Monday, July 13, 2009

me and the chickens


"simple friends"
9 x 12 mixed media collage
(c) 2009 julie king



while collaging and painting away on this new piece, i was chuckling about the time that my sister kathy and i went to visit aunt helen and uncle chet. they lived in a very small 2-story farmhouse with a small garden and a sizable chicken house. on the second day we had explored the entire property and were feeling quite bored. one of us (ok, it was me) wondered out loud what would happen if we took the garden hose into the chicken house and did a little spraying. my aunt and uncle were napping in their chairs in the parlor so into the chicken house we went, garden hose in tow. at first we just did a small stream of water in the general direction of the chickens and it was so much fun that of course we intensified their shower to a full-on blast. who knew chickens could flutter around that fast and make that much noise??!!

at home the next evening, our family dinner was interrupted by the telephone ringing. my mom answered and said a very friendly "oh, hello, aunt helen". kathy and i gave each other a panicked look, knowing mom and dad would not find the chicken shower nearly as funny as we had. frozen in place at the table, we heard mom utter a series of reallys and on mys and i'm so sorrys. our collective goose was cooked.

i'm sure mom was very embarrassed and dad was awfully disappointed in us but mostly i remember that look on my brother rodger's face when mom told my dad what had transpired at dear old aunt helen's house. it was the look of having missed a double scoop chocolate ice cream cone. or the look of having stayed home while the rest of us went to the county fair. his look said, "oh man! darn! i can't believe i missed all that fun!!!"

i still need to add the title "simple friends" to this piece and then i'll list it in my etsy shop!!

16 comments:

Katiejane said...

Such a cute childhood story. I never had nearly that much fun.
I like your painting. She's adorable.

Lavinia said...

What an amusing story. I got a chuckle out of it imagining all those ruffled feathers!

That picture is quite winsome, what a fey little expression on that cute face.

Alexandra MacVean said...

hahahaha...chicken bath...love it. :) Cracks me up.

And I LOVE this piece THE BEST of all your work so far. I totally fell in love with it.

*hugs*

Michelle Eaton said...

This is such a sweet painting! Such a funny story to go with it :)

Cindy said...

great story, julie!

Manon said...

Great story Julie...lol!

Love the new piece!

ArtistUnplugged said...

What a lovely,lovely piece of art, I love her! The chicken story is very funny, thanks for sharing it!

lori vliegen said...

oh to be able to go back in time and see you spraying those chickens...or sitting at the dinner table and see the look on your face when you realized that the jig was up!! hee hee LOVE your new little painting....she's very, very sweet! :)

Shannon said...

hehe! That story was so stinkin' cute! Glad you shared! :) and I can almost picture your brother's face! LOL!

Kelly Warren said...

that's a great story julie! i can just see those chickens wildly flapping around, squacking and squeeling!

lovely new little piece too!

Annette said...

How funny! I never really thought of you as the wild child, but this chicken story is shedding a different light! (kidding ;)

Annette

julie king said...

maybe not a wild child, anni, but i was easily bored and even then had a great imagination for coming up with ways to entertain myself. i often found myself asking the same question i ask today . . . "what if"???
then of course i had to find out the answers!!

Staci Danford said...

Love the picture... and adore the story.... It made me laugh out loud.. I hate chickens and think they might all need a spray..
Staci

steviewren said...

Funny story. Did you guys get in trouble with Mom and Dad?

I like the way you depict yourself. Have you thought about a series of "self-portraits" from your memories of young Julie?

julie king said...

hi, steviewren! i have no recall of getting in trouble with mom and dad. but, i can still see the dust and water spray highlighted by the sun streaming thru that chicken house window like it was yesterday. funny how memory works that way, huh?

i like your self-portrait idea. i'll give it some thought. i think it's hard to know how we are perceived by others -- as children and even more as older women. for me the difference is not caring as much at this age. it's a take me or leave kind of mentality. so it is quite easy to poke fun at myself and laugh in the process. i wonder sometimes how close my blog persona comes to how i am in day to day life. maybe my daughter megan will chime in here. i think she knows me about as well as anyone.

megan?

Megan said...

I know I have heard this story before, but somehow I just can't connect that ornery girl with my mom! You've told me some other stories that surprise me as well!

I think one of the reasons I keep coming back to your blog...other than the fact that your my mom :) is that I am fascinated by how creative you are and how different your perspective is than mine.....we both know I didn't inherit any of that creativity!!!

I like the idea of the series of self portraits. Maybe a series from different stages of your life that could be hung together in your art room....an inspiration to your ongoing journey of self discovery?? You really enjoyed the one of you on your bike with books, Presley, etc.