MY SARAH, GOLDEN UNICORN FARM and UNICORNS

Unfinished Flower Arrangement

          It's a sunny Saturday morning and I find myself alone today. It's very quiet - not that Sarah's noisy but we usually have great little chats while sipping our morning coffees but she's gone off for the day to a Woman's Trade Fair in Perth-Andover, which is about a two hour drive away. Although the windshield was covered in ice and she had to give it a good scraping, the weather today is expected to be quite warm and pleasant. As I looked out the kitchen window this morning towards the ridge, I'm tempted to take a short hike, check out the stream and then up through the back pasture to the tree line to see how the land survived the winter. But any lengthy hikes, where I could be out of sight is strictly against the rules now, so I guess I won't be doing that. But the hike certainly is tempting. She doesn't want me working upstairs - operating power tools while she isn't around is a no-no too. But hey, I worry about Sarah too, especially driving during the winter, besides the sometimes treacherous roads, like a few days ago, she almost hit a moose in the dark. I may go for a wee walk along the road a little later because at least if I'm on the road and suddenly find myself face-down at the edge, someone should drive by before too long. Being an avid walker, on beautiful days like this, I find it hard to stay inside the house. Oh well...I have a partially painted canvas waiting on an easel, should be able to make a little more headway on it today.

          I received an email this morning from Sarah's brother Chad saying, "How glad I am that you met Sarah. You are certainly good for her and her for you." It was great to hear him say that because at the time I started seeing Sarah, it was not a good time in her life and some people, including some of her family, may have thought that I took advantage of her, since she's 25 years younger and I had a bit of a reputation for being a "dirty old man." But hey, I'd already known Sarah for about 20 years before we got together. Can you believe I was actually best man and caught her lacy black garter at her first wedding when she married a friend of mine. Now, some readers may be thinking that we started seeing each other on the sly but nothing could be further from the truth. We got together when we were both going through downers, her husband had recently been killed in a car crash and I was coming off a relationship - like two lonely ships passing in the dark, we literally crashed into one another and discovered that there was more to us than being friends, plus I had known her two girls all their lives, so I wasn't a stranger. I'm not going to say that our courtship was easy because it wasn't but like they say I guess, "Love conquers all."  So here we are, although a bit ragged from all the emotional upheavals over the years we've been together, we certainly have something between us that is wonderfully special and suspect it will last until...let's just say... till nature takes its course.

Golden Unicorn Farm Sign That I Painted

 Moonshine Willy

           Although I have some medical issues, overall, life is good here at Golden Unicorn Farm. That being said, it's not much of a farm anymore, not since we sold off our goats, gave away our big old friendly Great Pyrenees dog, cats disappeared and we gave away all our chickens (had about 100 of them) - my energy level went from being very active to almost couch-potatoe active, a real downer for me. But hey, things aren't so bad, we still have our unicorns. Some people may think that unicorns don't exist and that the two unicorn paintings I did were a figment of my imagination, but hey, on some starry, starry moonlit nights. they can be seen cavorting about our 50 acres, that Moonshine Willy being a rather rambunctious animal; a real card! The one thing about unicorns, they don't really need any special attention and prefer to frolic on their own so it isn't much work to look after them. I really like the unicorns because they remind me of the racehorses I used to work with so many years ago. Not that thoroughbreds are overly playful but some of them certainly had wonderful personalities and minds of their own. 

          It seems a little strange to find myself living in NB at the base of Green Mountain, especially since I grew up in Vancouver, a city boy through and through. I guess the influence of visiting my grandfather's wilderness homestead on the Fraser River up near Prince George, BC must have rubbed off on me. City life was like my life's blood at one time. I remember after working in Lethbridge, AL for about a year and half and then moving to Calgary, starting up my own commercial art/sign business, walking around downtown and looking up at all the high buildings and thinking, "It's so good to be home." Of course all that changed when I went bust in the early 80's, and living where I am now for the past 8 years, has been one of the best moves I have ever made. To me, I'd sooner wake up and listen to the  music of the birds, the wind whistling through the eaves and feel the warm sun on my back when I sit outside purveying our little bit of paradise than listening to honking horns, screaming sirens and sucking in all the traffic fumes.  It's strange, one may feel a wee bit lonely living out in the country since there are fewer people than in the city but being surrounded by thousands of people rushing around, I believe I felt lonelier there, even being within easy reach of so many things to do. If we leave here, go back to where we came from, which we sometimes discuss, it will be difficult to find such a wonderful idyllic place, and I know I will miss our Golden Unicorn Farm...peace, eh! - Trip

My wife and I recently started up an Etsy Store a little while ago and if you'd like to check out our artistic creations just click on the link.