I got the idea this morning, a morning of rest and contemplation for me, to go outside with my camera and then back into the farmhouse to enlist the animals and Zip and the sheep and Mother Nature into a new project idea for me: pictures that make me, and hopefully, some of you, remember to love life and be grateful for it. We were outside when Maria picked up Zip and gave him a hug and a scratch, which he loved. Then it was my turn.

I kicked it off with a picture of Maria and Zip loving one another. I sometimes forget that Zip is a rescue cat who lived outdoors all his young life. He seems so confident and at ease that it’s easy to forget his first year was rough until a local rescue group found him, got him spayed, and looked for a home.

I lay down for a few minutes for my morning meditation, and Bud jumped in my lap and looked at me pleadingly to get his belly rubbed, as he often does. I am happy to oblige. Bud is my reading and sleeping companion.

I see the birds come out in droves on cold and snowy mornings. I was ready for them.

Zip came running into the pasture when we checked on the animals. He lifted my heart when he came over to lick the nose of his new friend, Asher, the sheep. It was a special moment for Maria and me, who was close by. Zip has won over the sheep, the donkeys, and, recently, the chickens. He’s a lover, charmer, and hellion all at once. We got the right barn cat.

 

One of my favorite still photos is the “Four Trees In A Pasture.”

Zip followed us into the pasture; he insisted on being part of everything.  He’s signed up for the Peaceable Kingdom.

 

This landscape picture captured the day.

 

The symbolism of the Three Graces goes back to mythology. The poet Hesiod describes three goddesses: Aglaia (who represents radiance), Euphrosyne (who represents joy), and Thalia (who represents flowering). Together, they constitute an ideal of beauty and grace.

The graces have also become a symbol of the Feminine Devine and the movement to return feminine values – more humane and compassionate than most male leaders – to the forefront of life. Our friend Julz Irons, something of a mystic herself, gave these metal portrayals of the graces to Maria, and I loved them. She loaned them to me to join my muses in my office.

I hope she lets me keep them for a while. To me, they represent the future.

Regarded internationally as a masterpiece of neoclassical European sculpture, Antonio Canova carved The Three Graces in Rome (1757 – 1822) between 1814 and 1817 for an English collector. This group of three mythological sisters was, in fact, a second version of an original – one commissioned by Joséphine de Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.

I love the shadows in this photograph.

 

Maria brought her usual bucket to the pasture; the animals love the aging vegetables and apples. They are pretty gentle around her, waiting their turn and not shoving.