“Life in the Seven Kingdoms is never dull . . .” –Jen McConnel, School Library Journal

Create something new: Lessons from a re-cycled Convent, a Peacock with a Looking Glass, and a Cow with a Drinking Problem

Fish pond in foreground, a line of trees and a convent behind with a blossoming tree.
Roman pipeline to convent to farm. Gut Schillingskapellen, Dünstekoven. © Laurel Decher, 2016.

In the small village of Swisstal-Dünstekoven, a one-time convent was built solely with materials scavenged from the Roman water line. Now it’s a farm with Scottish Highland cows and reflective peacocks.

Lesson #1: Try a bit of creative re-cycling. If Roman ruins are in short supply, maybe you have a fragment that makes you laugh. Or just a bookshelf in the wrong place.

Peacock looking at its reflection in a mirror in a sunny farmyard
Know Thyself. Gut Shillingskapelle, © Laurel Decher, 2016.

At least two mirrors are propped up against the historic buildings in peacock-accessible places. I’m guessing mirrors have something to do with peacock mental health and the display of feathers. It looks a little bit too much like “selfies” for comfort.

Scottish Highland calf, brown and shaggy in a green meadow walled in with a stone wall.
A four-legged Scottish Highlander. © Laurel Decher, 2016.

This brown, woolly, Scottish Highland calf seems to have a sturdy self-image already.

Lesson #2: Don’t look in the mirror too long. Keep mooooving. (Sorry.)

An eccentric older relative was playing with the automatic water-er, slurping away noisily for a few minutes, then picking up its head to look at us, indignantly or defiantly. With that much hair over the eyes, it’s really hard to tell.

Black, Scottish Highland cow with head in waterer.
Slurping noisily at the automatic water-er must be fun. © Laurel Decher, 2015.
Black, Scottish Highland cow with head out of waterer and face covered with shaggy hair.
“Who are you looking at?” Black, Scottish Highland cow with indeterminate expression. © Laurel Decher, 2016.

Who am I to say what’s silly behavior? I make up stories. Maybe this cow is a distinguished water musician. Not much audience yet. Doing the practicing in obscurity thing. That’s okay with me.

Lesson #3: Enjoy creating. Maybe the rest of the herd will be by later. Or not. But you will have had the fun of messing about.

Lesson #4: Notice the artists in your life.

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