Day: March 8, 2011

Caught the sunset on Route 40 in Argyle. It was worth the wait.

Frieda’s daily training today was in the pasture, being near the donkeys and waiting for Maria. She did very well, and sat calmly until Maria came down. More calming training.

One of the things I am learning about life: it does not ever go in a straight line.

Also, don’t make predictions. Don’t make assumptions about the lives of other people. Stop making struggles and drama. Make your own news. Ignore the expectations of other people regarding your life. Find love wherever you can get it and hang on for dear life.

Oh yeah, and don’t let the peckerheads, toothless ducks and midgets of the world get you down. They will gum you to death of you let them. Put your lips to the world. And just live.

I have written adult books – memoirs, non-fiction essays, novels, even mysteries – for some years now, and you never know what will happen with a book. My first children’s book, “Meet The Dogs of Bedlam Farm” was the first real use of my photography in a book. I thought the book to be a simple and quiet tribute to Lenore and my dogs. It is making a lot of noise. Great reviews, early reprints, big orders from the right places. My publisher – Henry Holt – sending me on a national book tour – so far, to Boston, New York, New Jersey, Woodstock, Chicago, Cincinnati, Portland, Seattle, just to name a few. I can’t quite imagine what a children’s book tour will be like. But I will be doing an “Inside The Book Tour” and will share what I learn with all of you here and on Facebook.

This is a serious book tour and I know publishing well enough to know when a publisher is really behind a book. Holt is really behind Lenore and me and the dogs. So this is going to be wild ride, I think. One of my writing goals was to write good children’s books.  I think I am close to that.

And on September 27, my book on grieving for pets will be published by Random House. “Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die.” An important year for my writing.

Life does not move in a straight line.

I’m reading each of my dogs the chapters introducing them in my first children’s book “Meet The Dogs of Bedlam Farm.” Well, maybe John Updike wouldn’t have done this, but I’m plunging headfirst into the new world. As I told a bookstore owner I had lunch with last week, I intend to be relevant. (He didn’t seem impressed at all when I showed him the reading to Frieda video. I thought he might lose his avocado salad). I read Rose her chapter this morning in the farmhouse, and I thought of shooting the video (actually Maria shot the video) outside, but I like the intimacy of Rose in her chair.

Next, Izzy. My video reading to Frieda has been a hit on YouTube. Quite a potent thing, social media. I am taking my first video lesson next Thursday, courtesy of Dave Bigler (Dave Bigler Productions). Anyway, I was very proud and happy to read this most deserving of dogs a chunk of “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm,” which is now available for pre-ordering on Amazon and bn.com. Rose is a sweet but very serious dog, and she took it very well.

The book is already in its second printing and isn’t out for two months.

Join Rose and me:

I love the geraniums that Maria brought into the farmhouse this winter. We appreciate them, and they remind us in this beautiful and endless winter that Spring is close.

Living in the country is wonderful, but not without shortcomings. One of them is the long drive to find food, the kind you cook and the kind you sit down to eat. Friends brought us to this wonderful new restaurant right on Main Street in Greenwich, N.Y., that serves the freshest and  most appealing food. This great couple with their baby have left Manhattan to set up life in the country, something Maria and I could identify with. We’ve sort of been fantasizing about a restaurant like this and then it just popped up.

We just loved the place, and expect to hang out there, and I thought how nice I could take a short video and capture the feel of it. Come along with us to a minor miracle in the country, “Dish.” I am really loving this new dimension of story-telling.

I’ve signed up for video instruction with Dave Bigler Productions of Saratoga Springs. I can’t wait. I want to make sweet and evocative little movies.

It was a quiet celebration, about many more things than the obvious. About Maria’s deepening connection with the donkeys. Lenore’s ability to join in anything. The last trappings of an awful storm. The magical part of  life on a farm. The joy of sharing one’s live with a kindred spirit.

When I came outside yesterday, I was discouraged. It was an awful storm. I wondered how I could turn the day into a win. I thought I could as I often do, by taking nice photos. By getting through it. By looking ahead to Spring. By acknowledging the mess and moving on. So I was happy to see the donkeys come down. For all kinds of reasons.

I don’t share the view that we must always be positive, that we can’t allow a gloomy or angry thought to pass through our consciousness. Yesterday sucked. But that wasn’t all it did.