Mount Baker

The weather was good so I headed east about twenty minutes and pulled over to the side of the road next to a field.  I got my gear set up and this car stopped across the street and asked if I minded if she let her birds out in the same spot where I was painting.  This woman had about 43 homing pigeons that she was training for the upcoming parade.  There were three boxes which she let out in 5 minute intervals over the field (which they like), they flew around in about a 300 foot radius and then the next bunch would join in with them, until they were all together.  There was one out of 43 that was not flying in line, she said it was because the bird was left handed.  I'm not kidding.  They were to fly back to her farm which was about a 1 or 2 miles from where we were.

You just never know who you are going to meet or what you are going to learn when you are painting in plein air.

Katharineengh.com