27 February

Strong Women: Kelley At The Bog

by Jon Katz
Strong Women
Strong Women

You can always tell a strong woman if you are a photographer, they look in the camera, smile and dare you to take their photograph. Kelley is a strong women, when she is working she tends bar, waits on 20 or so tables and handles everything with grace and a smile. She works at the Bog, a great place to get a hamburger and a drink in our town. There is a great energy that emanates from her, and a great deal of good will, you can see it in her smile. The Bog has brightened this winter for us.

27 February

Strong And Beautiful Woman: Mary Kellogg

by Jon Katz
Strong Woman
Strong Woman

I love doing portraits and especially love photographing creative people, the spark shows up in their faces and in this photo of Mary Kellogg. As she enters her 85th year – “I can’t have too many more,” she says – she is excited about her third volume of poetry – “How To Dance” – she is more radiant, enthusiastic, creative and beautiful than ever. Mary is a light unto the world, an inspiration to Maria and to me. She will be celebrating her poems and reading from her new book at the first Bedlam Farm Open House, June 27-29.

Mary lives alone on her 30-acre farm not too far from us, she loves being there, it is her place on earth. “Do you ever thinking of moving to someplace else?,” I asked. “Closer to a town.”

“No, not ever,” she said right away. “Why would I?”

27 February

Mary Kellogg: The Sacred Spark, The Joy Of Creativity. How To Dance

by Jon Katz
How To Dance
How To Dance

Mary Kellogg has just turned 85, she has finished her third work of poetry – “How To Dance” – and I went to see her on her farm in North Hebron this morning to take her portrait for the book cover. I love taking Mary’s picture. Mary writes by her desk in her bedroom, and I was touched to see the mirror helping to capture her joy in creating. The creative spark lives very strongly in Mary, it grows stronger and stronger as she struggles with the inevitable challenges of aging.

Mary lives on a remote hillside on a 30 acre farm, she loves every minute there, even through a winter as rough as this one. Members of her family, including her children, grand-children and great-grand children come up to see her often. She lived in this house with her beloved husband Dick, and she cared for him for ten years after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She promised him that he would remain at home, and he did.

Mary and I became friends in 2006 when she showed me some of the poems she had been writing since she was eleven but had never shown to anyone, including Dick. She thought people might think her strange. She said no one had ever encouraged her before.  I told her they were brilliant and I told her I wanted to publish them. Maria and I had just met and she agreed to help me, our love was forged in part by our work with Mary, it was the first time Maria had supervised a creative project,  and we worked so beautifully and easily together.

When I told Mary we were dating, she said, “oh, good, dear, she’s such a nice girl and she will keep you in line.” So she has. Mary is precious to us, and we are thrilled that she will be reading from “How To Dance” at the first Bedlam Farm Open House, June 27-28 at Bedlam Farm. Maria is editing that volume as well – two strong women working together. The circle turns and turns. Several other poets will be presenting their work as well that weekend – Kate Rantilla, Doug Anderson, Tom Atkins. Poetry and art are the theme of that weekend, along with sheepherding and donkey-cuddling.

Mary is a born poet, a natural poet, it was so beautiful to see her at her desk and have the privilege of photographing this private, self-reliant person. She is a testament to the joy and power of creativity, and the need all of us have for encouragement. I love Mary and admire her, she will always be one of the most beautiful women I have ever known.

27 February

Winter In Pursuit: Frost-Free Succumbs

by Jon Katz
Frost Free Succumbs
Frost Free Succumbs

We’ve been hearing for days that the frost line in the ground has deepened to five feet and water pipes to homes are bursting all over the place. We got evidence this morning that this is true, our wonderful frost-free water line to the barn stopped pumping water and when we went to the basement to look at the water line, it was frozen, a huge icycle spreading to the floor. We turned it off, I imagine it will not be working again until May.

The farmhouse draws water from a point well, that is running, we are fortunate in that. But the line to the frost free runs four feet underground and that has probably just given way to the relentless cold, which is freezing the ground to nearly unprecedented depths. It will be fascinating to see if this is just a bad winter or a dramatic change in the way we live. In any case, back to hauling buckets of water  from the bathroom to the barn.Lucky it lasted this long, and it will not be resolvable until May. This winter is a hummer.

Email SignupFree Email Signup