9 October

Creativity Conference: Tale Of Two Dogs

by Jon Katz
Creativity Conference: Tale Of Two Dogs
Creativity Conference: Tale Of Two Dogs

Red was, as usual, stellar the Creativity Conference, he kept an eye on me as always but also managed to get a lot of cuddling and attention. He stayed in the workshop rooms all day, never bothered anyone, went after any food, jumped on anyone, or otherwise got into any mischief.

Fate, on the other hand, was a nightmare. She never stopped moving around, checking out every person and room and thing on the floor. She snatched a piece of pastry from a table left on a low hanging window shelf, she got out the open door a dozen times and explored Pompanuck, climbed out onto a soaking wet balcony, she got into the bakery and tried to grab a loaf of bread. She found empty coffee cups and dragged them across the rooms, chew on scraps of paper, she jumped on everyone she saw,  blew off any number of commands.

There was a sweet moment. In the afternoon, Maria threatened me with ruin if I didn’t take a short nap, I was running out of steam. I found a bedroom in a farm corner of the Pompanuck Round House and lay down for a bit. Fate came in with me, she jumped up onto the bed, curled up into a ball and went to sleep. I couldn’t sleep, she napped for 10 or 15 minutes.

When the very fine pizza dinner started to come out of the oven, we put Fate in the car,  she was getting the zooms. It was several hours past her mealtime. On Tuesday, Fate is getting spayed, she is supposed to be still for more than a week. Good luck to us on that.

9 October

“Teaching Free Motion Sewing.” Another Class?

by Jon Katz
Teaching Free Motion Sewing
Teaching Free Motion Sewing

Maria did something at the Creativity Conference Friday that she doesn’t like to do – teach her art. She did a workshop on “Free Motion Sewing,” it was well attended – the audience gathered eagerly and raptly around her –  and she did it well, everybody watched closely and had questions.

But the truth is, Maria doesn’t like teaching  – I do – and I think I might have pushed her into it. I thought she would love it. She didn’t. It made her uncomfortable. We are always learning about one another.

I had encouraged her to try it – she balked – because she is nice and encouraging, and a good listener,  qualities that seem to me to make a good teacher. She was always reluctant. I thought it would be good for her, which in retrospect, seems a bit patronizing.

Maria really didn’t like teaching her class,  she doesn’t even remember much about it. Some people – me – love getting up in front of a crowd of people and talking. Some people do not.

Odd that I was surprised, I think I know Maria well.  And she sure didn’t show any signs of unease. She talked easily and well about her art and the “free motion” sewing she does, but I could see afterwards that it was hard for her to do. It just makes  her nervous talking to a group of people, she associates teaching with giving orders, something she had experienced too much of in her own life.

I love teaching, and I think it’s one of those things that I will do but she will rarely do. A boundary, perhaps.

“It’s your thing, really,” she said, “not my thing.” I think when you hear that said, you have to accept it, and I do. Maria does many wonderful things, and she will figure out on her own what she likes to do and doesn’t. She doesn’t need pushing from me.

Maria doesn’t ever like telling other people what they should do, not in any form. So another lesson for me in the perpetual struggle to let people be themselves, and not make assumptions about them. Not everyone likes to do everything.

9 October

“Lean On Me” – Creativity Conference

by Jon Katz
"Lean On Me"
“Lean On Me”

We spent the day at the first Bedlam Farm Creativity Conference at Pompanuck Farms. There were workshops on poetry, fiber art, writing, blogging, singing and photography. It was a tiring day, even a small conference is filled with excruciating details and a lot of work. I taught the writing and blogging workshops, I very much enjoyed them, the audience – all members of the Creative Group At Bedlam Farm – were committed, intense, bright and passionate about their work.

Even in the rain, Pompanuck was a shining star, a beautiful place to be. I loved the conference, but I don’t know if we will do it again next year or not, up against the Open House, which starts tomorrow, it’s intense.  We are both pretty wiped, and the main event hasn’t even  happened yet.

The Open House looks exciting, clear skies. Lots of art, sheep herding, visits with donkeys and a pony. The shearer is coming tomorrow, the farrier on Friday. There will be poetry readings and talks, big draft horses from Blue Star Equiculture.

The singing workshop serenaded us at the end of the day with a bluegrass version of “Lean On Me.” Sweet. People came from all over the country to meet one another and take part in the workshops. There was a great feeling about it, I pushed hard on the creative impact of blogs and their growing importance to writers. In the morning, we talked about writers.

At dinner, Scott and Lisa Carrino served their increasingly famous pizza. Pompanuck is a great place to retreat to, even in the pouring  rain.

9 October

Next Chapter. Wishing For Rain

by Jon Katz
Wishing For Rain
Wishing For Rain

Feels like a next chapter for Maria and I this weekend, we’ve come a long way since our first Open House in West Hebron, N.Y. five or six years ago. The Open Houses are different now, comfortable, much about art and friendship and community and the love of animals and creativity. Lots of people come back every year, lots of new people come.

I imagine that is so because I am different, and Maria is different. These Open Houses are intimate and they feel nourishing and comforting and sometimes, inspiring. Off to Pompanuck Farms for the day-long conference on being creative. Like Walt Whitman said, we can all offer a verse. Life is a big poem.

It is raining hard today, and will all day, the weekend weather will be perfect. A friend of mine who believes  you can will anything you wish to come to you – I’ve written about this spiritual idea before – called me last week and said she had looked at the weather forecast and if I wanted, she would wish for sun and make it happen. Hmmm, I joked, I didn’t know you were God.

I told her thanks but no thanks, Mother Earth gets to call those shots, not me, and I didn’t think anymore of it until Wednesday morning, when I ran into a farmer from down the road, and he said he and his wife were praying for rain today, they needed it badly for his fields, his pastor said if they prayed for it then the rains might come.

Of course, I thought, there is no one wish that trumps all of the wishes of everyone else, I don’t wish to be God or play God and if there is a God, he ought to read the news, he has better things to do than worry about rain in my town. Acceptance for me is about the embrace of life as it is given me, not as I might selfishly wish for it. The rain will do us no harm today, our conference is indoors. And tomorrow and Sunday look perfect, that is when the people are coming.

I wish to accept what is offered me.

I leave God’s work to God, and Mother Earth’s to her. She let’s me make my decisions, and she can make hers..

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