Abby Delivers a Calf

Today was a cold, raw, rainy day. I let the horse out around 9:30 this morning, but I put her back in the barn just after noon because it was raining so hard. When I was putting her back in the barn, the big, black and white cow escaped into Horse's paddock. No matter how hard I tried, it still took me twenty minutes to chase an enormous pregnant cow back into the cow pasture! It is amazing how fast a very pregnant cow can run. It was a very long twenty minutes. I was nearly knee-deep in cow poop and mud, trying to push open the gate to force the cow back into the right pasture.

Once Abby came home from school, around quarter to four, it was no longer raining, and Horse was neighing for company. Abby decided to go talk to Horse. While she was outside, she noticed the big tan Jersey cow lying in the field by herself, mooing. Abby surmised the cow was in labor, and ran inside to call Contessa. Contessa told us she was on her way, and the cow should be fine as long as we could see two legs coming out. Abby went back to the cow just as she was calving. She was happy to see that there were two legs coming out. Abby went over and helped ease the calf out of its mother. As soon as the calf was nearly out, the cow suddenly stood up and the calf landed on the grass. Soon Contessa showed up with Mark and Terry to take the calf home to Contessa's barn. The mother cow had nearly finished cleaning the baby off, and all the other cows were gathered around us. Contessa got the calf on its feet and announced it was a bull.

Soon it was getting pretty dark, and Contessa was concerned about coyotes in the woods. Quite a few farmers have lost newborn calves to coyotes in the area. Contessa made short work of carrying the calf to the truck. Mark sat in the truck bed and held the calf while Terry drove. Contessa walked behind the truck leading the mother cow, and since it was by now completely dark, I followed along behind Contessa with my flashers on as she and the cow walked alongside the shoulder of the road.

Traffic on most all roads in PEI is sparse but very fast; most people drive along at 50-60 miles an hour. None of the country roads have sidewalks, and most are lined by ditches, which makes it pretty similar to trying to walk along a highway back home. Country roads are only good for walking if you are nimble enough to jump out of the way when a car blasts past you. Walking a cow along the road on a rainy night at near-freezing temperatures can be pretty dangerous, but there was no other choice. I am happy to say that Terry, Mark, Contessa, the cow and her calf are all well, dry and safe. There will be more calves soon. Maybe next time I can get some photos.

Bright, Sunny Saturday following Black Friday

Today is the Saturday following Thanksgiving (oh, yes, AMERICAN Thanksgiving). Canadians have had their Thanksgiving over a month ago, on our Columbus Day, and so the holiday of the week is Black Friday! Yesterday was the day! I really don't understand how it works here, yet, but there were Black Friday sales beginning at 2 am and lasting until midnight last night. Otherwise it was an ordinary work day, unlike in America where it is generally a day off as part of the long weekend. Do people call in to work and say,"Hi, Boss! I can't come in today. Yes, I'm fine. No, it's not the black plague, it's BLACK FRIDAY!" Is that a legitimate excuse?

Yes, it is interesting to learn the cultural differences between here and home. Tney are subtle, but there nonetheless. I have joined a listing of Canadian blogs called Canadae.ca. Here is the link: Canadae: Canada's search engine. I am beginning a new fiber art piece today. The weather is warm and sunny, so I can bake my polymer clay outside in my new toaster oven dedicated to baking clay. Though such materials are labelled as non-toxic, they fill the air with fumes that cannot be good for you! The residue stays in the oven, so re-baking the fumes would not be good for the food you are about to eat, either! So many art projects, so little time!

Dinner Theater at the Tryon United Church

Tonight Aaron, Abby and I went to Tryon for a dinner theater at the United Church called "Ole King Cole's 65th Birthday Banquet." We were invited by Abby's friend Julia from school because she was in the play. Her mother is pastor of the church, and her dad was Ole King Cole. The show was in the church hall and was an original play written and directed by Julia's mom. It was a very cute story about Ole King Cole being sad on his big birthday because his children wouldn't be there to celebrate. He did not realize that they were planning a big party as a surprise. We were the peasants who were invited to the castle to sing to the king for his birthday. Each table was given a song to sing to the king, which we all did between dinner courses. We had chips and salsa, first course and first act. Then we had soup and rolls second act. Third act was roast chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, coleslaw and mustard pickle relish. The fourth and final act was chocolate cake or blueberry cheesecake and coffee or tea. A pleasant time was had by all. Apparently, Pastor Wilkie does this for a church fundraiser every year. She writes a new play every year and produces it with help from her congregation. When I met Julia and her dad, I could tell they are a very imaginative family. I just love people like that!

