-There are many things I like about this picture, the enjoyment of Russ that I see in my face, the rustic home-y-ness of the cottage, the presence of our favourite wine and food – chips + dip! There is a glowing light in the midst.
-I have enjoyed very much the time that you and I have spent at the table. Our conversations have been both deep and light, our prayers have been important, but I can’t really put more words to that then just those.
-What is the glowing light in our midst that casts such a sense of safety + charm? I believe it is your ever present sense of gratitude + blessedness. It has shed light on the Kyle family table for as long as I can remember. I want to always remember this.
Liz Griffin took this picture on June 20, 2020 at the tail end of a day of working cows, kayaking and wife carrying (as seen in previous postcards).
This postcard is the 8th in a series of 22 blogs called “Postcards from the Heart”, this series arrises from circumstances detailed in the post called “Postcards from the Heart – Day 1”.
“Dick” the mule, you first met him around this time in 1999. Dad was pulled by “Dick” and I am so glad we have a picture of that wagon ride. He is special to me, a tangible connection to Dad at our ranch. The reason I am featuring him in these shared pictures is that the connection to you and Dick, in our minds is laugher. That little moment at our wedding. Yeah for laughter. I admire how readily you appreciate humour, even when things are hard. I don’t hesitate to let the jokes flow, you are not easily moved to judge if a joke isn’t right timing or a bit off point. You care about what really matters and are easy to laugh with about stuff less urgent, like light switches and cupboard doors. I treasure our laughs.
❤
Kathy
The moment of wedding laughter referred to in this card happened during Mom’s speech at our wedding reception where she welcomed Russell to the family. She made reference to the wagon ride she enjoyed on the day she had met Russell and his Dick. She said it so innocently but of course it landed with some shock for some, lots of giggles, and a story we referred to again and again over the years.
This post is the 7th of 22 blogs in a series of postcard images arising from circumstances detailed in the blog post called Postcards from the Heart – Day 1.
This picture was taken December 4, 2020 by Liz Griffin Photography. Gina rode Dick to round up the cow herd in preparation for weaning and trucking calves to the Auction Mart.
I love this picture. It is artistic and shows Jill’s capability. Somehow this image means alot to me at this time, as the health care system shapes our experiences so much.
I know that Jill could go almost any direction in life. I think her choices almost overwhelm her. However I think the common theme will be related to this image. Here she is poised to inject a vitamin dose into a cow. She has drawn it up, into the syringe.
What has she drawn up into herself because of your life, your legacy, that she will in turn inject into the world around her? 1)Generosity 2)Kindness. 3)Creativity 4)Hospitality
+more~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Thank-you!
This picture was taken by Liz Griffin Photography on January 1st, 2020. We were putting our whole cow herd through the chute to replace any tags that had come out, give a dose of vitamin A & D and a dose of ivomec, a liquid we apply down a cow’s back which helps prevent parasites. It was a big day. The next day they were being walked five miles by a crew on horseback, to a field of standing corn where they spent the month of January.
This postcard is the 6th part of a 22 blog series arising from circumstances detailed in the blog post called “Postcards from the Heart – Part 1.”
When I look at this picture it reminds me of the line in the 23rd Psalm, he “leadeth me beside the still waters.”
This situation does not seem to give us the luxury of enjoying water from outside of it. You are in the deep end, treading water to stay afloat, your loved ones take turns jumping in with you. The love + compassion of God, known in Jesus, are maybe like our life preservers, which will help us all go the distance. Food for thought.
Love,
Kathy
By the time I wrote this photo card I was staying with my Mom, helping her recover from surgery which had revealed her cancer was much worse than initially thought. I wrote the card, put it in an addressed envelope and then when I went down to get her mail I slid it in with the other mail. Mom was playful in her soul, so she received this with a glint in her eye, noting that I was being tricky. As the days went by and more and more of these pictures were created she caught on that I was reusing the same envelope after swiping it from her recycling. Once she was onto my tactics she would hand me the emptied envelope with that glint in her eye and say, “I think you might want this.” It was a fun part of our days.
This photo was taken by Liz Griffin Photography on June 20, 2020 before Liz took the wife carrying pictures featured yesterday. It is a very beautiful picture which might not display on a small screen in a way that reveals this.
This postcard is the 5th part of a 22 blog series arising from circumstances detailed in the blog post called “Postcards from the Heart – Part 1”.
This is a fun but quirky photo. It was taken by Liz the day that we were supposed to be at the big race in South Dakota.
The thing I find myself thinking about looking at this image is the truth that when you have a large load to carry you have to do it strategically, large loads can be born by everyday, average people.
