Nurtured By My Side

'Nurtured By My Side'

5 x 7 oil on masonite

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'Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine

From your head to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Cute as can be, baby of mine.' 

When all my children were babies I would often sing to them, very quietly, as I held them and rocked them to sleep. Counting precious little fingers and marveling at the strength of such a little hand when it grasped onto mine. This song, from Dumbo one of my favorite Disney movies, was what I always sang to my youngest. And I can't listen to it without it bringing tears to my eyes, reminding me of those sweet, fleeting days. 

This little foal was born just a few days before I took this photo. And every time he stood up to nurse his mother stood so very still. Barely swishing her tail at the flies, unless they landed on him. She knew somehow where they landed. She stood ever calm, patient, steady, and watchful. It was another piece of evidence to me that a powerful love, especially a mother's love, doesn't belong to humans alone.

In other news I've been out of town a few days this week. For my birthday my husband got me tickets to see ZZ Ward, my FAVORITE musician in the entire world! So we made the five hour drive up to Boise, Idaho to see the concert and spent a few days there. 

ZZ Ward, with her trademark fedora hat. She was awesome. Every bit as good live as she is recorded. 

And I found my new favorite band too. This is You Me & Apollo, who opened for ZZ, and they seriously rocked. Like in a spectacularly amazingful way. Seriously. If you like Indie/Alt rock you should check them out. Pretty undiscovered right now, but they shouldn't be for long because they are awesome.

It was pretty rainy and cold while we were there but we did do a bit of sight seeing. There was this gorgeous bridge built in 1925 (I think), that went across a huge river. We don't have rivers like that in my neck of the woods in Utah. Which is a bummer. 

We also saw a ton (and by ton, I mean TON) of people playing (wait for it) Frisbee golf. This is like a real thing. I had no idea. These people take their frisbee golf seriously, they have different sized frisbees for different shots and everything. I must be sheltered because I seriously did not know such a thing existed. Nor was I aware of the zeal of its supporters. Wow. If you want to see a pic (because I didn't take one) here's a link on Wiki.

And another strange thing we saw was a bike bar. Not like a 'biker bar' with motorcycles, leather, and tattoos. No, no. Nothing like that. This is a literal Bike Bar. A moving bike type thing with a bar. Seats fourteen people. Yup. I can't make stuff like this up people. I'm not that creative.

You can see a pic of one here, because again, I slacked at getting a picture of this strange novelty.

And apparently squirrels are to Idaho, what seagulls are to Utah. Little scavengers who are not afraid of humans at all and practically scamper up your leg for food as you try to get to your car. I had some cookies in my hands as we left our bed and breakfast and those squirrels had their eyes on them. I feared for my cookies safety. It was a tense moment. It takes a brave soul to stroll through a Boise park without a few crumbs of food. Prepare thyself fair parkgoer lest ye shall face the wrath of the squirrels.

It was a good time. A great time. But it's good to be home too. . . where my cookies are safe from squirrels and I am not in danger of being beaned in the head by an errant frisbee.