October 10, 2008 – It was disorienting to be out in the country this week – Omaha, Milwaukee, Chicago. My book, “Izzy and Lenore,” made a bunch of bestseller lists, including the New York Times, The New England Independent Booksellers Association, and The Independent Booksellers Association. I had great crowds, and they were loving, encouraging and enthusiastic.
  I left my computer and camera home, and that was a good move. I was tired enough, and hauling enough stuff around.
  Book sales are down, as is everything else in America, but it’s great to be at the top of the heap, and gratifying. I suspect people will be looking for books to read on weekends for awhile.
  I got a slew of appreciative comments about my writing, my website and my photos.
  Still, it was disturbing to be moving through airports and hotels and cities and to see the enormous anxiety sweeping the country over the economic news melting down Wall Street. It was quite the opposite of my normal life, when I never watch TV news. In the hotel, and in airports the screens were on all of the time, and I got to see the hyper-active media universe at work, literally bombarding people with information and keeping them unnerved. How many times a day do we really need to hear how bad things are in the market.
  It isn’t healthy, I suspect, to be cut off from reality, but at the same time, I don’t really need to hear it all day. It becomes the reality, rather than a slice of it.
  It was literally frightening, and one could almost touch the suffering and worry.
  Back at the farm, I was scrambling to figure out finances, like everyone else, and also how to get some hay. My usual source dried up suddenly, and we had to scramble. I think we found some. The sheep were grazing across the road, the donkeys were up in the pasture, the dogs waiting for me in the yard, giving me a joyous greeting. It was nice sleeping in a hotel bed without bumping into Lenore, but I missed her. And I missed Izzy and Rose as well. I’m home for a day and then off to Washington and Maryland and a hospice benefit in New Jersey. I’m already sick of myself but pleased that the farm means so much to people, and that my writing touches a chord or two.
  I’m grateful for the book tour, but miss the farm when I’m away from it. I don’t want to hide from the world, but this was definitely an unsettling time to be out in it. Almost surreal. I am very appreciative of all of the people who came long distances to meet me and say such nice things about my work and my life. I’m just really starting, but it meant a lot to me.