What is the key piece of strategy for you and I and all as we move through these days? How can we bear this load? We have talked about tears, about love, about prayer. These are key I think.
Love,
K
This picture was taken by Liz Griffin Photography on June 20, 2020, the day Russell and I were to have taken part in a wife carrying competition in Frederick, South Dakota. Covid changed our plans. Instead we worked with a group of cows and calves that day and got Liz to photograph that plus document us doing our own race in the pasture. We won the race, admittedly the competitors were absent! Liz got some astoundingly beautiful photos that day.
I was in Saskatoon with Mom when she opened this piece of mail. As she drew the picture out of the envelope she said something like this, “oh I have not liked this wife carrying stuff you are doing, it feels so brutish, a man should not be able to carry you off like that.” My feelings were not hurt, although hearing your Mother’s displeasure is never an easy thing. I had not thought about this experience through the lens that Mom was using, she had a point. To me it had always been about fun and exercise (for Russ) and as the one being carried it was totally an exercise in trust. As she read the writing on the back of the picture she softened. I believe this was the day she said, “I love how your brain works.”
This postcard is the 4th part of a 22 blog series arising from circumstances detailed in the blog post called “Postcards from the Heart – Part 1.”
I love seeing and hearing the enjoyment you get from all your grandchildren. You have always seen them through eyes of love and been able to overlook their struggles, to see the beautiful people they are. As a Mom that has been a gift to me.
Thank you,
Love,
Kathy
This picture was taken by Liz Griffin Photography as part of Gina’s graduation formals in July 2020.
If you have been following this series so far this is the 3rd family type pic in a row. I promise it will get ranchy soon!
This postcard is the 3rd part of a 22 blog series arising from circumstances detailed in the blog post called “Postcards from the Heart – Part 1.”
Jill, Morgan and I are off to school in 5 minutes. I thought I would slip this in the mail while in town.
Gina is missed in our a.m. routine, things are noticeably less busy. One less breakfast + lunch in the works, also no Gina energy.
This is one of our family pix. Remember our family pix at 2614? Shag carpet, corduroy suits. I wouldn’t have dreamed then that my family pic would one day include a horse and two cowboy hats!
Sending our love today.
K and crew
This picture was taken in July 2020 as part of Gina’s graduation photo shoot by Liz Griffin Photography
This “postcard” is the 2nd part of a 22 blog series arising from circumstances detailed in the blog post called “Postcards from the Heart – Part 1.”
I have a little problem on my hands. I am behind on one large chunk of paperwork, two regular May month end jobs await me too. In good conscience I just don’t have the time to blog. On Tuesday I had an hour of time driving by myself and I told myself, “no music, you are going to brainstorm how to make all this happen, create a strategy.” That resulted in a detailed daily schedule I have discussed with Russell and an option for the blog, which I also shared with Russ, I really needed his opinion. He said, “do it.”
Back in late summer as my Mom’s cancer diagnosis was settling in, living 550km from her and with Covid distancing a big deal, I struggled to know how to support my Mom. I got an idea. I had 150 of the pictures Liz Griffin had taken printed up. I had the goal of mailing one to Mom every day, so she would always have something personal in her mailbox. The pictures were a selection of my favourite images from the various times that Liz had been out at the ranch capturing work and celebration photographs for us. I wrote on the back of the photos, thoughts that came to mind as I explained or reflected on the action or person in the picture. Those thoughts started out very brief, but as the days unfolded the reflections got a bit lengthier. I realized reading them all over yesterday and sharing them with Russell, they contain alot of work. Not the prep to write and post, but the inner work that might get to happen walking the journey we were on. There are lots of thank yous. I was glad to read that when I looked over them again. So, the question is, would it be a good idea to day by day share them until this mountain of paperwork is done? Keep the blog going without much new thought? Its now Thursday and I have spent most of my brain wandering time in the last two days pondering that question. What I have come to is this……first, the pictures reflect beauty. Liz is a first rate photographer and she has a talent for drawing out the meaning in a moment, adding a layer of beauty to an image that is already about wonderful things. Secondly, our world is hurting. We have been going through a really hard thing and there is much division. I wonder if the contents of these “postcards” is a celebration of sorts, an upholding of what it is to be human, of what matters, there is no one who reads this who will say, “love doesn’t matter to me.” Love matters. Maybe that can be a source of unity. The story that unfolds behind the scenes, my Mom’s journey through her final days, remains her story, very little of it is disclosed here. The pictures allow continued exploration of life on a ranch and are a point of connection to human things. So, I have decided to share these and here is the first.
