Izzy has led me to this work and shows me how it is done.

  July 22, 2008 – I am very proud and happy to tell you that Hospice Journal now has its own home on this website, accessible at the tab on the top of the page. I will continue to post Hospice Journal entries on the Farm Journal, right here, but they will be transferred and updated regularly, so that people interested in the hospice work that Izzy, Lenore and I are doing can have one place to go see the stories, poems and photos from the edge of life.
  I am embarrassed as a writer to say that I do not have the words to express my gratitude to the patients and families enrolled in the hospice program and the staff of the Washington County, N.Y. Hospice and Palliative Care Program for showing me how to do this work, encouraging me, and putting up with me. This site is dedicated to the people I have known, many of them gone, and their families. This complex work with dogs is difficult, and requires faith and commitment. I have been given that.
  I am more conscious every day of my life of the mistreatment of the dying, in that they are too often shunned and isolated from the world as they end their lives. Izzy and Lenore are doing some amazing work to ease that isolation, but I believe in hospice. It is not depressing or unpleasant work, quite the opposite. In this work, my life with dogs has grown and been enriched. I have made eternal friends. I have become a better photographer and hopefully, a better human being. I am learning what is important, and stretching the boundaries of patience, listening and fear.
 I have not know such love and courage and laughter in my life as I have experienced in this work. I want in particular to thank Keith Mann, Volunteer Co-ordinator of Washington County Hospice and the nurses and social workers of the program for their support and encouragement. And, of course, Izzy and Lenore, hospice dogs.
 I also want to thank Raeanne Wright of Trampoline Design in Glens Falls for the sensitive and accessible design of the Hospice Journal Site, and Melissa Mykal Batalin for transferring this mass of material. Raeanne also designed bedlamfarm.com and the success of this site is a testament to her great sensitivity and design skills.
  Most important, I am humbled and eternally grateful for the trust and generousity of the hospice patients and their families who have permitted us to join them at the edge of life, to talk with them, help them, take photos of them at such an intimate time.
  I bow my head to those who have died, and always appreciate having known them.
  What a privilege for me. I hope the site helps spread the word about hospice work.
   It is a system of people and agencies that helps human beings decide how they will leave the world, and offers them choice, comfort and dignity.