4 August

Chloe In The Barn. Horses Are Spirit Creatures.

by Jon Katz
Chloe In The Barn
Chloe In The Barn

I came into the barn this morning to do some chores, and I was startled to see Chloe, our pony, leading on a gate and staring at me. I am just getting to know Chloe, I have not spent much time alone with her.  I am surprised at her independence. I thought she would be like the donkeys, but she is not. She is far more  independent, headstrong, eager to engage. When she hears me or Maria, she whinnies loudly and comes running. She walks with Maria around the pasture, loves apples, corn cobs, oat cookies. She loves to be brushed and attended to.

I went and got her a cookie this morning, I thought that was what she wanted, but she stayed at the gate, watching me, talking softly to me, calling me to come and pay attention to her, scratch her nose, speak with her. That seemed to be what she wanted.

I am surprised by her affection. She is not like a dog, she doesn’t live to please. But I am learning to talk to her, and learning to listen. Horses are spirit creatures, people are important to them.

4 August

The World Is Perfect. It Has Always Been A Mess. Living In Joy.

by Jon Katz
The World Is Perfect
The World Is Perfect

I got a message from J today, she is 62, lives alone on a horse farm in western Maryland. It was the kind of message that humbles and affirms me. She thanked me for the blog and for my insights into my life. She said she survived open heart surgery last year in part because of my writing about my own experience. She said she was alone without friends or family when she had her surgery, and also for the last three years after her divorce.

“At age 62,” she wrote, “I have come to realize I am a resilient woman with strength of character and enough optimism to keep myself independent and happy. The dog and I share a pleasant life as tenants on a small farm. Your writings have made me laugh as well as cry, your wisdom touches me profoundly and I am grateful for the technology that enables your writing to reach me and touch me  every day.”

I was grateful that the same technology sent her message to me, especially at the end of a week when I got many different kinds of messages. I was thinking about her message all day, it put me in a reflective mood. I wonder what J is like, I think I would like her, I think we could be friends. She has learned who she is and accepted who she is, she has been to the other side of the world and back, she has found herself and her own strength, she seems at peace with her life. A rare and beautiful thing,  she is ahead of me, ahead of most of us.

She is a strong woman.

I hope she does not ever give up on life or love.

Her message reminded me of another message, this one from a book on mythology. It said we cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.

People sometimes watch the bad news of the world and tell me they don’t wish to bring children into it. I wonder if they have read their history, when has the world ever been free of sorrow and trouble.

When we talk about the world’s problems, we are asleep, we are looking in the wrong place for answers, we are searching in the wrong direction.

The world is perfect, the world is a terrible mess.

I am not going to speak ill of it, or change it, or even a small part of it.

I can only work on my own small existence, straighten out my own life.

The world has always been a mess. It will always be a mess, that seems to be the nature of human existence.  I never lose hope, but I hope I never run from the reality of the world. Acceptance is the key.

I think J has discovered that as well, I think that is her message.

4 August

When A Meditation Chair Dies

by Jon Katz
The Death Of A Meditation Chair
The Death Of A Meditation Chair

The big old pine tree feel right on top of the private and quiet corner Maria and I built between the garden and the pasture. We planted a garden and shrubs so that our corner could be private, the tree gave us shade and blocked the view from the road. It was quite and beautiful back there, we could look out over the pasture and watch the sunlight come and go. Usually, there was a donkey or a sheep or pony grazing right nearby, the trees blocked out the noise from the road.

I loved to sit in that chair in the evening, put headphones into my I phone and listen to music. I bought the chair nine years ago in Hebron, just down the road from the first Bedlam Farm, a retired marine sergeant named Don Coldwell makes wonderful Adirondack chairs, he befriended me when I moved into my farm there, but we lost touch and I had not really seen him since then.

