Day: September 16, 2018

Be aware. This is a hard story to write and a hard story to read. I guess that makes it all the more important.

Treasure is an older dog now in the care of Friends Of Homeless Animals, Central Falls, R.I., she will test the heart and strength of any dog or animal lover.

The original photographs of her taken a year ago when she was found wandering the streets of Central Falls are too horrific even for the FOHA to put up, I would not put them up on my website.

Treasure was found wandering the streets of Central Falls more than a year ago, the media stories about her abuse and injuries triggered a police investigation that resulted in the arrest of three people. You can see the original television story here. Be warned, it is hard to look at some of these images.

You can read the Providence Journal story about Treasure here, she was, for a time, a famous dog. But lots of dogs are abused, and people’s memories are short. Treasure remains in foster care, FOHA has decided she is too fragile to be put up for adoption.

The vet treating her says he is sound, she has some benign tumors that cannot be removed, and a deformed front leg.

The abuse of this dog was so savage that the police launched a major  search for her abusers.

FOHA took her in and put her in animal hospice care thinking she would only live a few weeks, but a year later, she is alive, and sweet and eating well and loving people.

I suppose this a triumph of the forgiving spirit of dogs and animals. Treasure is another one of those dogs that would be almost impossible for me to adopt, emotionally or practically, although I hope that can change one day.

A part of me thinks she should have been euthanized right away, but her foster caregivers says she has plenty of life left in her, she is a loving and peaceable dog. FOHA takes the most hopeless cases, I admire them for that.

Very few rescue groups or shelters I know of would have had the stomach to take in this dog and bring her back to life. This dog is the desperate among the desperate, the kind of dog nobody who is normal or sane wants.

I know this dog is not adoptable right now, and I understand the reality of that.

But Treasure also challenges our humanity, and she represents a powerful change to stand up for our own compassion and humanity. The people who know her believed she would make a great dog in a loving home.

Some people treat dogs cruelly, most people treat them  well. Treasure deserves to be treated well in her remaining time.

In this case, we are on the far edge of animal rescue, the toughest cases, the lost dogs. That will not appeal to everyone, but It may appeal to some. It only takes one, a particular kind of person.

I hope Treasure has some happy tim.

If you are interested in learning more about Treasure, or supporting FOHA’s work,  you can contact Friends Of Homeless Animals, Central Falls, R.I. Thanks, it’s a good cause and I believe in i t..

Two years ago, Susan nearly died.

Today, she put up her photographs on Etsy.

She was abandoned by friends she cared deeply about, she had stopped taking care of herself and ended up in the hospital, very much alone and weary of many years of hiding from emotional struggles, obesity, anxiety and depression.

A beloved member of the Creative Group At Bedlam Farm, she came to one or two of our Open Houses, and embraced the creative ethos of the group and so many of her friends. She came out of her shell long enough for us to get to know her. She fell in love with our donkeys and our dogs.

She became a friend. For the past couple of years, I have watched in awe and admiration and Susan fought back to reclaim – or “reframe” – her life.  I never once saw her smile in that time.

She hardly ever stops smiling now.

Susan decided to light the creative spark and fight her way back to life. This is something so many people say they want to do, but so few actually do. It is so hard to change, I can testify to that. Most people don’t.

I think creativity is only partly about talent, it is mostly about determination. The people who want to do it do it, the people who talk about it rarely do it.

For many years, Susan’s dog Sally was her only companion.  Susan was profoundly alone. Now she and Sally are happy in their new place. Her new friends are coming to visit.

Susan’s story is the stuff of movies. She left her long-time job as a supervisor in a hospital lab, left her home and friends in Long Island, left everything that was safe and familiar to her.  bought a house smack in the middle of Cambridge, our town and began taking some very  beautiful photos.

Her photos became her voice, her way back into life. She is living near us now, is putting together a new life, with new and better friends, and her creativity is emerging with a vengeance. So her courage and determination to chart a new course for her life.

We are thrilled to get to know her at long last, and to know her is to love her.

Susan is brave and honest and caring and quite brave.

She has a new job she loves, and new friends who care for her and who she cares about. Her new home is beautiful and inviting.

Today, a new chapter in her recovery and rebirth, she opened an Etsy studio so people can see and buy her art, in traditional and new and creative ways.

I was privileged to buy one of her lovely photographs this morning for $25, it is a digital file that can be sent to anyone, and I gave my print to Carol Johnson,  who rescued Bud from an awful fate and is sending him to me in a couple of weeks.

She only has a few photographs up so far, and  Maria spent hours Saturday figuring out Etsy, it is a big and important step for her. Creativity is now a central element in her life.

Susan is an artist, her art is just bubbling up inside of her and coming out in the photos.

“I came to photography as a way to expand my creative self,” she wrote on her Etsy page,” it has helped me to reveal the person inside that was hidden for many years. It has been a huge part of the journey that I have been on, the awakening and the life that I have chosen. Thank you for taking the time to look at my work and for  being part of my joyous existence.”

Thank you, Susan, for being such a good friend to me and to Maria. We are so grateful to share our lives with you and benefit from your courage, warmth and intelligence. You are such a good friend, and such a creative human being.

This kind of message and so public a sharing of her work would have been inconceivable for Susan even a short time ago. She is coming out of hiding, she on fire. Check out her new Etsy page, it is in so many ways, a symbol of the new voice she has discovered deep within herself.

Red comes out every morning, today there was fog, and he sits by the gate waiting for me. Behind him, Maria is shoveling manure out to the manure pile, soon to be distributed among friends and our own gardens.

Red is passionate about loyalty, he always waits for me, works with me, comes back into the house with me. He is the most wonderful dog for me, always present, never intrusive.

Donkeys are notoriously grumpy and standoffish with humans, perhaps the result of being overworked and mistreated for centuries. Our donkeys are Love Donkeys, they have never known abuse or mistreatment they love attention.

Lulu and Fanny love it when the Farrier comes, more and more, we don’t even use a rope to hold them. They love being touched, groomed, loved, and they love back.

Every morning, Maria appears in the pasture with a brush, and the donkeys slide up to her and wait to be groomed. They love this attention, and she and they have the most beautiful conversations.

We have Love Donkeys.

I took this photo with my Archomat Art Lens (first manufactured in 1819). I love the colors, I put my favorite blue clay flower pot in the blue birdbath, and they loved each other. This photo tells a story. Summer, Fall, Life, Death, Color, Emotion.

I think we all can find out own story in it, there is just a lot of feeling. I love living in nature, I was without it for so long, and now I can’t imagine living so far from nature again, it connects me to history, humanity, and the struggles of Mother Earth to be heard and loved.

Audio: Deep Peace from the writings of Thomas Merton, read by me.