3 June

What Is A Life? Auction Day. Florence and Me

by Jon Katz
Maria's Studio

Maria’s New Studio Barn: New Bedlam Farm

As nearly as I can remember, this was my first auction, surely the first one at which I bid on anything. I kept thinking all day, “what is a life?” Can you see it here, is it on display. I had a lot of different feelings about the auction as the day went on, the striking background sing-song of Ron Seifert, the murmurs and commentary of the large crowd. There were many different kinds of people at the auction. The pros and veterans, almost frantically scanning the furniture and glassware, their professional eyes focused, almost cold, rude, pushy. There was something almost predatory about them, they rushed into every nook and cranny looking for anything valuable, hidden or withheld. The auction workers told me they could be frightening.

Then there were the many people who knew and loved Florence, and they wanted a piece of her, something to remember her bye. And then the locals, many of whom love auctions, bringing their families, their chairs, beer and soda, sandwiches, not really there to buy or bid but mostly to see this very compelling scene – a life in bits and pieces, brought out to the world to be scattered to the wind forever. I can’t say how Florence would have felt – I didn’t know her that well. I suspected she would have wanted her good and fine things to be loved and go out into other homes and families. She had collected things all her life, and her granddaughter told me she loved to go to auctions and pick up horse trinkets and her blue glass. Auctions are an old and beloved tradition in the country, surely as warm and humane as selling to dealers.

I felt protective of the house. It isn’t mine yet, but I was uneasy at the hundreds of people poring through every room. It did feel invasive to me – not the selling so much as the evolution of this private dream home into a frantic and crowded public space, people streaming through. The auction people were wonderful, to me and Maria and to everybody else. Maria finally got to see the inside of her Studio, and she loved it. It will be perfect for her, important given how much she loves her Studio Barn. This will make this place hers as well.

I got my number – 226. There was only one thing I was determined to get, one of Florence’s old blue kerosene lamps, electrified. Quite beautiful. I got several, in fact, the one I wanted for $120. That was all I really wanted of Florence’s – a blue lamp to keep her presence burning. And a painting from a member of her family. When all was said and done, this was a life I saw being carted out in front of me, and I didn’t really feel easy getting much more of it.

Many people asked me if I was nervous or uneasy about getting to this place, about selling the farm. I am not. Like a lot of curious people, I am generally afraid of things that are not especially frightening. The really scary things – moving to a farm in my 50’s, buying a house before selling mine, upending my life at 60  – do not frighten me much. I am a follower of Henry David Thoreau and Winston Churchill. A live lived in fear is unbearable to me. I will not lead a small life.

Failure and defeat are not options. It is our destiny, mine and Maria’s,  to be in that house, just as it was my destiny to come to Bedlam Farm. And meet the love of my life there. We were meant to be in that house. We will be. It is really as simple as that, truly,  and we cannot wait to get there and share this new chapter. The rest is just background noise.

When I saw Maria look up in her new studio – cluttered with junk and debris – and saw her light up, I began to cry, to tear up. “What’s wrong,” she said, concerned. “Nothing, nothing. Just seeing you love it so much.” I felt the same way about the parlour, where people were laid out on farms when they died. I will write there.

This is the way I see it. Some things in life just need to happen, are meant to happen. And they will happen. Those things are often beyond my rather puny ability to shape or determine. I am not sure what exactly, but I know I am part of something larger than myself, and I trust that. This is the Leap Of Faith. That was Florence’s life on this day, and mine. Godspeed to  her and her beautiful things.

3 June

Bedlam In New Bedlam: Auction!

by Jon Katz
Auction In New Bedlam

We were stunned to see the crowds at Florence Walrath’s home today. They arrived at 9:30 and the place was overrun by noon. These people are not casual either. They are focused, and don’t stand in their way.  Maestro Ron Seifert kicked off the Florence Walrath Estate Auction at our new home – the New Bedlam Farm – today. It’s not ours until July, but it felt strange arriving there and seeing hundreds of people sitting on the lawn and cars up and down the road. The auction ran from noon to 5 and it was emotional seeing Florence’s life leave her home bit by bit. We stood next to Florence’s granddaughter Laurie who told us the history of a lot of the things we were seeing. We visited Rocky a few times, and he and Maria kept one another calm.