Maria and I often sat together out in that quiet corner, Flo usually climbs into my lap, Red lies down behind me, the donkeys and Chloe come sniffing around by the fence,  hoping for treats or attention.  I meditated there, and sat out in that chair when I was anxious or sad. I brooded a bit in that chair, looking back on the mistakes and wrong turns in my life, and I felt good there, I felt close to nature. The meaning of life, I often thought there, is whatever it is you wish it to be.

And in that corner is where I did some of my best reflecting on the meaning of life.

Being alive is the point, it is the meaning of life.

I’m not sure how it works, but it seems ironic to be that our quiet little meditation corner was destroyed by a big old pine tree, the tree was probably planted before the civil war. It’s time had come, and it was discreet. It wrecked our chairs and our private space but it spared everything else. I feel things happen for a reason, generally, but I’m not sure what the message is. It’s something I would have considered sitting out in the meditation chair.

The chair looks to be a wreck, and I’m  not sure we will use that corner again as a quiet and reflective space. There is no shade there now, and little privacy. It’s a small thing in the scheme of bigger things, but I’m not sure I will be able to see it as quiet place again.

4 August

The Baby Barn Swallows: Leaving The Nests

by Jon Katz
The Baby Barn Swallows
The Baby Barn Swallows

We have come to love the barn swallows, they live in the barn rafters, make nests and give birth there. When there are babies in the nest, the mothers dive at us, and swoop down close to our eyes, they are trying to distract us and lure us away from their babies. We have five babies in a next in the barn, and they have taken over this wooden perch in the wall, it was probably put there for them.

The baby swallows appeared up there a couple of days ago, and they are beginning to fly in and around the barn. In a couple of days,they will be gone. They are welcome guests, mother had a fit when I approached with the camera, I thought she was going to fly into the lens.

4 August

Pub Date For Simon Paperback: Signed Copies If You Want Them (Free Stuff)

by Jon Katz

Simon paperback

Today is the pub date of the paperback version of “Saving Simon: How A Rescue Donkey Taught Me The Meaning Of Compassion,” it is available everywhere books are sold. There is a special way to get this  (very inexpensive) story if you’d like. I will sign and personalize any copy of the book purchased through Battenkill Books, my local bookstore and a wonderful bookstore. They sold more than 1,000 copies of the Simon hardcover.

You can read Simon’s story, have the book personalized. Battenkill will ship it anywhere in the country. They take Paypal and major credit cards. You can call the store at 518 677-2515 or visit their website. Battenkill Books is an independent bookstore owned and operated by my friend Connie Brooks.

She has several cartons of “Saving Simon,” and anyone who orders the book from her will get a signed (by me) postcard of Simon. You can get the books quickly.

Connie has weathered the last few years of publishing upheaval, she is much loved and doing well. You can support my work and the idea of the independent bookstore, they must not all disappear under the corporate onslaught, bookstores are precious, our communities would be barren without them. If you are considering buying the paperback version of Simon, please consider getting it from Battenkill. Red and I have our own signing pens there.

“Saving Simon” is the story of our beloved  donkey Simon, taken off an upstate New York farm by the police. He was found nearly dead and almost starved. He recovered from his many ailments, came to live with Maria and I and taught me much about the nature of compassion. (I will be talking about this book also on Thursday, when I speak at the Dessert Social Night to benefit the Dover, Vt., Public Library, at the Dover Town Hall, 7-9 p.m.)

The book was essentially abandoned by my publisher after I switched to a different publisher, but in Simon’s honor, we organized our own book tour all around the country and it was a wonderful experience for me and Maria. Simon had a great will to live, his story is very special to me. He died last October, shortly after the book came out, he is buried on the farm.

If you are considering buying the paperback, think about getting it from Battenkill, might make an early Christmas gift to store away, that happens in other years. You will get a signed book and a neat postcard. i will be happy to sign and personalize it for you. And you can help support a wonderful independent bookstore, and the future of individuality in America. Sometimes I think we will end up with one single giant corporation that will control everything. Don’t let it happen. And many thanks.

You can also e-mail the store: [email protected]

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