Day: June 10, 2017

Maria and I both agreed that this was perhaps the best and most meaningful Open House we have yet hosted. I also believe it was the all-time busiest Saturday turnout today, there were people all over the farm from 10:30 to 4:30 p.m. I didn’t do an exact count, but I’d guess five or six hundred people came all together today.

They came and went in a steady stream.

Above, Margaret Waterson read four or five of her poems to the Open House visitors, the crowd there was the largest poetry reading crowd we have ever had.

The feeling was rich and loving and warm. The Army Of Good turned out in force, and  it was wonder to have the RISSE soccer team there singing and the Mansion residents mingling with the crowd, often with people who have been sending them letters and gifts for months.

I heard about people’s lives, people’s dogs, and about the New York Carriage Horses, I even got a New York State Farm Bureau Baseball Cap, which I love from Chip Barrett, a dog breeder and member of the NYSFB.

Red and Fate and I did five or six sheep herding demos, the dogs were great. Our donkeys, usually friendly, wouldn’t come near the pasture gate because Sweet Sally the cow was in a fenced-off partition right near the gate. Nor would they come close to anyone who had touched the cow, which was almost everyone

Maria sold a lot of art in  her studio, there were lines all day long, and I loved meeting so many good people from the blog and my books (I sold a lot of copies of “Talking To Animals.”) Red and Fate are so beloved, and lots of people are waiting for the adventures of Leroy. As you know, things tend to happen around here.

And the RiSSE Soccer team was a  hit singing “We Are The World,” by Michael Jackson.

I am tired beyond rationality, so I will sign off for tonight and try to sleep.

I will offer a fuller account of my feelings tomorrow night or Monday. I am still sick a bit, and antibiotics and strong sunshine does not always mix. I’ll be raring to go in the morning. I just finished “Shattered,” a book about how Hilary Clinton lost the election and am reading a new book about George Orwell and Winston Churchill, two warriors for freedom.

It’s called “Churchill and Orwell,” and I am loving it and finding it especially  relevant to our time.

After they sang “We Are The World” at the Open House today, I presented the RISSE soccer team with a Yamaha digital piano thinking they might wish to start a band. And they do. They had a meeting and they decided to name the band “The Bedlam Farm Musical Band.” I told them a dozen times they didn’t need to do that, but they didn’t pay much attention to me.

Ali is excited, he says they will work hard on their music in the fall and through the winter. They’re going to find someone who can teach piano (two of the kids play the piano) and we’ll see what happens.

It is strange to have a band or a soccer team named after my farm, but as Ali told me, the support the team has been getting from the blog has been nothing short of a miracle. He is going ahead to buy new soccer uniforms with the name “The Bedlam Farm Warriors,” and an image of Red on the front of the jersey.

I can’t quite imagine what the band will look like. The kids are quite excited about the band, and I admit I am proud to have the farm’s name attached to the idea of making music and giving creativity a chance to blossom.

The America that I believe in and they believe in offers everyone a change to move up. We were not meant to be a nation for the few and not the many.

A new chapter in my life for sure, but a joyous one. These are wonderful people, they deserve the very best their new home can offer them. Last year, arsonists burned down the RISSE offices, this year the are fielding a strong soccer team, getting snappy new Jerseys, going on retreat at Pompanuck Farm, going on Saturday and birthday excursions all summer,  and spending a day at the Great Adventure Amusement Park in Lake George in July.

I am, along with many others, including Maria and many readers on the blog, determined to make this year a vastly better one that last year. We are on the way. We are the world, I think.

I confess to loving Peggie, she is a fierce lover of life. Even thought she often suffers considerable discomfort, she is almost always, cheerful, optimistic and grateful for what she has. She came to the Open House today, and our friend Anne brought two kitchens and put them up for adoption.

She is a great admirer of Red and loved watching him work.

They were taken home by Carol Gulley, no surprise there, she has rescued countless creatures on her farm and in her life. Peggie loves animals and said she would love to take the kitten home. But it wasn’t possible. Peggie’s exuberance for life is infectious and impressive.

She accepts the limitations of her life, but I could tell it was hard for her to leave the kitten behind. She talks to h er late husband every day and she is writing a story about it for our story-writing workshop.

She might love a stuffed animal of a kitten, she doesn’t have one, and she loves working on jigsaw puzzles, she is good at it.  You can write to Peggie c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

The Risse soccer team came to the Bedlam Farm Spring Open House today and they sang Michael Jackson’s “We Are The World” to the accompaniment of local musicians Gordon and Jeff McQuerry, two gifted brothers. Coming from them, the song had special meeting.

It was the team’s first public musical performance, and they got off to a slightly slow start, but Ali got them going quickly enough by yelling “sing!” The song was a smash, and the team was awarded a digital piano from Yamaha, they are thinking of organizing a band. I hope they do, I will support it in any way I can.

This was a special Open House, a very powerful one and these kids were a huge part of that. They are no threat or danger to us, they are warm, hard-working honest people struggling to make their way in a confused and conflicted America.

After their appearance, I led a caravan to the new Round House Cafe, and the team had sandwiches (meat or veggie), drinks and the choice of several different kinds of soup. Several have been challenging me to a thumb wrestling match, thumb wrestling is my only sport, I usually win. I won a few rounds today.

I took this short video of them singing, as promised. Come and see. It had me in tears, they picked a wondrously apt song to sing in our country right now. This was perhaps the best moment of all of our Open Houses, today’s was truly a festival of love as well as art.

 

Five residents from the Mansion were able to make it to the Spring Open House today, I’m afraid I couldn’t get a photograph of all of them together, but I was very moved by this gift they gave me, signed by many of the residents Red and I visit and that you help every day.

Today, we honored our better angels and celebrated the Army Of Good.

A lot of work and thinking went into it, and we hung it on the barn wall for tomorrow’s Sunday Open House. It was addressed to me, Maria and Red. I love it and will hang it in my office, it was one of the loveliest gifts I have ever received. The residents were here for about three hours and I think they had a good time.

I saw them laughing and talking every time I looked. They watched Red work with the sheep.

They had never seen Red herd the sheep before, the listened to the music and the talks and chatted with many of the visitors, some of whom recognized them from the blog. I hope they  will be our honored guests at every Open House we host. A deep and enduring new tradition.

This Friday, I will get to work on the stories they are writing for our writing project. Perhaps in October, they can read from it. That is something to look ahead to.

They love receiving your letters, and July 4th is approaching (hint). Some of the names of the Mansion residents who like getting letters: Bruce, Allan, Sylvie, Jean, John Z, Tim, Ben, John R., Alanna, Reggie, Ellen, Joan, Brenda, Connie, Alice, Madeline, Mary, Barbara, William, Brother Peter, Diane, Helen, Jane, Dottie, Anita, Richard, Gerry, Charlotte, Arthur, George.

You can write the residents c/o The Mansion, 11 S.Union Street, Cambridge N.Y., 12816.