Her artistic talents brighten the cut fields of Angus every harvest season.
But bale artist Fleur Baxter has turned to prose in an Ode to Arwen after the storm which has left her farm virtually cut off and without power since the weekend.
And despite fearing the blackout will last for several more days, she has praised the community spirit which has shone through the darkness of the brutal weather.
Cartoon bales
Fleur’s fantastic cartoon straw bale creations draw the crowds to the fields near Monikie each year.
She has been nicknamed Balesy by friends for her work in painting characters including Mickey Mouse, Desperate Dan, Donald Duck and Buzz Lightyear.
But sun-kissed harvest evenings were a distant memory as the storm hit Angus on Friday.
And Fleur woke to a scene of destruction around her East Skichen home.
She said: “I couldn’t believe looking out on Saturday morning the scale of the devastation.
“Huge swathes of trees have just been blown down – it’s heart-breaking to see.”
It left only one narrow route to the farm free and brought down power lines.
“I don’t think we’ll be back on until later in the week,” said Fleur.
The Monikie area was one of the worst affected in Angus.
And although power has been restored to many areas, engineers are still working to reconnect thousands of homes across Angus and Perthshire.
“SSE are doing everything they can,” Fleur added.
“It’s just that there has been so much destruction.
“It’s a huge task for them – it isn’t just a few trees that came down, there are huge swathes.
She said: “I wanted to maybe try and cheer people up a little but so I decided to write a little poem about it.
The extended version…..
An ode to the first storm of winter 2021….
Sending out a little plea,
To the chaps at #SSE,
Tea lights are so very cosy,
But our cheeks are none too rosy,
Romantic notions wearing thin,
Stoically brave we take it on the chin.— Fleur (@fleurrbie) November 29, 2021
“And there has been a lot of good that has come out of this in terms of the community spirit.
“People want to look after each other and we have had so many offers of help, which is lovely.”
Fleur’s Ode to Arwen
Sending out a little plea,
To the chaps at #SSE,
Tea lights are so very cosy,
But our cheeks are none too rosy,
Romantic notions wearing thin,
Stoically brave we take it on the chin.
But the laundry is piling high,
Bedtime stairs are trod with a sigh,
We’ve snuggled up in bags of down
But Arwen’s legacy has caused a frown.
Still I reach to flick the switch,
Forgetting that there’s an outage glitch.
Dreaming of… men in high vis clad
Would make this lass unbelievably glad!
Send armies with chainsaws – the jobs a good ‘un!
Days of cold and no light really ain’t much fun.
It’s the darkest hours of wintertime
I’m beginning to run out of poetic rhyme!
Defrosting freezers and a frozen nose,
My sock drawer empty to warm up my toes.
So if I may be ever so bold
It’s winter, and damn it’s cold.