The Dandelions Remain.

My restoration work at the Chapel is complete and I have recently placed the house on the market. Because I intended for the house and gardens to look their best for showings, I opted to forgo installing an unsightly pest (deer, rabbit) barrier around my patch of vegetables.

Last week, I weeded the garden a bit and admired the zucchini, sunflowers, peppers and pumpkins before leaving on a quick errand. I returned to find a doe and her three fawns grazing. Sated and unstartled, they stood among sunflowers stripped to their stalks and barren vegetable stems. In the passing of an hour, my garden was decimated save for the pumpkins and tomatoes. It was difficult to be upset because the trio of speckled fawns, no larger than pygmy goats, were so adorable and... well fed.

This morning I found a healthy buck with five velvety points grazing among my plants. He was beautiful and let me approach within ten feet before thinking better of it. He darted off with the alert of my camera's opening shutter but, I was able to snap one photo before he made his getaway.

Though my work here is done, it is difficult to leave this special place.