For a number of years I visited with friends Gord Bingeman and Kris Hallman who owned a farm out near the village of Crosshill. I did several paintings in and around the surrounding area, this being one of a pair of mute swans, Cedric and Whistler that they had as pets. Mute swans differ slightly from the indigenous white swan spieces known as Trumpeter Swans in that they have orange bills instead of the black bills that the North American variety has. They, the swans, would stay on the pond for as long as possible by swimming back and forth to keep the water open. When the pond froze they waddled up to their pen in the barn where they stayed until the pond opened up in the spring. They would of course waddle back to the pond about a half mile distance. We made a spring event out of it that was always celebrated with just enough cognac to keep the chill at bay followed by an evenings meal. That was years ago and they are gone now but their young return to the pond in the spring each year. They'll have to find their own cognac.
For a number of years I visited with friends Gord Bingeman and Kris Hallman who owned a farm out near the village of Crosshill. I did several paintings in and around the surrounding area, this being one of a pair of mute swans, Cedric and Whistler that they had as pets. Mute swans differ slightly from the indigenous white swan spieces known as Trumpeter Swans in that they have orange bills instead of the black bills that the North American variety has. They, the swans, would stay on the pond for as long as possible by swimming back and forth to keep the water open. When the pond froze they waddled up to their pen in the barn where they stayed until the pond opened up in the spring. They would of course waddle back to the pond about a half mile distance. We made a spring event out of it that was always celebrated with just enough cognac to keep the chill at bay followed by an evenings meal. That was years ago and they are gone now but their young return to the pond in the spring each year. They'll have to find their own cognac.