I'm at my sister's house in the country at the moment. Yesterday her son had a birthday party on their friend's farm where I learnt how to ride a motorcross bike. They all happen to be manual so I haf to learn that too. It was mad. The day before that, we went to a nearby town for coffee but not before stopping by the taxidermist's boutique. There were furs and coats etc but the main points of interest were the works of art she had created by playing around with people's pets. There were two cain toads with purple birds' wings attached to their backs, an evil-looking cat standing up wearing a real fur coat (this was titled "Dressed to Kill") and three foxes' heads attached to some padded bits of material sitting on a chair together, also looking quite evil. The lady said it can be quite confronting for some people and I think she chose the right word for it. She also went on to say that taxidermy is no more gruesome than chopping up a steak. I liked her because she knew all the right things to say to people like me who come in and go 'that's disgusting' as soon as they see what she has done to people's old pets. What I didn't realise was that she does in fact have a market for taxidermy, it's mainly the deer and such that people want to put on their walls, but before that, I thought people just wanted to see their pets made into strange pieces of art. The coffee we had after was good.
I love being in the country, it is so relaxing. And we're not talking ride-paddy country, we're talking rolling green hills and long roads with country-town community spirit where you know everyone in town practically. Sigh!  ¶ 09:34