This painting was executed directly from life with my easel planted precariously in the mud surrounding the ancient mill pond. As I sat observing the tranquil scene, I was amazed at how many people would visit the pond to throw bread and biscuits to the ducks and geese. Over the weeks I was at work, I, too, got in the habit of feeding the ducks and, in time, the more adventurous of these would regularly settle themselves in the shade beneath my easel.