Quick prismacolor pen & pencil sketch of one of (another of) my all-time favorite birds! The patterning and colors on these birds is truly exquisite. On the rare occasions we get to see one of these in Arizona - usually in flocks wayyy up in the tops of the trees overhead, I can't help but think of my dad's homestead ranch in Montana, which has been sadly neglected and falling into disrepair ever since he died three years ago. As a city girl, I am at a loss what to do with it - keep it? How? It's 360 acres of grazing land with things like wells for water, fences to maintain and noxious weeds I have no clue how to recognize that need to be kept from spreading - completely overwhelming to me. The ranch was where my dad was born and grew up - it was his baby later in life, he loved it so, so much, and I loved my dad so, so much, and now I am neglecting something he put so much work into. Every time I think about the ranch, it makes me want to cry.
But last time we visited the ranch in July 2008, Randy and I saw whole families of Cedar Waxwing up there eating the chokecherries and feeding their young, and they didn't seem to mind the disrepair. It was a beautiful, wonderful sight. I swear to you, just that fact alone makes me want to do whatever it takes to figure out how keep that ranch in our family. Somehow.
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