I think sheep are the most difficult animals for me to communicate with, they are most food-centered, there is not great dimension to them, it is difficult for me to grasp the signals they are sometimes sending out. They experience periods of calm and ease, but are the most anxious of the animals I know, perhaps because they are among the most vulnerable.
Sheep are prey, not predators, they have no real means of defense other than to flock together. I communicate with them through food, Maria uses tone of voice and just being close to them. I have gotten them used to my camera by putting it near them when they eat.
I went to George Forss’s Ginofor Art Gallery today to pick up the prints George has printed of 12 of my photos that will be included in the “Landscapes” show George and I are doing together at the Round House Cafe starting in February (reception will be held at the cafe from 7 – 8:30, February 20). George did an astonishing job of printing my photos on some special-order high fiber digital paper, they just look wonderful, Maria and I were both astonished at the quality. The photos will be sold 16 x 20 ” framed and matted.
On Saturday’s, George plays opera on his surround-system speaker system, he says it is good for the soul, and it is. The George Forss Theater Of The Arts was warm and bright and accented by beautiful music piped from the New York Opera Company. I think I will join him next Saturday and listen to the opera, can’t think of a better way to spend some time on a gray winter afternoon. I am grateful to George for the work he did on my prints, I can’t wait to see the prints he makes for his own work, we are calling the show “Landscapes,” different perspectives on the rural and urban landscape, a great honor for me to have a photo show with this photographic legend. And check out George’s newest manifesto, an “Order From The Universe” directing him to form a new kind of community devoted to arts and information. Check out his amazing photos too, on sale at prices that are perhaps the greatest going bargain in photography.
A year after Simon came to Bedlam Farm, I took him out of the pasture to start halter training him, to take him on his first walk. He walked with me out to the Pig Barn, started grazing, another step on his call to life.
The interesting thing about being sick is that makes me appreciate being well. Empathy is temporal, it sometimes takes suffering to make us understand suffering, and in our world right now, empathy seems in short supply sometimes. Maria and I were both uncharacteristically sick this week, she with an abscess tooth, me with viral gastroenteritis, she got well just as I got sick, I took care of her, now she is taking care of me, there is a beautiful symmetry to that.
Maria was in much pain all week, I was in much distress. I love taking care of her, she loves taking care of me. I used to think nobody wanted to take care of me when I was sick, I see now it can be a gift, a pure act of love, of giving. I trust it now, it is a wonderful thing to feel.
Early Friday, in the middle of the night, I got ill and I went outside to be sick as the old farmers do – don’t want to make a mess inside – and I went out to the side of the barn with Red, I was in a nightshirt and slippers, it was misty and foggy and I was leaning over against the pasture fence, and suddenly a large shadow loomed and startled me with a joyous bray – Simon. I have always believed donkeys are the most intuitive animals I have ever known and Simon came close, and sniffed me carefully and pressed his nose against my shoulder.
When I was done, I went inside of the barn and brought him a cookie. Out of the mist, Lulu and Fanny appeared, donkeys always know when cookies are out, they hear the sound of the can being opened. I stood with Simon for a bit, “boy do I feel rotten,” I said, and we stood there for a bit, I had the sense he was trying to heal me, a sense I often get from the donkeys, and then it was just too cold and I started shivering and I went back into bed.
I am fortunate to get to know these remarkable creatures, they see and hear and know more than we can imagine, in their own way, on their own terms, in their own time. I am sorry for those who are sick, so many much worse than me, but everything is a gift, it opens doors and windows, helps us to feel, sharpens our idea of what it means to be a human being. I am feeling better this morning, I am eager to get outside and take some photos. I appreciate being well, what it means to feel better.
