One of the nice things about the Open Houses in this brave new world is that people tend to write as soon as they get home. This was the first message I got, it was from Mary Ann Clark and she captured the feeling of the Open House Saturday and Sunday better than I did, I think. So did Heidi and  her daughter Ashley.

“Jon, My good friend Betsy and I were at the Open House yesterday. We drove over 3 hrs to get there, because we both have wanted to come for years. We were surprised at the lower number of people, but we LOVED IT! It was nice not to be crowded out by too many bodies, especially when we were watching the sheep shearing. We were behind people when we first got there, but they moved aside, so we could get closer, it was the same spirit of generosity we found ALL day! And to me it really made the poetry reading that much more intimate! Carol Gulley moved me to tears with her butterfly and crow poems, and not only by her words, but because I had followed her journey with Ed’s illness on her blog and yours, and now here she was standing in her truth, reading poems after her husband has only been dead since August.  I truly believe that the people that WANTED to be there, were… I am also a member of the Army of Good, and although I didn’t get to talk to you in person, well, I did make the comment to you that I thought Bud was adapting really well, that is my hand on his cheek in the photo you took, and my friend Betsy is in the red coat, for an outsider coming for the first time, to me the LOVE  WAS palpable, and the day was PERFECT!” – Mary Ann Clark.

I loved that report and I remember Mary Ann well. Thanks for  your view of the day, Mary Ann, it made it very worthwhile for me, and it is great to see the Open House through your eyes..

Saturday, Heidi and her daughter Ashley arrived just after the last sheepherding demo, they came from Boston. I took the dogs out again for them, and we went into the pasture to meet the donkeys – more carrots for them.

Heidi is a photographer and we talked about photography for awhile, we talked about lenses and classes. I told her I have little use for photography classes, they too often emphasize the technical side of photography, I prefer the emotional side.

Her daughter Ashley was thrilled to meet the donkeys and  Heidi was wowed by Red.

This is really the first Open House where I had time to talk to people and their kids. I valued it very much.