Shot with a 180 mm macro lens

 Drove to Manchester today to drop off some photos to be framed for the Washington County Fair Photo Competition. I won a blue ribbon last year, and am hungry for more, although the competition is stiffer than I imagined. Don’t ever underestimate farmer’s wives and their point-and-shoot-cameras. Maria asked me I cared a lot about winning. Yes, I said, I do.
  I did a lot of work on the novel the past week or two and I am brain tired. Answering a lot of questions about the sale of the farm. I do not think of myself as being a well-known person, but when reporters call you about about the sale of your house, then I guess that isn’t typical.
 Lots of e-mail about the move, very supportive and lovely, then some angry and disappointed. The danger of doing what I do is that it is sometimes other people’s fantasies, and they don’t like to lose a fantasy, even if the fantasy is somebody else’s life.
  I can’t complain about that, I opened this party up to people, and it is not surprising that some will be upset. That is part of the dialogue, and is healthy for me to hear. There is a price for openness, but it is worth it. I think the encouragement I received from people reading this site really helped sustain me in the last few years.
  But not everyone is happy.  One woman wrote from Alabama saying I had changed, and she was jumping ship.
  I have changed, and if that is upsetting, she ought to get to another ship.
  I am excited about the new directions of my life, though. I might be imagining it, but Rose seems more energetic, and calmer without the sheep around. Frieda has become one of the dogs here, and she is little trouble now. She almost tore off into the woods after some animal, but I growled at her, and she stopped and came right back. New training technique.
   Maybe we all needed something different. I tell people now that I see myself as a writer, not a farmer, and I’m not sure that was true for some of the past few years. Looking forward to the Poultney, Vt. Craft and Arts Fair Saturday (it’s in East Poultney). Bringing a few photos, but I am thinking that they are not for sale now. I need to show them at Gardenworks on Labor Day.
  I loved the experience of farming, and what I learned from the animals. This winter, I did not love farming. And I am thrilled to be returning to fiction and then, children’s books. Can’t wait.
  Listened to Mary Oliver on the way to the Image Loft in Manchester and she had a line I loved from “Blackwater Pond.” And what, she asks, exactly, are you doing with your wild and glamorous life? I am hoping to live mine.