Fate has been stand-offish to Gus, I think she is still not sure what he is. Yesterday, for the first time, Gus challenged her to play, and She considered it for a moment – is this a sheep or a rabbit? They played briefly, and then Gate went about her business of ignoring him.
As Gus matures, he is challenging Red and Fate to play. Red does not play, ever, with anything. Gus is intensely playful. In time, these two shall meet somewhere in the middle. For now, Fate is happy to be the bossy big sister. But yesterday was a milestone for sure.
A new Bedlam Farm Posse is shaping up, Gus is joining the pack.
This morning, we put Gus out with the big dogs for the first time, today marks his first week with us. Red accepts him fully, even when he chews on his claws, and Fate still keeps her distance, grabbing Gus’s toys whenever she can and hiding them around the house.
Yesterday we realized that every one of Gus’s toys had disappeared, we found them all in a corner of the room behind a plant.
Gus is more of an indoor dog than the border collies, he loves to hang out inside with us. The border collies are more outward focused, they love to sit by the pasture watching the sheep. But Gus also loves to be with the dogs and stays with them whenever they are outside.
I am worn to a nub after the very successful refugee children retreat at Pompanuck Farm, the dogs have all made a complete recovery.
I think we have another dog content to be near the house and with no interest in the road, but it is only a week so we have more to learn about him. Dogs are pack animals, they love to stay with their pack.
This morning, Gus tried to run with Fate out around the sheep. She made it about 20 feet and by then Fate was almost out of site, and Gus sat down looking puzzled.
Today, another chapter in the of Gus and of me. At 1:30, the Mansion residents will read the stories they have written in our workshop together, I will read some of them, and some of the authors will read their own.
There will also be a Fourth of July party preceding the readings, thanks in no small measure to the gifts and cards and photographs you have sent. Gus and Red will be the attending therapy dogs, I get to be the story reader and also a judge, we will pass out ribbons for the best stories.
Your messages and gifts to the Mansion residents have had a profound effect on life there. Thanks again, you can write to the residents care of The Mansion, 11 S. Union Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Here is the latest list of Mansion residents who wish to receive your messages: Bruce, Allan, Sylvie, Jean, John Z., John R., Alanna, Peggie, Ellen, Joan, Brenda, Connie, Alice, Madeline, Mary, Barbara, William, Brother Peter, Diane, Helen, Jane, Dottie, Anna, Richard, Gerry, Charlotte, Arthur, Shirley and Robert.
Congratulations to Mukwe Doe, the second scholarship winner, he is joining the very popular digital global art archive, the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project (see below). He and Sakler Moo are the first two scholarship selections for the Children’s Refugee Project I have started to help these very beautiful and worthy young people follow their passions.
The scholarships are to advance their passions, interests and needs, from art to music to computing. Whatever they care deeply about, we will help them pursue. You can contribute by sending a check addressed to the Children’s Refugee Fund, c/o Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 or via Paypal, Friends and Family, [email protected].
This is great, it lifts the heart, these two young men were so excited and proud, and now their work will be seen all over the world.
Two Selections For The Children’s Scholarship Fund Today
Great news, Ali and I (and artist Rachel Barlow, above) chose the first two scholarships for the refugee children we are working with in upstate New York. Today, at Pompanuck Farm, Vermont artist Rachel Barlow came to teach the refugee kids about drawing and sketching.
We have all admired Sakler Moo’s drawings and sketches for some time, and after seeing some of his work today, Rachel enthusiastically recommended him and Mukwe Doe, another of the refugee children the retreat, as perfect artists to join the Brooklyn Library of Art’s Sketchbook Project, a wonderful idea to help new and developing and accomplished artists and sketchers share their work with one another, with everyone on the Internet, and to be posted permanently in the archives of the Brooklyn Art Library, one of the most famous art libraries in the world.
Rachel came to the Children’s Refugee Retreat at Pompanuck Farm to teach a class in drawing, she did a lot of “timed” sketchwork, where the kids had one or two minutes to draw something they heard or thought or saw. They got into it, and we found a number good candidates for the scholarship project.
She handled the class beautifully, perhaps because she has two young sons and knows their interests and attention spans.
You can see Rachel’s very beautiful work here, she is one of the most popular landscape artists in Vermont at the moment, we were lucky to have her at the retreat.
This scholarship idea is something I launched as a part of the Children’s Refugee Fund, the name of a separate bank account I opened here in Cambridge to collect the money and donations that come in for the refugee and immigrant children I am working with as a part of my Project Good, a response to the political turmoil gripping the country.
It cost $195.93 to enroll the two gifted young men in the Sketchbook Project, we will receive two sketchbooks and the ability to digitalize their work so it can be transferred onto the Internet archives of the Brooklyn Art Library, a global interactive library. These sketches will be seen all over the world.
Above, Rachel explained the project to Sakler Moo, whose work is already much noticed, and although he is quite shy and soft-spoken, he said he would love to accept this scholarship. Mukwe Doe will be the second scholarship.
I am very happy to kick off this scholarship project, the idea is to provide instruction and encouragement for the special talents, needs and gifts of these children, working hard to acclimate themselves to American life. We might seek to pay for classes in the arts, in English language skills, or computing, etc. We will follow the bliss of each young person and help them follow their passions.
The scholarship recommendations will all come from Ali (Amjad Abdullah Mohammed), their mentor and teacher, he knows them well and loves them dearly. This is the first but not the last great reward to come from the Pompanuck Refugee Children’s Retreat, which ended today.
I will follow this scholarship, hopefully the first of many on the blog. It is a good cause, it will change lives and remind us of what it really means to be an American. I am still proud of that.
(If you wish to contribute, you can send a check to Jon Katz, Children’s Refugee Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 or send a donation via Paypal Friends and Family, ID: [email protected].
Thanks much, the Army Of Good made these two scholarships possible.
Gus is just about nine weeks old, but he vaulted onto my list of great-dogs-I-have-loved over the last few days, he came to almost every minute of the Refugee Children’s Retreat at Pompanuck Farm. He acted as if he had been to a thousand retreats, he visited every child while they ate, played tag outside and ran in circles like a mad fool, was picked up and hugged a thousand times and loved every minute of it.
We took a crate to Pompanuck, and left the gate open and when Gus got tired, he just went inside and went to sleep with the gate open. He loves his crates, they are his safe and restful spot in a chaotic world with two big dogs.
He and Fate even started to play a bit, although Fate is obsessed with stealing his toys and when she can his food. I was struck by Gus’s adaptability and his skill at dealing with a crowd of boisterous strangers. This is very grounded dog, and I credit his first-time breeder Robin Gibbons, this is the kind of dog you can do almost anything with.
He adores people, can handle himself with poise and confidence, he knows when to take some time out and rest. Maria and I have worked hard to train him, but frankly, these are traits the dog either comes with or doesn’t.
I can’t remember every seeing a nine-week-old dog with so much poise and confidence. And he isn’t yet as big as a rabbit, and we’ve only had him for a week. I can only imagine the possibilities.
You can help a dog be grounded – positive training and crates help – but dogs like Red and Gus – Fate also – are very rare.
I am glad we decided to make Gus a part of this, the refugee kids adored him, and he was thrilled to be with them and be held by them and play with them. Dogs can do so much good, given a chance.