This first picture arrived out of the blue, Mom had no idea what my plan was, the back simply read: To the best Mama in the whole world. NOT exaggerating. Love, lots of it…..from, Kathy
It was the last days of October 2020…..no time like the present to begin the process of finding new homes for Mom’s things. As the first step in that my sisters and I took turns choosing things that meant something to us. Among other things I chose the pair of Willowtree figurines seen here. I thought I remembered my Mom saying they represent her and her remaining sister. I am very close with her sisters daughter, my cousin Jodi, so I took “the girls” home to the ranch, for me they were to be about the bond in our generation. I enjoyed taking pictures of “the girls” and sending them to Jodi.During the April storm I took them to the dog room and set them up. I was working on a cold, wet calf. I sent the pic to Jodi, “working on saving a life, thinking of you.”The cat knocked them over, Morgan set them up again like this. I took a picture and sent it to Jodi, “looks like the girls have had a fight.”I enjoyed taking the girls with me to check cows.When they got back from the pasture the girls fell into a deep conversation. Jodi suggested they were discussing the goodness of grass fed beef.This past week they came to the chute for an afternoon. At one point Russ asked me to pack up my girls and go on an adventure. It was just a little ways away to the gate where the cows and calves met up, like the door to a waiting room at the dentist office. The calves needed a bit of urging to make their way out among the large number of waiting cows. The girls were busy talking to each other and missed watching me.This is my favorite shot from the afternoon. It seems they are watching over things and applauding.And that applauding image put me in mind of one of my favorite Bible verses. This one here….it affirms that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, those that have gone before us, who somehow have a nearness that allows them still to be our cheerleaders. As I looked further for images of the Cloud of Witnesses this collage came up, the images have so many faces to ponder. The poem in small print, written by Joseph R. Veneroso goes like this.
We do not run the race alone Nor go into exile by ourselves For we journey along the Way Made smooth by those who’ve gone before.
And though invisible to the eye They are with us still, forebears in faith, Whose example, wisdom and yes, prayers Inspire, encourage and guide us Through the valleys and mountains of life.
And in the silence of the night Listen for the soft whisper of Ancestors, relatives and friends Who, though gone, from the sidelines Still cheer us on and Whose love and countless kindnesses Brought us to this very day.
Alone no longer (as if we ever were) We are part of a vast, unending Procession of love and life Past, present and to come Where memory and meaning mingle To create an eternal, dynamic Community of souls and Communion of saints.
The notion of taking comfort and strength from those not physically with us has been on my mind in a very particular way lately. I have been listening to alot of Maya Angelou interviews. Several times I have heard her say “I take my people with me” when doing something scary or challenging. I like that, but, besides packing up my figurines I can’t quite figure out how it works. But then this morning she said this, “I come as one, but I stand as 10,000.” That clicked. I like that it affirms my individuality and competence as I come to a hard thing but it doesn’t leave me on my own. It links me to all that has come before and those who have faced the challenges and prevailed. It invites me to think about the names and faces I know and find strength from, those who have walked this walk too. In the realm of women ranching with their husbands I think of Marlene, Kay, Carol, Donalee, Sheila, Lyla, Melissa, Bonnie, Donna, Molly, Georgie and Gail. Those are the names I know, but I stand in a long line and a wide circle of women doing this life. I come as one but I stand as many.
The “Cloud of Witnesses” mural was painted in 2012 by Jon McDonald, an artist at Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University. The “witnesses” featured in the clouds comprise a small but diverse collection of individuals who sacrificed their lives during the Civil Rights Era. In their own, unique ways, these individuals paid the ultimate price on the long, difficult path to making the United States a more democratic and egalitarian society.
This mural and the write up about it I took from a page on the internet. Its another illustration of a great cloud of witnesses and I like that it illumines some of those witnesses Maya Angelou brought with her to her life stage. She spoke of friendships with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, they are here.
I am in the midst of setting up a new desk location for myself in our home. I am almost there. One of the last jobs is to hang some beautiful portraits of my Mom and Dad. There were terrific encouragers and I want their faces near to remind me to persevere when I am scared or daunted or tired.
This post has been for me an unusual braid…..the utter ridiculousness of hauling figurines around the ranch and telling you about it, woven together with Holy Scripture, poetry, art and song and then the ongoing story of finding my courage, healing and strength in the midst of all that life holds. Some people think of braids as something to do with hair, but we do alot of braiding here lately as part of ropes and lead shanks and halters. They hold alot of weight and provide alot of security. The same might be said of the clouds of witnesses that exist for you and for me.
If you have a minute, look through the lyrics to this Carolyn Arends song. They are so vivid and thought provoking for me. Here is a link to the song as Carolyn performs it.
