Duchess of Chickens

Duchess of Devonshire feeding her chickens. Photo by Bruce Weber

Welcome new chickens! 

Two Black sex-linked and four Plymouth Rock pullets. A pullet is a teenaged chicken, in between fluffy chicks and egg-laying hens.   If all goes well we might be eating the most expensive eggs ever.  

We are socializing them by bringing treats, teaching them about the dog aka their protector, and to come when called.

This picture, The Duchess of Devonshire, illustrates my delight with the whole process of Chicken-ing.  I am working on the outfit.  Thanks to Sally Kohler for bringing it to my attention. I am honored it made her think of me.  Here is a poem to go with it.

Woman Feeding Chickens-- by Roy Scheele 

Her hand is at the feedbag at her waist, 

sunk to the wrist in the rustling grain 

that nuzzles her fingertips when laced 

around a sifting handful. It's like rain, 

like cupping water in your hand, she thinks, 

the cracks between the fingers like a sieve, 

except that less escapes you through the chinks 

when handling grain. She likes to feel it give 

beneath her hand's slow plummet, and the smell, 

so rich a fragrance she has never quite 

got used to it, under the seeming spell 

of the charm of the commonplace. The white 

hens bunch and strut, heads cocked, with tilted eyes, 

till her hand sweeps out and the small grain flies. 

 "Woman Feeding Chickens" by Roy Scheele, from A Far Allegiance. © The Backwaters Press, 2010. Reprinted with permission. 

Happy music & Goat Rodeos

Bluegrass music & Yo Yo Ma? Someone isn't sticking to their genre and then you know what happens? ...... Something cool and creative. 

Here is a leap up and dance song called "here and heaven"

The group is called "Goat Rodeo" and they explain the term as follows--

A Goat Rodeo aka Goat Rope, is a term worth knowing.  It is the most polite term used by aviation people (those in high risk situations) to describe a scenario that requires about 100 things to go right simultaneously if you intend to walk away from it.  As in "that workshop was a goat rodeo" 

 It speaks to the miraculous alignments that can happen occasionally when things work-- the music sounds good, the paper reads itself, the people all smile, the pilot doesn't die, the food is fresh and tasty, and more. When we are part of creating these miracles it may look/feel a lot more like a Goat rodeo than a symphony.

The chorus...
"have we all forgotten that we’re getting old"

Speaking of a Goat Rodeo, well aging is a lot like that.  Lets get old dancing, way outside our boxes and comfort zones. Try something different!

Have something like-minded or like-manifested to share?

Bent-- Not broken

 
A friend mentioned that he didn't wear t-shirts or buttons anymore
Overt slogans might intrude & close gentle civil inquiry
Under the radar --polite and safe. Safe?

I think that as a crone, with the crown of age
I shall start wearing a few more signs of my ideas
goosing the world & to explore for myself

which ideas fit and match 

Jewelry made of my own pin buttons
One says "imitate water"

 My current favorite you see here
it says ..."Bent"
It caught my eye and tickled me
niggled at me
I made more of them in many colors
yet no one asks 
'what is bent?'

Perhaps what captivated me was a
line of word play; a loose chain of associations

I mean this
I am not straight
or narrow
I am weathered still flexible
I have a vein of dark humor and some twisted ideas

I am bent
Not broken
holding some measure of the worlds weight
I will bend to it
Be bent with it

My chicken is more beautiful than your chicken 

and when it dies I shall make a jacket of its feathers 

and be a Queen.

 

This picture doesn't do it (the rooster actually) justice, jump over to the (large bird) gallery and see how nice those feathers really are.

Fancy feathers

The red cap and surprising silver shoes make a daring fashion statement.

In this new world of urban refugees and dyspeptic consumers, we are voting with our conscience and our forks for local, homemade and non-industrial food.  My sense is that many more people are keeping chickens these days. 

Towns are struggling with zoning and we talk about chickens a lot and, of course, there is a lot to say.

Note: there is an article in Slate http://www.slate.com/id/2218390/

claiming the movement isn't real but a media-myth. 

Whereas the Guardian in UK presents a more convincing argument and a friendly tone using data from breeders, chicken rescue calls, and equipment sales 

Guardian chicken trend

Meanwhile, not to make too much out of the patterns of my cohort, but when friends in Boston, LA, San Fran, and of course, Vermont, are all comparing chickens  chicken accoutrement, and cute chicken stories then it's a trend.

Seriously now, eggs aside, wouldn't that make a gorgeous jacket? I am planning an eccentric and eye-catching wardrobe with accessories for my older years and this caught my fancy.

