For me, there is nothing more beautiful than the winter sky, haunting, piercing, full of hope and meaning. It whispers to me to love my life, and remember that every day is precious, and needs to be considered and lived.
“And I am not without hope. I knew a man who, in the age of chainsaws, went right on cutting his wood with a handsaw and an axe. he was a healthier and a saner man than I am. I shall let his memory trouble my thoughts.”
– Wendell Berry
Rose on our daily walk. Sauntering.
Something inside of people seems to need demons and drama. Some people need Sarah Palin, others Barack Obama. An artist I know hates gallery owners, and writers blame publishers. Or agents. Or mom and dad. The world doesn’t care about us. They only care about money, blah-blah.It’s easier, I suppose, than taking responsibility for one’s life, and many of us – me, for one – grow up with a running narrative of demons and dramas. My parents, my family, my unhappy childhood, my difficult family, bad and mean bosses, ungrateful uncaring friends. For so many years, the story of my life, my narrative was one of struggle and lament. And drama. So much conflict, resentment, a long parade of demons.
I am working to change the narrative of my life. It’s kind of pointless to keep telling the same old stories. Tough childhood. Lots of fear. Tough divorce. Loneliness. Spent too much money, too many conflicts, too many awful bosses, unfair decisions, everybody pickin on me. Creative people are particularly wedded to narratives of lament. Nobody supports us. Nobody buys what we create. It’t tough being a writer. It’s tough being an artist.
Nuts, I think. It’s tough being a bank teller, or a welder on a GM assembly line. Or a convoy driver in Afghanistan. People who get to create things are among the lucky and blessed of the world. I am working to put a new groove in my head. There are plenty of tough things about life, and they will find me soon enough and surely enough, and I will deal with them. But I am working on a new story, leaving the old one behind. I don’t like it, really, and hope not to need it anymore. I think part of the pathway to a truly spiritual life is to calm the mind, and allow enough quiet and thought to understand what living in the moment means, and to even do it. No more laments. I don’t really need demons any more.
Or drama.
I like 2011. I have a lot of good stuff going on. Next week, I’m starting work on my book “Frieda: Love Story.” I’ll be going to the shelter where Maria found here, tracking down the animal control officer who caught her after a year and finding the area where she ran wild in the Adirondacks. The Gallery 99 Show in Glens Falls is in February and I will be speaking there and selling framed photos and prints for less than $99. Maria and other fine artists will be there also.
Speaking at the Woodstock Writers Festival in April. My first children’s book comes out in May. I am doing a story-telling workshop in the spring at the Clifton Park (Half Moon) Library in Clifton Park, N.Y. I will be selling notecards and shortly adding some new series – barn cats, Dairy Barn, Maria and the Donkeys, Christmas Cards. My book on grieving for animals – “Going Home: Finding Peace When Animals Die” is out in October. (In January of 2012, I’ll be speaking about the book at the North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC) in Orlando, Fla.)
But one of the sweetest moments for me will be the library tour, where Maria and I tear around the Northeast visiting eight public libraries in less than a week to try and help make the point that libraries are precious, and we need to do everything we can to support them, recognize their immense worth, and keep them going. Libraries are getting chewed up all over the country, and their loss would be awful and irreparable, I believe.
So I’m beginning to focus on the tour, getting spellings and dates and times right. It’s confusing, still. Lots of requests, could only accept a few.
The programs very a bit, but generally I’ll be talking, taking questions, having a conversation about “Rose In A Storm” and my other books, writing and experiences with dogs, animals and rural life. Books will be sold at some libraries, not at others. I’ll sign all of them of course. I’ll also be talking about the grieving book, and the book I am working on about Frieda. Library crowds tend to be small and intelligent, and I enjoy them very much. Libraries are precious, a part of the national soul.
If you are coming, please check times with the library, as they are subject to change. It will be exciting. No publisher or publicists. No dogs. Just me and my former girlfriend, celebrating libraries and writing.
The tour begins Sunday, 2 p.m., January 23 at the Pember Library in Granville, N.Y.
Monday, January 24: 6:30 p.m. The Community Library of Cobbleskill/Richmondville, N.Y..
Tuesday, January 25, 7 p.m: Scoville Memorial Memorial Library in Salisbury, Ct.
Wednesday, January, 26, 7 p.m., The Free Library of Northampton Township, Pa. (Bucks County), Richboro, Pa.
Thursday, January 27, 7 p.m. The Rochambeau (Hope Street) Branch of the Providence Public Library, Providence, R.I. This is my hometown library, the place a librarian told me she would see my books on her shelves one day. And I believed her. And she was right. She changed my life, and helped me become a writer. My first time back in Providence in a very long time. I will visit my parents graves there.
Friday, January 28, 1 p.m., The Osterville Village Library, Osterville, Mass. (Cape Cod.)
Friday, January 28, 7 p.m., The Scituate, Mass. Public Library, Scituate, Mass.
Saturday, January 29, 2 p.m., The Edgartown Library, Edgartown, Mass. (Martha’s Vineyard).
It seems that at this moment, many in this country are thinking about what kind of a country it ought to be. I believe it ought to be a country that supports and cherishes our libraries, where librarians have fought for all of us, regardless of where we come from or how much money we have. They are the antithesis of the Corporate Ethic dominating America. They were out of love, and are poorly rewarded for their troubles. I am so pleased to be able to to focus even a small amount of attention on how important they are. If you can, come by and see us. If not, please support your local library in any way that is comfortable for you.
I’ve lived on the farm since 2003, walked to the barn every day. I don’t remember ever seeing bird tracks before.Either they weren’t there, or I never looked. Probably the latter. I love photography for many reasons, one of them being that you see the world anew every day. Driving to Manchester to the Image Loft to meet with Jake and Carolyn about my photo selection for the Gallery 99 Show in Glens Falls next month, I briefly turned the radio on, heard some news and then turned it off.
This photo was the big news for me today, and I prowled around the tracks for awhile trying to figure out why I never saw them before. I guess you see what you can.
The donkeys are doing all right for donkeys. They get one/third of a bale of good hay a day, plus fresh water. Two or three times a week, they get equine cookies – hard baked with oats and vitamins. Maria brings them carrots each day and applies and they love to stand and crunch with her. They are remarkably gentle, eating the food carefully without ever coming near fingers. They are lucky. We are lucky.