I was just four, my grandmother’s place I knelt by her sofa and started this race And now I’ve been running for such a long while I’ve kind of lost track of the miles Sometimes I press on, sometimes I look back Sometimes I just lay in the road on my back When I’ve got to get up and I don’t know how I hear in the distance the roar of a crowd
It’s the great cloud of witnesses Cheering me on each step that I go It’s the great cloud of witnesses They say the finish is worth every inch of the road
Moses is there, up in his seat With my Grandad Wilfred, my Nana Bernice There’s Abraham, Isaac and my buddy Rich And I think they’re shouting “don’t quit”
So if you are tired, and your back is sore If you’re not so sure you can run anymore Then just take a moment and listen real close Do you hear a sound like a heavenly host?
It’s the great cloud of witnesses Cheering us on each step that we go It’s the great cloud of witnesses They say the finish is worth every inch of the road
It’s friends and relations and each generation of saints who believed And received The Prize They have looked into His eyes
Its been a week since I was free to do any blogging. It has been an unusually intense week, we took many pictures over the days and invite you to glimpse a week in the life of a prairie ranch family in spring 2021.
Every day these two bond more and more, Coffee dog gives us all a lot of joy.Jill ate her evening meals with us this week, her quarantine period was hard for all of us, we missed her, when she joined us for supper we moved Buster’s chair over to Jill’s table so she could have company.Jill is sitting at my Nanny’s dining room table, Buster is sitting in my Dad’s old highchair, the table still has plant pot rings from my Nanny’s love of plants. I wonder what she would think of the leggy seedlings I have going here. That is not a dog accident behind Jill although it sure looks like one. Its a paper from a box of chocolates one of my sisters sent for Mother’s Day.We had twins this week, lots of twins, four sets in two days. Russ likes to bring them home so we can keep a close eye on them and how they are bonding. Here is the action on Tuesday, unloading one of the twins.Things can get pretty tight in the womb, especially with twins, leaving joints without proper opportunity to strengthen. One of the twins needed us to splint her back ankles, here we are using duct tape over odd socks to create a quick and gentle “cast.”Morgan carries the splinted calf to meet up with its Mom in the back of the shed.Wednesday we put 65 cow calf pairs through the chute (vitamins, vaccines, tags, etc.) afterwards there was tons of regular work to do. I got the job of checking the cow herd for calving developments and troubles. I immediately found “Iron Man” with her brand new twins, the fourth set of the two days.Thursday morning we got going early and thru the day got 60 more cow calf pairs through the chute. This moment is the very end of sorting the cows from the calves. Often the cows advance easily to their gate and we encourage that, we keep calves back then big groups of calves go to their gate, as you see here. Thats Ron, Russ and Morgan walking them down. Morgan was home to help us for three days. We really needed his help, hopefully he can catch up okay.I thought this was a fun picture of Bingo quenching her thirst at one of the cow watering bowls.Mostly I am including this picture because it is super cute of Russell. He is posing with this cow because she is named after his favourite kind of beer.Mozza Stick got a replacement tag and hammed it up for the camera. Thats a radio frequency ID tag in her left ear, the number on it is linked to our ranch, no matter where she eventually goes in the food chain, that tag links her to our ranch, keeping us accountable to how we treat our animals and how healthy they are as they enter the food chain. It encourages us to feel proud of our animals.One of the last big jobs of the day for Russ and Morgan, joined by Laurie after work, was to bring the cow calf pairs home that we would run through the chute the next day. I was helping to turn them into the yard.Our abundance of twins this season has meant we have extra calves to help keep alive. Here is Layne being bottle fed by Jill. We have two calves we are bottle feeding right now. The other is Bob. His Mom named Mary had twins whom we called Jesus and Bob, after a folk song about the brothers. Mary has Jesus but we have Bob. Bottle feeding is a hard job to do at the end of a long day, its not hard, but its just one more thing. We are glad Jill could do this. Its fortunate to have twins but its often a lot of work. Late Thursday afternoon I had the job of checking the cow herd again. A pressing issue was finding Iron Man and her calves. After an hour I couldn’t find them and the grocery store was closing soon I thought. So I left the herd and landed in at the grocery store at 5:58, only to find out that they close at 7 (not 6) on Thursdays. Whew. I had a leisurely stroll around the store and found delicious ice cream on sale, milk, cream and a few other things. I headed back to the pasture. Are you with me on this, are you thinking, “Kathy didn’t really think that ice cream purchase through did she?” I prowled the area where Iron Man was most likely to be and eventually found her with only one calf. (Thats Iron Man and her one calf walking away from me right at the centre of the picture.) Well crumb. I called Russ, he sent me searching for the other one, I quite quickly found her. I