Day: June 23, 2015

One day early in the Spring, we began to brush the donkeys and their hair blew around the pasture and into our gardens. In June, we found a nest blown out of a tree near the Dahlia garden. Maria saw that it was made of donkey hair and picked it up and brought it into the farmhouse.

A few days ago, we found a small blue egg lying in the back yard, near the place where the donkey hair nest had blown and been discovered. What a wonder of nature, and of art, in so many ways. Try as I might, I can’t really put the story of the next and the egg together. Did the egg belong in the next? Did a bird bring it to us. Did the bird in the egg hatch, as it seems?

I wrote my own story. The birds made the nest, and worked so hard to make it so beautiful. When a storm came up and blew it out of the tree, they were crushed. It was gone, they could not imagine where it went. They found more donkey hair and built another next. They were grateful for the hair and the use of the apple tree.

In the new next, they laid several small blue eggs. When the eggs hatched, they took one of them and flew it over to the back of the farmhouse, so it  might be found, given a new life on a windowsill in the kitchen, a gracious token of appreciation for the gift of the donkeys and the beautiful, tall and safe apple tree.

Yours is as good as mine, but that’s my story, and I like it.

The summer meadows are among my favorite photographic subjects, they are filled with magic and mystery, they tease me and whisper to me all of the time. Today it was the daisies in Mary Kellogg’s meadow, they were trying to seduce me. They did.

I used to wonder if there would be more books from Mary Kellogg, the wonderful poet from North Hebron. She was into her 80’s and I thought she might tire of the writing process, of the deadlines and readings. I don’t wonder about that any more, I would not be at all surprised if Mary wrote a dozen more volumes of poetry, her mind and soul are made of steel, her heart nourishes the radiance that always comes from her.

This Open House, a theme of art and poetry. Three other poets are coming, Doug Anderson, Tom Atkins, Kate Rantilla. We are happy to celebrate poetry, it is experiencing a great resurgence in America, especially among the young. Mary Kellog is a symbol to both of us not only of the poetic spirit, but the creative spirit.

Mary never showed her work to anyone until she and I met, and I am sometimes haunted by this. How many books would she have published if she had shown her work to someone, if someone had encouraged her. You don’t need a graduate degree to do good work with your mind, Mary reminds us of the power of encouragement and the strength of the creative spark.

We are dedicating the Open Houses this year to one of the people in the world dearest to us, our friend Mary Kellogg, the poet. We have been blessed to have had the good fortune to help publish her first two volumes of poetry, we are thrilled to be helping to publish her third work, How To Dance. The book has some wonderful new poems from Mary and some photos from me.

We went up to Hebron today to see Mary and pick up some of her books to sell. Mary  bought her 30-acre farm on a remote hilltop where she lives by herself, her husband Dick died some years ago. Dick had Alzheimer’s and Mary cared for him herself for 10 years. Mary has been writing poetry since she was six, she is 85 years old. The first person to see her work was me six years ago, and then Maria.

She is a wonderful poet, and an amazing human being, strong, brave and committed to living in the natural world. She is very close to me and to Maria, we are very special to one another. Mary witnessed my relationship with Maria from the beginning, and we have seen her age with extraordinary grace, valor and perspective.

On her hilltop, the phone often goes out, the power is often off. She still moves about 15 acres a week by herself, and one of her daughters has purchased a home nearby. Mary intends to spend all of her days on her beloved farm, she showed us some of her flowers and ponds today. Nature is a part of her heart and soul.

Mary has struggled through some health issues in the last couple of years, she remains radiant and committed to her poetry, her friends and family and to defying the expectations the world has for elderly women. No one defines Mary but Mary. She will be reading from her new work on Saturday at the Summer Open House, Sat and Sun, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kids are welcome, but as there are animals running around, they need to be supervised.

Dogs are loved, but not welcome, it is disruptive and disturbing to the animals here, and some of the people. We will have two portable toilets for the convenience of visitors, the Round House Cafe and the Cambridge Diner are just down the road. I’m excited to dedicate this Open House to Mary, she is the spirit of creativity and encouragement.

Maria chooses every piece of art that is sold at the Open Houses. She usually goes to visit the artist in their studios if that is possible. She gets a commission from each piece of art sold, and I think this is the part of the process she enjoys more than any other.

Carol Law Conklin is a beautiful spirit as well as gifted artist. Her house is crammed with artwork, it covers just about every surface in their home, it is her joy and passion. We came home with a carful of Carol’s wonderful art, she lives about an hour north of us. Maria had a hard time not going back for more. The other artists are coming her during the rest of the week to drop her stuff off, Maria is already clearing her work out of the studio. We are plotting smaller  art shows and creative workshops throughout the year.