This is my wooden goose.
Canada Geese are some of my favorite animals. As a kid, I grew up in Suburban Chicago on a beautiful lake complete with a covered bridge. The geese that lived on the lake were awful and they chased me. They left messes all over our yard and we trained our dog to chase them away. But in my 20's right around the time I met Jay, this family of 4 geese adopted me. It was the strangest thing to witness. Two tennis ball-sized, yellow, fuzzball goslings jumped into my lap while their large adult parents just stood calmly next to me, their beaks right in line with my eyeballs. One sudden move and I was surely going to get it from mama and papa goose!
I gave them names. I could carry them around the yard, they would eat out of my hand, they would walk up the hill to the house, jump up on the deck and peck at the sliding glass door of the house, they would fly to me if I called them all the way from the other end of the lake. Quite remarkable! And you've ever seen the movie Fly Away Home, my interactions with my 4 geese were so very similar. I just never flew with them! I did jump in and swim with them and that kind of freaked them out. They didn't know what to do with that and they stayed further back and watched me swim. They stayed with us for a good couple of years, even in the winter months.
My mom always used to say that the geese on our lake should be required to wear red bows at Christmastime.
I gave them names. I could carry them around the yard, they would eat out of my hand, they would walk up the hill to the house, jump up on the deck and peck at the sliding glass door of the house, they would fly to me if I called them all the way from the other end of the lake. Quite remarkable! And you've ever seen the movie Fly Away Home, my interactions with my 4 geese were so very similar. I just never flew with them! I did jump in and swim with them and that kind of freaked them out. They didn't know what to do with that and they stayed further back and watched me swim. They stayed with us for a good couple of years, even in the winter months.
My mom always used to say that the geese on our lake should be required to wear red bows at Christmastime.
Jay got to meet my geese before my parents sold the home. He got to pet them and hand-feed them.
So when it came down to choosing which wooden ornament to paint, I had to do this one. This is one of my favorite ornaments ever and I get to hang it on the tree.
I miss my "goose boys" like crazy.
I miss my "goose boys" like crazy.
