29 September

When “The Mansion” Came To Bedlam

by Jon Katz
When The Mansion Came To Bedlam
When The Mansion Came To Bedlam

Three vans pulled into the farm a little before 1 p.m., about 12 residents of the Mansion Assisted Care Facility, where Red and I do some therapy work, came by to see the farm, see the dogs work, meet the donkeys, feed some carrots to the pony, and join us for lunch out by the pasture.

It was a beautiful day, and our guests had a lot of questions for Maria and I. Some of the visitors couldn’t walk comfortably to the pasture gate, most came up to the fence with bits of apples, a few came into the pasture to see Chloe and touch the donkeys.

They talked about their past lives, on farms, in homes, about their families, their dogs, their cats and cows. They opened their box lunches and had wraps and potato chips. We all had lunch together. They spent a couple of hours here, and I took some portraits I’ll share later today.

We were happy to have them here, we love living in a place people want to come and see. Many of them talked about how soothing the farm was, how skilled Red is a herding dog. Some had a wicked sense of humor, others were quiet, reflective. Everyone I asked wanted to have their photo taken, and I think I like some of the portraits. Their faces would make a wonderful show at the Round House.

Afterwards, we went down to Stannard’s vegetable stand and bought 20 pumpkins for them to take back to the Mansion and decorate. I was touched by the energy and affection of the staff, who knew their charges well, watched over them and made sure everybody got to do what they wanted to do.

I watched these people, some were  frail, a few confused, others sharp and keenly aware. It was so important for them to come here, to see the animals, to sit in the sun and look out at the pastures down the road, and see the animals come up to the fence. To see them reconnected with life.

Fate was mostly good, she did try and jump on one or two people, my shaking of the choke chain settled her down. We hope they come often and stay late, we had a lot of fun getting to know them. Red and I will see them in a few days, we do therapy work at the Mansion.

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