Some days it’s so beautiful on the farm, I think that there is a God and he has swept over to bless us and my camera – it was a photographer’s morning. You are invited to share it. No hate or lies permitted.
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Maria twirls hay and turns it into a good luck charm.
A flower fell or blew into the bird bath. Nature did the rest.
Good morning, Merricat.
Lulu gets an ear rub to get the bug bites out and clean the ear. She appreciates it.
People often ask me what I mean by “a spiritual life.” It’s a good question, much more interesting than “JON, How ARE You?”
To me, Spirituality emphasizes quietness, reflection, and self-observation. It is a way of learning who I am, what I wish to be, and how I can bring some good for others into my life.
Practices like meditation, prayer, contemplation, or self-awareness, are a pa of it. It is helping me help quiet the ego, process emotions, and foster a state of presence rather than constant reactivity.
Spirituality is also about learning to be happy and loving other people rather than jus myself. I am trying to see the dignity in every other human being, let go of grudges, and recognize my own flaws and limitations. With such a cruel world swirling around, it is ever more important to me.
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Above Photo: Zip, Kind of the farm, met his match the smorning. The big hen backed him down in a brief stare. This is a rare sight at Bedlam Farm. When she got close, Zip ran onto the porch and into Maria’s lap.
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Speaking of spirituality, I came outside this morning to take my pictures – it was rain and thunder – and found Maria and Zip in peaceful meditaton, an important part of our lives.
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I love the open sky, and would hate to live without it.
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The first thing I look at when I go outside are the Green Mountains of Vermont, they tell me what the weather is about to be.
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The thunder storm was loud and there were lots of lightning strikes. Then it began to quiet.
I spend most of my life living in cities. I couldn’t do that any longer. I am, at last, where I want to be, doing what I want to do, loving who I want to love, being with the animals I want to be with, writing what I want to write.
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Opening the pasture gate.
The rain is good to the pasture and the sheep. It is healing to see them grazing.
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Maria’s special meditation place in the woods. She made her own path by the stream.
It is a special place.
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Fanny meditating
Wildflowers.
Bid’s favorite state-out-of the heat chair.
Big day, shearing day. Maria is excited and running around all day to get the barn clean and everything ready. I’ll go in and out and try to help when I can. Maria got a photo of me this morning (the one on top), which is one of those photos that says more than we think. I hurt my back the other day, and the pain was sharp last night. I wasn’t going out to take my morning Pastoral photos. But when I looked out the window and saw the sun peeping through the rain, I hopped into my walking shoes and grabbed my Loner Camera. I love the farm and can’t stay away from it, my camera either. I never regret it.
I’ll try to get some shearing photos if I can. Later. This is one of those days that reminds us why we are here and why we love it here. Maria’s picture captures my soul and feelings.
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The sheep will spend the whole day in the barn until Ian comes to shear them. He likes to see them clean.
The sun outdid itself this morning when it finally came out, after two or three storms. What a sky.
The donkeys loved having the pasture all to themselves; the sheep are in the barn, otherwise they’ll wreck the wool by walking into bushes.
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Preparing to walk in the woods. Zip doesn’t go in the woods; he just escorts people there.
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“Man, what a hell of a year it’s been
Keep on Bluffin’, but I just can’t win
Drown my sorrows, but they learned to swim
Man, what a yell of a year it’s been…”
In HIS SONG” Good News,” a favorite of mine, Shaboozey opens up about his mental health struggles, using alcohol as a coping mechanism. Despite his success, he often feels misunderstood, singing about feeling like “the man at the bar confessing his sins.”
Shaboozy admits that his success might make his struggles seem insignificant to others: “Bet the devil wouldn’t walk in my shoes.”
I would.
I relate to Shaboozy and his musing in many ways, not just because I like his music, but because I also have chosen to open up about my mental health history here on my blod, to the gleee of trolls, and the thanks of others, but after the last month of brutal cold, I feel Maria and I end up even closer and prouder of our struggles to be healthy mentally as well as literally, and to feel the strength of our relationship.
For me, it was a fearful experience at times; it is often uplifting to learn how strong our love is. And the farm faced real danger.
The challenge for me was my health in sub-zero weather and trying to capture the beauty of nature with my photos in difficult circumstances.
We had some frightening and fearful nights. We worried about us, our animals, and our old farmhouse, but we got through them all. So did the farm, so did the animals.
We worked caringly and lovingly to deal with the most challenging time of our lives on the farm, and we both ended up so very happy to be walking in our own shoes and standing proud and together. We worked hard for our lives together; we want to keep them. We are proud of ourselves right now.
That was our toughest challenge – high winds, heavy snows, brutal cold, ice, and more ice.
The thing about mental illness, as Shaboozy wrote, is that it never quite goes away. It is always waiting for another round. But it can be conquered every day.
What a hell of a month it’s been. How nice that it appears to be over, how grateful I am for my spiritual work.
We are ready for more storms in either case. Sing on, Shabozzy, you have every right to be proud. And thanks for your music. They gave me strength.
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Birds outside the window.
Zip likes to have breakfast and then nap sometimes in his heated cat house. We feel it every day to make sure it’s warm. It is. I’d like one myself.
I love the warm insides of barns
