids and the man would come in from the fields expecting more biscuits or cornbread and a hot meal, which seldom was enough to sate their appetites.  She washed the dishes in a big metal bowl with hot water from the stovetop, got the kids ready for bed, said prayers with them and kissed them goodnight.  All this while she was pregnant nine months out of the year.  How did she do it I ask. 

And I think about picking up this pot that I can barely lift and I think about her, sweat rolling down her brow as she cooked beans or potatoes or something to fill their bellies, and I scream out to her and say, "You go girl.  You made us what we are."

Her name was Era Pullen Strong.  All us grandkids called her Mama Strong.  And strong she was.

Playful Ponies

Photographed at Garrison, Texas

Mama, Where Are You?

Partners in Crime

First Drink of the Morning

Belgian Horse

Photographed at First Monday Trade Days

Canton, Texas

(For more info on First Monday, see my photo-a-day blog) 

The Belgian draft horse is the most popular work horse in America and because of its size (the average weight is approximately 2,000 pounds and they frequently stand well over 6 feet tall at the withers) it is one of the strongest of the heavy breeds. The Belgian is the descendant of the type of horse used by knights in the Crusades, and Richard the Lionheart imported many equines of this breed to England during the 12th century. Belgians were first imported to the U.S. in 1866.