Cowgirls and Cows

My daddy used to take photographs of his three daughters but mostly of me. By the time he had all the equipment he used, the lights and camera and developing area, in what would later become a bathroom, my sisters were busy outside. But being the baby and much younger I seemed to be around more and was probably more interested in sitting still and looking like a regular cowpoke than either of the others. Often, I’d still be in my jammy bottoms under my long flannel shirt, my most important component of my cowboy outfits, with my holster belted around my waist. In this shot however I ‘m wearing a striped tee shirt with suitable bandanna, weapon in hand to shoot the baddies and grim look of the harsh lives of the cowhands. I really got that grimness down pat.
So, since this early age I could always picture myself around animals but being a city girl that was mostly limited to going on the ponies to ride around a ring, amidst a noisy rooster, with plenty of dust to go around. I yearned to have grown up on a farm or a ranch. And now, that odd life is sort of like the one I’m living. Still in my warm jammies to protect me from the cold here and still connecting with the animals like I did from afar such a long time ago.
The other day on a trip home from getting more supplies for this life out here, we passed a neighbor’s farm and I begged John to stop the car so I could take a few photos. Since he’d driven home too fast for me to keep up with the scenes I wanted to capture, he relented and allowed me a minute to take a few shots. What a guy.
This homestead used to house the local sculptress who’s so talented but she’s since left this land to live in a nearby town. For years I’ve watched different cattle grow up on this paddock and these guys were pretty far back from the road where we stopped. But cows are intelligent and curious creatures. Cattlebeasts, they’re called here and one lumbered over quite a distance to see what I wanted and stared at me. So, I stared back with my lens aimed in his direction.
After a few minutes he’d had enough of this strange woman peering at him with some gadget in front of her and he walked away. But the whole thing had felt like communion for me.
I couldn’t have been happier. That certainly made up for all of the missed shots of the day and I think I smiled all the way home.