West Hebron, N.Y.

  July 4, 2008 – It is just midnight. Em and I had dinner, watched some baseball, talked. I walked the dogs, checked the barn, tried the fences. Tomorrow I am heading out to a Fourth of July parade in Argyle, N.Y., and then to a chicken barbecue in that town to take photos. We might go to a movie, or just hang out.
  I had a difficult day, one that brings perspective, always a boon of a difficult day. I was thinking about peace, and how much people want it, and how hard it is to find. Odd that such a beautiful and universally sought thing would be so difficult to get, but it sometimes seem we construct our lives in such a way to avoid it. We always have more important things to do, which tells you something.
  I ought to find a lot of it here on this farm, but life intrudes constantly, even on a farm in a tiny town in upstate New York. I think it must be a discipline, something to make room for.
  The monks perhaps get some peace, but they have to leave the world to get it, and that seems a high price.
  This weekend, I am going to look for peace, and see if I can find it. I might look in the chairs hidden in the trees up in the pasture, or out grazing the sheep, or chasing the sunset with Izzy and my camera. Maybe in a good novel.
 In any case, the Fourth is a curious holiday, a quiet one, and I’ve always loved the uniquely American quality of parades, the fire trucks and Girl Scout troops and VFW units and I hope to catch that in a photo. Lenore is coming with me.