A walk in the Afternoon

A walk in the afternoon 

午後漫步 

8/9/2022

It was a sunny afternoon, not too warm. There’s plenty of shades under the trees by the street 

On my way I spotted three deer resting in the shade comfortably

a family of three!

                                                                                                          

Through the tall tree limbs with profusion of leaves

I can see with my naked eyes the slightly filtered sun shining 

When you cast your eyes around 

You see clouds of various shades of color gathered 

right above the horizon 

Another family of three came into sight 

As one young one taking a break 

while her family kept on grazing   

Grazing deer

A  pen and ink rough sketch 

硬筆速寫

Included here are four paintings : 速寫、淡彩、硬筆素描和鉛筆素描

短籬外經常有鹿群經過

牠們是草食性動物

成日不停的覓食 

從不乏鹿隻模特兒

Pair of deer poking their heads over the fence

兩頭鹿從短籬外探頭探腦

就想跳進院子嚐鮮

Sketch with watercolor 淡彩

Baby deer born in my backyard 

後院出生的小鹿

Pen and ink sketch 

Deer in the field

野地的鹿隻

A pencil sketch

後院山坡上逡巡的一頭郊狼

A lone coyote appeared on the hill in my backyard 

兩年多的疫情，造成一些人類週遭的變化

其一：野生動物逐漸移近人類的居所

我們的隣居亦是依傍山居的住戶

清晨或傍晚常看到郊狼出現在僻靜的街道

也有人看到一隻紅色的狐狸*

附録

《野外來的訪客》

*一日清晨，兒子正在廚房煮咖啡，從窗口往外望瞧見一頭比家貓略大的紅色狐狸。牠立在前門陽台上一動不動，溜轉的雙眼緊盯著廚房中的兒子。

我隨口説了一句：這或許和疫情有關，人類都躲進屋裏，現在牠們可以自由自在遊走外邊空曠的世界。

兒子半開玩笑回應：就等著人類全走了，牠們可以重新取回原來的土地。可不是嗎，地表上人類尚未出現時，牠們早已居住在這地方  - Originally written in English in 2020 (see appendix)

Appendix 

《A Red Fox》

8/27/2020

I had an interesting conversation with my son.  While making his morning coffee, he looked through the kitchen window and saw a reddish animal, not much bigger then a big house cat.  It’s a red fox, right on our front deck, looking at him without moving.

He added that it was the second time he saw the same animal near the house. I replied: They’re moving closer to us now.   I suggested: it might have to do with the pandemic.  People are staying in home and largely let the wild animals alone.  Now they romper around in the field freely.

My son said half jokingly: They must have been waiting for men to die out so they can reclaim the land.  True, they were around here on this land before we even existed in this world we thought belong to us humans.

Grace