We could not resist putting together a new notecard series, “The Oldest Story: The Fox, The Farmer and The Chickens,” six signed notecards with images and text recounting parts of the oldest story, the eternal struggle between farmers and foxes, and foxes and chickens. We have been living with this little drama for a month, with its many ups and downs, and Maria has chosen six photographs that best capture the experience  – Meg, Fran healing, and as a happy surprise ending, the baby boxes we found up on the hill Monday.

This is something of a new way to present a notecards series, as a story with writing rather than separate and unrelated images. Maria and I both like the ending, as it has turned out. My neighbors and I were hunting the fox, but then we found the den with the kits and so the fox was spared and the family became residents of Bedlam Farm. Maria is choosing the images for this series and also making their purchase easier. She has Paypal now on her website. The notecards were prepared by the Image Loft in Manchester, Vt., and I saw some of them this morning (I brought an image of the baby foxes to add to the series).  They make my photographs look beautiful, and I appreciate their work. The notecards will be printed tomorrow.  I love this story, as it is such a perfect metaphor for life. It is sad in some ways – Toots and Meg got eaten – and uplifting in others: Fran is doing well and the pack of foxes seems to be leaving our chickens alone. Nobody is getting shot. Turns out the fox was the cleverest of them all, after all. He wasn’t hiding out in the woods, but right under our noses, with these cute and furry little chicken-eaters. The foxes knew what they were doing.

This series will be priced differently, as there are six images with text, all signed, and they will go onsale Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. Maria is not accepting pre-orders now, but will offer details on cost and shipping and put that information and the images up on her website when she can. Since many people are inquiring, I wanted to give everyone a heads up. The notecards offer me yet another way to tell my stories. There are a limited number of notecard sets.