PEI really is a fun place to live. It is really something special. I went to take the horse out of the barn this morning, but it was raining, so I left the horse inside. Walking across the field in my muddy muck boots, I could only smell wet hay, balsam and dirt, and I thought about how lucky I am to finally be here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is an ordinary work day in Canada. The kids are off to school and Aaron is off to work. I am thinking about what questions will be on the final exam I am releasing next week for my online course at UMassLowell. To all Americans celebrating Thanksgiving today, Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the food, the football games and the Macy's Parade. I told a Canadian two nights ago that Thursday is Thanksgiving. She was surprised and asked me whether it is unusual to have Thanksgiving on a Thursday! I explained that it always falls on the last Thursday of November. Then she asked whether Americans have Black Friday, too! I said, "Of course we do, it is always the day after Thanksgiving!" I think the lightbulb turned on at that point! Alas, we are not celebrating Thanksgiving this year, for the first time in my life including the year I was in England in November. Young Aaron is spending Thanksgiving break with Memere and PopPop. They will be having dinner with Alcida, Bob, Stephen and the girls. Kathryn will be celebrating with her friends in Montreal. Turkeys here cost nearly $3.00 a pound versus $.49 a pound on sale in Lowell. A turkey dinner is pretty costly, and since there is no one around today to eat it anyway, it doesn't seem like a good idea this year. We will have to save the turkey dinner for Christmas!

Aaron and I are going to a dinner theater night at one of the local Protestant churches tomorrow night. A friend of Abby's has a role, and she asked us to go. It will be a fun night out, I am sure. Daniel has judo tonight, and I have a Spanish interpreting job, so there would be no time for turkey tonight! Daniel has a judo tournament in Nova Scotia a week from Saturday. We will take the 7 am ferry, which means we will be leaving here around 5:30 in the morning! That will be an adventure. He is doing quite well at judo, and seems to have a natural knack for it.

Today is cloudy, drizzly and warm: in the fifties (farenheit). Yesterday I took Puzzle to the Vet College for shots and deworming. She is mad at humans in general, and me in particular. Horse is read to be led into the field, and that is my job, so off I go!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A New Horse, A New Art Quilting Workshop

Two weeks ago, Abby and I were surprised to see a horse trailer coming down the driveway. It seems that our neighbor, Contessa, had rescued a horse from a bad fate. She bought the horse at auction and had it delivered to her cow pasture, where it now resides in its own paddock. The horse is part standard-bred, part draft horse and two years old. Abby is helping Contessa care for the horse. I turn the horse out in the morning, and Abby feeds the horse in the afternoon and brings her in at night. Meanwhile, the cows have grown larger and the calves are due very soon.

Abby has been riding Dama, the icelandic pony over in South Melville. Dama is very cute and has a gait called a "tolt." It looks like the horse is scooting along. The tolt is a kind of running walk that icelandic ponies are known for. Abby is used to well-schooled horses that are trained to respond to American signals. She and Bonni, Dama's owner, are still trying to figure out what signals Dama recognizes. It is clear that however she had been trained in Iceland, it was nothing like the way horses are trained here! When Dama finally gets moving, it is a beautiful thing, but until she gets the idea, it is slow going.

I will be teaching an art quilting workshop at the Clyde River Community Center to the local seniors. The workshop will take place over twelve weeks, alternating with a watercolor workshop taught by another artist. I will be teaching surface design (painting on fabric, printing on fabric, photo transfer, etc.) I will also teach design, composition and color theory. People here are very familiar with traditional quilting, and contemporary quilting is a stretch. I think it will be fun for everyone to learn to "paint a picture with fabric." Clyde River is a very small community, but there are at least three working artists here; myself, Julia Purcell the watercolorist, and Paragon Glass Studios. I see a small arts community growing up here!