We bought a few lamps, a painting and some of Florence’s blue glass. There was a lot of bidding on her furniture and a Stickley desk found in her basement (she put paint cans on it) sold for $32,000. It was uncomfortable seeing hundreds of people pour through the house, even though it isn’t ours yet. There were many friendly blog-readers there, and the auction crowd at large was aggressive, pouring over the property, open doors, peeking into barns, looking into every nook and crevice. Maria got inside of her new studio for the first time. It was emotional, fun, and exciting. We are so happy about this house, and very eager to move into it. I feel there is a lot of momentum working towards this move, and our reducing the sale price $50,000 will get things moving, I believe.

We are not sad about this, or even too anxiious (sometimes). It is the right move for us, and we love the neighbors we have met, the family we have dealt with, and the house we saw go through this very intense transformation today. Ron Siefert is a masterful auctioneer, and I could watch him work a crowd for hours.

This is a big part of life and death here. I’ll write more about it later, and am putting up a photo album on my Facebook page.

Bedlam at the New Bedlam Farm
3 June

Donkeys In A Storm

by Jon Katz
Donkeys In A Storm

The Pole Barn is one of the better investments I made when I came to Bedlam Farm. Animals like donkeys don’t ever really like to be indoors – it isn’t natural for them, as long as they can get out of the cold and heavy rain. In ice storms we sometimes put them in the barn, but the Pole Barn has shelter on three sides, and I put batting in to keep the wind from blowing through. So in bad weather, the donkeys wait it out. We had a nasty storm today and I came to check on them, and it was nice to see this barn so effective.

Bedlam Farm is well put together now for animals, and it will be another challenge to get the New Bedlam Farm going as well.

3 June

Auction: Convergence Of Lives

by Jon Katz
Convergence Of Lives

To be honest, today feels like an important day to me, and to Maria as well. And it is, a convergence of lives, a turning point, a challenge to be strong, be steady. We are buying the home of Florence Walrath, and today most of her precious things are being sold by the family estate at auction. I am going, Maria also. We want to be around our new home, which we already love, even though we don’t yet own it.

I hope to take photos and hopefully to buy one of two things to remind us of this independent and much loved woman, a lover of horses (Rocky being one of them), a proud spirit who refused to leave her house even at 103, even after a bad fall. For me, auctions are emotional, the pieces of someone’s life scattering to the wider world.

For me also, a testing time. We are buying the new home but we have not yet sold Bedlam Farm, a beautiful place but still, tied to the larger swirling economic forces that grip so many people while our leaders squabble and posture and collect their campaign dollars.  Not a stirring image, but still, I am not into blaming others for things. Up to me to figure out my live. Last week, we lowered the price of the house by $50,000. (We lowered it $25,000 earlier). In this market, people buy bargains and our home is now a bargain. I admit I did not imagine this, but I will also accept it. Lots of people have.   In the new real estate market, this is how houses are sold. You do what you have to do.

Maria is no stranger to economic struggle, but it is newer to me. I always worried about money, but I always had some. She never had much, so she says it is not that much of a change.  It was always easy to earn some more. Not so easy now. And I am one of the lucky ones, I have so  much good work to do, no matter what it pays. I know that very well.

This is healthy in a way, as I feel intensely connected to the world, a very good thing for a writer, or a photographer, too, for that matter. Arrogance is not especially creative. Humbling can be.  It opens me up to universal experience. When I write that everyone has a harder life than I do, this means for me that I understand that almost everyone is struggling in one way or another – people with money as well. This sense of struggle is closely tied to the love of animals – they nourish and comfort us. I have never believed that money brings happiness. I was never more miserable than when I had some money, and I know a lot of wealthy people more unhappy than I ever imagined.

So today, a turning point, a convergence of lives. Florence’s. Maria’s. Mine. Some animals, and a blind pony. An intersection of spirits, ceremony of change, a ritual of time and of life. They don’t hold auctions when people are born, so they are filled with meaning and feeling, at least to me. Everybody says that auctions are struggling, nobody’s buying old stuff, but I suspect that is not really true. We’ll see. The blog has always been a journal of my life, where I am, where I hope to go. Today also.

I expect that we will be priced out of Florence’s nicest pieces but I hope to get a couple of things that reflect her spirit and will help us keep her presence in our home. There is not much  money for bidding. We will need it for the new house.The day feels charged for me.  Florence and Rocky are symbols of our new life together and we will visit both of them today, and  also keep him company amidst all of the strangers carting off pieces of his life also. More to share. More to come.

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