Dick Wanner

One thing they don’t teach you in veterinary school is how to get kicked by a cow. Turns out there’s a right way and a wrong way. The right way is to be tight up against one of these 1,500-pound milk factories so they can’t take a really good swing. The wrong way is to be 2 or 3 feet away from an annoyed cow, a distance where she can wind up and deliver a good kick with some punch behind it.

LANCASTER, Pa . — On a recent Sunday afternoon, I was one of 36 would-be Rembrandts gathered in the large studio of the Painting with a Twist store on Centerville Road, just outside Lancaster. Each of us sat before a blank canvas mounted on a tabletop easel. We had three brushes each, plus paper plates with dots of acrylic paint, and a big cup of water, which we used to wash our brushes between colors.

As many of you know, I go to half-a-dozen or more tractor events every year, take random photos of the tractors on display, then leave self-addressed, numbered envelopes on the seats of the tractors I shoot. Each envelope contains a form asking for the year, make and model of the tractor, the story behind the tractor, the owner’s name, town and his or her contact information. I get a good number of those envelopes back in the mail. If I shoot 250 tractors, I’ll get back maybe 25 envelopes.