Day: April 21, 2016

Every Thursday, I go with Maria and our friends Kim and Jack Macmillan to Foggy Notions – we call it the “Bog.” Kelley waits on tables, tends the bar, brings food out to the people playing horseshoes in the back of the restaurant. It is beyond me how one person can handle scores of hungry and thirsty people at the same time while never losing her radiance, her competence, or her wondrous smile.

No matter how many people are there – and tonight there were lots of people – Kelley manages to get everybody’s order (she brings our drinks before we sit down), bring it promptly, sense when we are done, smile every step of the way. I have never seen her lose her cool, not for a moment.

Kelley is a strong woman, a mother and friend to family and others, she never blinks at the camera, turns away or balks at having her picture taken. When I got the new monochrome camera, one of the first things I wanted to do was take her portrait, capture her smile.

I showed her the camera, and asked her if she could come over to the window by the pool table and we could catch the natural light. “Sure,” she said. I’d love one day to publish a book of her smiles, they are warm and genuine, as she is.

It’s a nice way to inaugurate the camera, portraits are something I am eager to do with. I’ve decided to get a 14 mm wide angle Canon lens for this camera, I am going to B & H Photo in New York to trade in one of my two Canon cameras and two lenses, that ought to be enough to cover it. This wide angle lens will be perfect for the farmscapes I want to do here.

The camera is helping me see the world in a different way, but also helping me to see familiar things in a different way. I love the shadows and shading on this photo.

I don’t often see Fate at rest, but we did manage to tire her out today. It was hot, almost 80 degrees. We went for a long walk in the woods early in the morning, we worked with sheep, I ran the dogs (not Red for long) in the side pasture. I had to do farm chores at mid-day and again at 3 p.m., Fate came in to run with the sheep and tear around the pasture. We went for a second walk around dusk.

Fate did not begin to slow down until 6 p.m., when we went out to dinner. The last light caught her as she finally surrendered to fatigue and lay down on her dog bed in the living room. Maria and I are in awe of her energy and tirelessness, a reminder of how much border collies need work and other things to do. She will be up and ready to go in the morning. At night, she sleeps in her crate in our bedroom, I sometimes let her out around 5 a.m, she hops up onto the bed and curls up next to Maria.

Fate lends herself especially well to black and white photography, it works with her color – black and white, with a blue eye – and her intensity and emotion. The new camera likes her.

It was quiet at the Round House today, Ashley was working the counter, and her mood seemed to reflect the quiet peacefulness of the day. I like all of the signs and trappings of a cafe. The staff there is like family now, Kelly called up the other morning pretending to be a Chinese restaurant taking orders, she got me.

Red has arthritis, and the vet has ordered limited duty for the next two weeks. I always chuckle when a vet tells me to put a border collie on limited duty. Red has begun laser treated, is on advanced joint medication. I tried out the first limited duty day today, Red comes out to the pasture at feeding time, he keeps the sheep away from the equine feeder, and then I put him in a lie down.

I took advantage of the opportunity to teach Fate about some wider outruns – she loves outruns. Fate doesn’t really control the sheep so this works out. The sheep don’t know Red can’t run around much, so they behave, more or less. The first day went well. Red doesn’t know that he can’t run around, and I’m not going to tell him. Come and see.

I love the reflection of the tree house in the woods in Fate’s small pond, I was pleased with the image caught by the monochrome camera. I love reflections, they say something about life.