Fashion advice or chicken stories welcome here.

Raging Grannies- This one is for Gay and her fine friends

Choice was an issue Gay believed in all her life and it is SO FUN to see some ladies fighting back!

Dancing

Dancing into remember

swirling and circling closer
closer
back to here and 
now
re-connected (re-membered) to my body and its parts
Ah.. here are my arms

and, my body moves, again, heart first.

Thanks to Loveleen Kaur Nijjar for connecting the picture (artist unknown) 
and the inspiration for the poem

A First installment Blog post from Jane Flink

Dear Sharon — Double thanks for the beautiful cards and for the blogosphere direction. I look out my window on a world of white. Unusual for Missouri, we have had snow since Christmas eve and its as if the clouds take naps and the sun comes out and then they wake up, remember what they should be about, and sprinkle more snow crystals on us. Rather nice for us, as we had a very busy Christmas holiday season, and now have the luxury of pushing back in our comfy chairs with good books or catching up on the airline terrorist or watching some silly show (such as “Samantha takes charge”) while
snow drifts down on the other side of cold window panes. It is always a joy to hear from you.

Fondly,

Jane Flink

Jane Flink is Author of "Unmarked Trails: A Memoir". It is available at Amazon and other online and real book stores. The cover photograph by Gay McDonnell Bumgarner. Gay was excited about this book because Jane welcomed her into the creative process. She got to read earlier drafts and she was consulted about decisions such as the book cover photo and the title. She respected Janes' experience and found it energizing to be part of a new creative process.

It is through our friends that we get to learn about whole worlds we would otherwise never know. For example, how to run a small business, practice public health, be a scientist, sell real estate, be a music professor, or write a book.

I am delighted that Jane agreed to let me take her thank you note for photo cards and its wonderful imagery of winter and how the weather can be integrated into our experience of the world and perhaps, sets our pace. The weather personified or humans naturalized. Enjoy!

Over the last 30 years, Jane Flink has been an award-winning reporter, photographer, editor and publisher, and is nationally recognized as a community journalist. Check out her book

We welcome all of you to share your writing and tell us of your connections perhaps newly experienced. We are still floating the question of aging and "how to", see previous post on Indian hornbill. If you want help posting -- just ask but, join the club

Meanwhile, greetings from Valencia Spain. Some stories and pictures to follow. Tomorrow is the parade of kings for the start of Epihany.

What a face!!!

Many of us in our middle years have been discussing aging and we are concerned that we don't seem to have a good fix on how to do this "well". To be clear "well" doesn't mean faux or continual youth. Where is the book we are supposed to read? I thought that I would trade off young skin and excess energy for wisdom -- a deal I expected to strike graciously. I am still waiting for wisdom and a better sense of the trade offs. As usual, by and large, there are very few people of any age that seem to be having a really good time but it does seem the odds diminish with time, maybe? Well perhaps in lieu of clarity and insight I was thinking I should get some props, an avatar, and a maybe a new name as I explore my expanded self identity for my elder years. This particular face (in the picture) caught my eye. She is fierce looking, extraordinary, and colorful. There is a wonderful mix of dignified and silly in this face that might be what I am striving for. I took heart from the fact that in my later searches I found the picture of an Indonesian tribal woman wearing a makeshift Hornbill as evidence I might be on the right track. Prove me wrong.

In the biological texts the scientists speculate in wonder about the "horn bill" and "casque" (the hat part) & its purpose. What a silly question really. If you could grow a hornbill why on earth wouldn't you...it looks so cool.

Fun fact.... the bill is yellow because of the secretions from the "preen gland" which they spread onto the bill to give them the bright yellow color. The "preen gland" is near (at) the back end of the bird and common to most birds. Studies suggest that the preen oils are effective against lice. Not only that but the preeny oil harbours symbiotic bacteria whose excretions reduce the activity of feather-degrading bacteria and thus help to preserve the plumage of the bird.

Ok, enough diversion... Anyone else have some good advice for aging with dignity, humor, and imagination? Would it help to buy a red umbrella? Gay was very proud of her "Salon"-- her membership and affiliation with a group of highly intelligent literary women of good humor and various ages who came together to discuss topics of all sorts. These classy women might have a bit to say about the topic of aging if we can get them in the right mood. Cathy, Ann, Win, Libby, Helen, Jo, Ellen, Jane, Betty, et al? There are a group of us here in Vermont that would love to hear more about this topic.