Day: November 4, 2013

Every morning, after I get up, shower and dress, I look for something beautiful to see, photograph, think about. I make time to do it, I force myself to do it even when I am busy and there are lots of other things to do. In my mind, I call this building my center for the day. I believe in the power of the spiritual life, I do it one day at a time, and each morning, I work to reinforce a strong and grounded center for myself – one that will hold up through the challenging day, the messages, the e-mails, the unsought advice, the bad news and arguments,  second-guessing, the praise and appreciation and questions, computers going down, photos getting sucked away in complex programs, modems needing re-setting and repair.

These are the fibers of our lives, our daily existence and I seek a life in balance, I balance these daily challenges with the beauty and light of the world, and today I built my center around one of Maria’s windowsill gallery shows, a blue bottle and some dying flowers. I think about my center in meditation, I fill it up with love and beautiful images and color and light and good work and friends. I re-fill it every day. Most days it holds and gets me to the night.

In this household, Plaid Friday is well on the way to being a national holiday. This is my all soul’s day, the shopping day of values, our defiance of the grip of the smothering Corporate Nation.  In many ways, it is a day to speak out for individuality, independence, community and creativity – how many days offer that opportunity? In a divided nation, this is something that is pulling a lot of us together.

Maria is feverishly working on 100 potholders and other things for Plaid Friday, and I have a big new book coming out just before Plaid Friday that has a story that ends on Christmas Even. It just dawned on me that this is the perfect Christmas gift, it is about love and connection, ends happily on Christmas Eve and even has a green cover (think of it with a red ribbon.) And dogs, too.

Moreover we are giving a great independent bookstore a happy holiday season. If you pre-order the book through Battenkill Books, as hundreds of people already have, you will not only get the book signed and personalize by me and Maria, but you will be eligible to win free books, free photos of Minnie with her hens, and one of 100 bags of free Fromm Family Pet Food. You can also call Battenkill at 518 677-2515. They are awfully nice, they take Paypal and ship anywhere. You can also visit my books page to see other places to buy the book, which is already in it’s second printing. I am hoping to lead Connie to over 500 sales of “Second Chance Dog” by pub date, which is November 12. Fewer than 200 books to go.

So this begins my Plaid Friday campaign for my new book, part of the new book tour I am embracing and beginning to enjoy. It is a lot of work, the rewards are great, it my intention for “Second-Chance Dog” to be a national best-seller, an affirmation of the book itself, as well as the new technology I am using to promote it. If you would like to see some of the early reviews you can see them right here. Buy local and get a happy Christmas dog story to boot.

Minnie is still walking stiffly and awkwardly, she is not yet confident about her movements, even though she seems able to get most of the places she wants to go. She stays close to shelter and safe place, still seems to feel vulnerable. Her safest place is the barn, where she is able to climb up to the top of the hay bales and survey her world in safety. For animals, safe places are crucial to healing. She is the Queen of the barn up there.

I had breakfast with Simon this morning, he was munching his hay, I was eating a piece of toast, it was cold and companionable. We are just really getting into regular hay feedings, the grass is still green this week, but some hard frosts are finally killing it off, turning it brown.

The outer pasture turned out to be a good idea, the brush, apples and meadow grass there gave us an additional month without having to put out the hay Each year is different, the weather is different and I am always surprised by how much three donkeys and five ewes can eat. The longest my grass has ever lasted was Thanksgiving, that was two years ago. Climate change is felt by anyone with a farm and animals, it was just a few short years ago that the first storms came in mid-October, and the weather has driven the hay farmers to distraction, it is either too wet or too dry.

Simon doesn’t really care of course, his second cut hay looks good and green.