The first potholder. Maria has saved it, and hung it in her Studio.

  Going to NYC Thurs for the morning to meet with editors and marketers at Holt/McMillan, my Children’s Book Publisher. We are finishing work on “Lenore Finds A Friend,” editing “The Dogs of Bedlam Farm,” waiting to edit “Lenore and Frieida,” and today I sent off “Go Dreaming With the Dogs of Bedlam Farm,” a picture book.
  Lot of work to do, but I am excited about writing books for kids. I’ll be back Thursday evening.
  Maria’s potholder campaign has inspired me to think differently about selling photos. Met with Jon and Carolyn of Image Loft in Manchester, and we are all committed to selling some of the photos more cheaply, which is to say, under $200. Those would be primarily dog and animal shots. The farmscapes, and some of the other portraits from “Portraits Of My Life,” a talk and art show to begin at the Redux Gallery in Dorset, Vt. on January 9 or 10 will be higher, but not all that much higher.
 I think it’s important for people who consider themselves artists to find ways of selling their work more cheaply. I think old notions of what art is worth are collapsing a bit, as are many other things. We’ll see if there’s a good balance. I’ve got 23 photos I really like from different aspects of my life – Kinney Road, Last Days of Dairy Barn, Washington County Fair, my dogs and sheep – that have to be winnowed down to about 18, and I have to make sure the framing doesn’t run away with itself. Photography is a tough sell under the best of circumstances, and these aren’t those.
  I’m excited about the show, and about the prospect of taking a cue from Maria’s potholders and thinking about different ways to sell things. I have no interest in selling a lot of photos, or of selling them online, or of selling T-shirts, caps, or other stuff.