Rose is usually difficult to photograph, in that she will rarely look into the camera – some sort of border collie eye thing, I think. She loved sitting in the Pig Barn with me in front of some Maria’s newly-minted potholders, which she is cranking out in preparation for the Christmas shopping season. Ordering batting and backs. The Pig Barn is a great setting in the afternoon light.

  Izzy got some burrs caught in his tail and Maria bent down to pull them out and got swarmed by Lenore and Rose, who showered her with licks. Izzy remained cool, as always.  Izzy is Mr. Smooth.

 Downpour on Route 30, Salem, N.Y.

  Thomas Merton wrote that the only solution to life is life. I think I am getting to understand what he means. Like many culture debates, discussions over Positive Thinking have been hijacked by extremists, opportunists and professional depressives. People argue that you can get what you want by wanting it. Others that the world is a dark and evil place, and that should never be forgotten.
  In my own life, I am coming to understand something important. There will never be enough money, security, recognition, good news and health to feel completely safe. That is a chimera.
 We all worry about money, work, relationships, illness, accidents. I don’t think it is possible for anyone to feel entirely safe and secure in this or any other world I know of.  It would not even seem a worthwhile goal.
  I think it’s quite important for me to let that idea go of the idea of the windfall, epiphany or circumstance that would free me from fear or worry. For me, being positive is about recognizing that well-being is an internal, not an external thing. I have little or no control on the world beyond my life. My choice lies in life. In work that I love, people that I love, friendships that are honest and nourishing. Taking pictures, telling stories.
   I have worked hard to take care of myself. I eat well, bike around, feel good. I’m facing up to things that need to be faced up, or trying. That’s what I can do. That’s  positive thinking for me.
  The only solution to life is life.

  October 24, 2009 -  The Hancock Tower vanishes into the rainy mist that engulfed the Northeast today.
 Had a great day in Boston. Saw the quirky Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, ate great seafood, prowled Back Bay and the Fenway. Drove back today in downpours. Tomorrow, the sun is supposed to return for a few days. I lived in Boston once, and then Cambridge, and it was always a city I wanted to live in. Maria and I talked about whether we could live in a city now, and I don’t think we could. We are used to space, looking at beautiful things, and quiet.
  When we got to Boston, we found that President Obama was speaking at the hotel across the street, and the streets were swarming with police and Secret Service Agents, along with demonstrators, protesters, and annoyed pedestrians and workers trying to navigate barricaded and sealed off streets. I remember reading that Harry Truman used to walk around Washington every morning with his dog.
  It was nice to come back to the farm. It was nice to go away. Important, I think, to step out of your life once in awhile and look at it differently. I ended up feeling that cities are great places for me to visit, but that I probably would go a bit bonkers living in one. Maria agreed.
  Boston is close enough for us to visit regularly. We will.