History lesson

When the weather changes and the days are dark, I poke around in old books, try new ideas in the studio or, like today, go through antique photos of my ancestors. My great grandparents were pioneers here on the coast and in particular Salt Spring Island where they raised chickens and farmed the land.

This is my great great grandfather from Ontario on a visit to Salt Spring...sure looks like he knows how to hoe a row!

I love this picture of him with my great Uncle Bill...the youngin' trying to be  cool like his elder....

These are my great grandparents, May and Jack Cairns...my great grandmother was an American whose father faught in the Civil war and came across to California by wagon train via Philidelphia...they are pictured here with my grandmas sister Agnes...we all call her Aunt San.

Here is my great grandpa Jack with my grandma (Marge) and sister San.Grandpa Jack was a camp cook with the railway and followed the work where it took him...the story goes that he was on a trip to California working with the food icing cars when he saw my great grandma in a cafe and fell in love with her long auburn hair...he brought her back to B.C and they settled on Salt Spring.

This is my mom on my great grandparents farm on SaltSpring when she was just about a year old...I love the fact that you can just catch a glimpse of my great grandma May harvesting something from the garden and smiling all the while...

Grandma Marge and Grandpa Gerry with my mom (Anne).

Here's my Grandpa Gerry looking all Marlin Brando-ish...handsome devil wasn't he?

When I look through these photos, I realize that so much of who you are comes from who you've come from...I am connected to them through my garden and love for rural air...When my hands are plunged into the soil, or holding a shovel, I think of these people often and wonder what they were like as young newlyweds and farmers...wouldn't it be incredible to travel back in time and sit a spell on the porch to listen to their hopes and dreams and stories?

All but a few are gone now but we can still sit back and pause through the pictures and look into the lives of those who brought us to life...

On Clouds...

It is raining hard outside...its dark early and I'm listening to some acoustic Jackson Browne...Something Fine...his voice takes me off to another time and place and I suppose I'm in a bit of a dreamy mood. So I've been looking at a small collection of cloud photos which I keep for future use in a painting I'll do one day...in the meantime I pull them out once in a while and drift away...

So long old boy...

This is Cinnabar. He was a boarder here for a few summers and belonged to my friend Marina down the road. Last week he died of old age and we will miss him...he usually stayed for about 3 months and his profile became part of the landscape...he was the most gentle, sweet horse and was great with kids..

 

The other cool thing about Cinnabar was that one of our goats, Leaf, was in love with him...

He would follow Cinnabar everywhere and do whatever Cinnabar was doing. Leaf could walk under Cinnabar and between his legs and the gentle old boy wouldn't flinch at all...so here's to a lovely old horse, the kind that people dream of...