called Russ again, I needed advice. I rose to the challenge he gave me and became the abductor. I caught the calf by the tail and wrestled her into the back of my Expedition. I was not sure how the trip back to Iron Man was going to go. You know, that calf surprised me, she just hunkered down right behind my seat and sat tight. I pulled up beside her Mom and helped her out and there was a reunion. I then went home with my soft ice cream. This morning my sister Margie named the twins, Ebony and Ivory. (The Ice cream survived🥴🍦🌞)This was right after I had pulled the calf who would be named “Ivory” from the seat behind me and dropped her onto the ground, a reunion picture. I could feel how glorious the evening sun was, I snapped this selfie to see how it looked, the sun looks good, I look tired.Friday morning I was enlisted to help move 50 cow calf pairs from the pen they had spent the night in, into position to be sorted and readied to go through the chute. This truck push job was new for me, it was pretty easy. That pen is one Russ just built in the last year.Jill finished quarantine and got to go to school Friday. When she got home she joined us at the chute for the last bit of work. We had handled a lot of animals without her, she picked up a tagger and got right down to work. How did we handle the work without her and Gina both? New skills were learned. Morgan became very good at giving needles this week (what he is doing here) and he learned to brand and is doing very well with that. I on the other hand, learned Jill’s job of castrating steer calves. Thats an interesting challenge. The atmosphere instantly became brighter when Jill arrived with her competence and willingness. Extra hands equal encouragement.After feeding bottles to the baby calves I needed to change my clothes. It was about 7, “why not just put on a nightgown?” I thought. Then a phone call came, “can you run to the catch pen at the calving pasture and grab the calf pullers?” We had a heifer on the home quarter that needed help to calve. Russ grabbed this picture when I made the delivery. This is not Kathy Kyle at her best, but its my life.The next morning that huge calf Russ had pulled was doing really well, its Mom, named “Endear” was doing well also.Funny how some weeks seem to have themes………making another delivery in whatever I was wearing. This picture was this morning, in my robe, Russ called, he was administering some antibiotic to a calve with a bit of pneumonia and his syringe broke in the vehicle thanks to some dog action. He needed a fresh needle and syringe. The pic file says this was 9:30am, church started at 10. We were late, but we were all there. If you are against antibiotics in animals this anecdote might bother you. The way I see it, we give it this treatment and save its life. Were we attempting to produce antibiotic free beef we would see animals like this suffering needlessly and dying. This antibiotic will do its work and not linger in the animal. There are hundreds of days before this animal will become part of the food chain.One more theme, animals getting their water. Here is Buster at the lunch table today.
This was a hard week. We are all exhausted. On Wednesday I calculated at the end of that one day that between five of us we had worked 63 hours, I was not including our lunch break, but did include a fifteen minute coffee in the afternoon. Why bother telling of that? I think it comes back to the title theme of this blog, about being seen. Its a hope that when I give that figure people will understand that us agriculture people truly do work hard for our living, that we love our animals and we are busting our butts trying to manage all the variables that equal quality of life for them. As I sit here tonight I can picture all the pairs we put through the chute this week, they are doing their thing, many of them already at their summer pastures, enjoying endless hours of prairie sunshine, hanging out as Mama and baby cows together. It seems okay.
In the midst of all this we have lots of great moments, Russ is fun and makes us laugh. Morgan is growing and changing and adding skills every day. We have had time with our cousins Laurie and Dawson who we appreciate so much. I made some food that I am proud of. We have had hard times, its not roses and sunshine around here all the time. We are worried sick about the lack of moisture, one of our dugouts went dry this week. We are getting impatient with each other. Russell and I had some hard words and I gave myself a time out at one point this week. Things don’t feel too carefree when work is front and centre from sun up til sun down. You start to miss feeling a bit carefree. But then the grace sweeps in. The warm things that start to thaw the ice between a man and a woman. The wisdom found in an awesome YouTube video (more Maya Angelou for me, listened to while checking cows) reminds of everything deeper and wider than the present moment. Cousins arrive and remind you that you are not alone. That softened ice cream tastes delicious and makes you feel brilliant for finding it. The beauty surrounding us, sights and sounds, touches your heart. My people come up against the dangers of big animals and stay safe, again and again. I am reminded that God has given me a purpose for my life. You find a way to give permission to yourself to be just human and struggling. The grace sweeps in and in a slower moment gratitude bubbles up.
And that is the week we have known. Is it too early to go to bed?
As Far As The Eye Can See 