It's back! For a limited time only, Friday Cow Blogging will be making an appearance on these web pages.
Maybe I should call this "English Friday Cow Blogging" or at the very least, "EU Friday Cow Blogging" since it is much easier to find cows in the bovine-friendly countries of northern Europe. Here in the US, I'm pretty sure I would be shot if I walked up to a pasture and started taking photos of cows, and as much as I love bringing you these smiling faces every week, I'm not about to risk coming face to face with a farmer loaded for bear.
We arrived in the UK on Saturday, and by that afternoon I was out on the Thames, walking with my favorite dog, Stella, in my favorite spot, along the Thames in Bourne End.
One of the loveliest stretches of the Thames as it winds through the Chilterns.
We always see cows when we walk there--they hang out in the delightfully named Cockmarsh, where they graze on grass all day and drink water right from the mighty River Thames.
This far from the estuary, the Thames is still a mighty river, but it's not as wide and imposing as the London portion. There are always sailboats, yachts, canal boats, and other river craft sailing down the river or tied up at the moorings along each side of the Thames.
A sailboat lesson seemed to be going on
It's dog friendly, of course, and Stella is pretty used to cows, living near them as she does. So when we came across the cows on our way back to the carpark, I didn't worry about her "worrying" the cows.
The cows were all wading in the shallow water near the riverbank, as they do. These are all beef cows, young ones being fattened up before their eventual slaughter and trip to your supermarket. (Recipes here.)
I liked this black one, who really wanted to get near to see what was in my hand, in case it was an apple. It wasn't, of course, only an Apple iPhone, but I don't think he minded. He just wanted to reach out to the strange human lady who likes to take photos of cows.
"Any apples?"
And then the cow and Stella fell in love through the kissing gate:
We left the next day for Cambridge, where I saw cows along the Backs, and lots and lots of flowers. More later!
