Something fun was organized and circulating on the internet. Two hens and one rooster (sometimes 2) were visiting artists around the world. I should mention that the chickens are ceramic. To participate, an artist just had to sign up on a waiting list and wait her turn for the chickens to arrive. Each artist's job was to paint them and report a little about their stay. I signed up two years ago, and, at long last, the chickens finally knocked on my door. I knew that I wanted to paint them on top of my whale, and I did just that. But as I painted, I realized that I would have to explain why chickens were riding a whale on a river in Colorado. It took me a little time to concoct that story, but here it is!
Señor Azule, Ms. Chick, Mama Chick and her brood were
feeling winter’s chill and decided that a trip to Cancun would be just the
thing to warm their cold feet and beaks. One day, as they were taking a
dip in the Gulf of Mexico, they made the acquaintance of Margarita the
Whale. Margarita was making her daily round trip swim from Cuba (she
worked out each day to maintain her girlish figure). As they shared stories of their travels,
Margarita mentioned that she often swam from the Gulf of Mexico and up the Rio
Grande to visit the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. “A river from Colorado to the Gulf!”
exclaimed Señor Azul. The chickens, having never seen the Rocky Mountains, all
agreed that they would love to travel there someday. Margarita, being as
adventurous as the chickens themselves, offered to take them on the trip that
morning. So the chickens hopped on her back and away they went!
As she swam, Margarita explained that the Rio
Grande is formed by the joining of several streams in the San Juan Mountains of
Colorado, just east of the Continental
Divide. From there, it flows through the San Luis Valley, then
south into the Middle Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico, passing
through the Rio Grande Gorge near
Taos. The river then continues south through the desert cities
of Albuquerque,
and Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez,
Chihuahua. The Rio Grande ends in a small, sandy delta at
the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, the river forms part of the Mexico-United
States border. Its total length is
almost 2000 miles. Needless to say, the chicks often grew restless and
Mama Chicken would swim alongside Margarita to allow the chicks to burn off
some energy.
Once they reached Colorado and The Rockies, Ms. Chick was
astounded by the red rock formations and the height of the mountains.
Margarita explained that, hundreds of years ago, the mountains
were once entirely covered by oceans. She described many of the fossils that
had been found proving this and also told them that dinosaurs had once roamed
there as well. She even stopped to show them many of the dinosaur tracks
imbedded in the rocks.
Slowly but surely, the little troupe felt the winter
cold seeping back into their bones and they wanted to return to the warm sunny
beaches of Cancun. While the trip into the Rockies had taken quite awhile
(Margarita had been swimming upstream) the return trip went quickly since they
simply shot the white water rapids back. Lying on the beach later that day,
they all toasted their adventure with a pitcher of margaritas (their friend’s
namesake) and agreed that perhaps they should venture below the equator
someday.
