Call Of The Wild

Turkeys in Spring Valley near Durand Eastman Park
Turkeys in Spring Valley near Durand Eastman Park

The other night around 12:30 we heard coyotes howling as we lay in bed. At first it sounded like a pack of dogs fighting but then there were a few cat like shrieks. It was a violent encounter and it lasted for about ten minutes. We have since talked to our neighbors about this and they all heard it. It was a full moon that night.

Earlier this year we came across a pile of deer hair mixed with blood and big patches of skin while walking in the woods. We found a deer leg on our property a few months ago too. I put it in a plastic bag and stuck it in the trash. And we saw a coyote scoot across an opening in Durand Eastman while we were hiking so we knew they are out there. We came across a bunch of turkeys yesterday and we snuck up on them to watch as they pecked at the ground. They are bigger than coyotes but are probably game as well.

Our 92 year old neighbor is a little harder to understand since they cut out his mouth cancer but we could understand him clearly when he asked his daughter-in-law for porridge. He even spelled out the word for us. It’s just that none of us could picture what it is. I was thinking of Hansel and Gretel and wondering if he was thinking of something his mom made for him in the old country. His daughter-in-law said she “saw oatmeal, Cream of Wheat and Maypo but Wegmans does not carry porridge.”

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Speed Isn’t Everything

Turkey in the woods Irondequoit NY
Turkey in the woods Irondequoit NY

Turkeys are almost too big to fly and even though they have wings it seems they would rather walk. Occasionally we come up on a group of them and they will all take off but that is only if we have really taken them by surprise. Otherwise they just walk a little faster to get away form us.

Alice asked to see my recent paintings last night and I expressed or tried to articulate a problem that I thought I was having with a few of them. I feel like I am ill equipped to fine tune some them that started off full of energy but are now bogged down. Bogged down because I’m trying to attend to poorly executed details. As I fumble my way through addressing these problems I feel like I’m over polishing and loosing the original energy.

Alice pointed out that speed isn’t everything and if the problem was really severe I could paint it out and start over. She made me realize that the choice is entirely mine as to whether I like the painting or not. And if I do, it is worth whatever it takes to finish it. The time frame is dictated by the situation and is really irrelevant to the finished piece.

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