I’ve learned much from chickens, as you can learn something from any animal of you listen and watch. We rarely do that in our world, we are so busy telling ourselves and one another what the animals are thinking and doing.

I love the way these simple and energetic and quarrelsome creatures make the transition to the night. They make their way quietly and in single file into the barn around dusk. They cluck and peck, and then one by one, they hop up onto the roost, walk sideways until they are comfortable, squeeze against one another and enter a restful state of grooming, settling, clucking softly. I think this would be a great way for humans to settle in the for the night. I am trying it, settling into the sofa with a book, listening to my Ipod, clearing my thoughts of the day. Chickens are teaching me this, and I have wanted to do it for many years.

Tomorrow I’m off to New York City for the day – taking an early train – to meet with my editors. We have a lot to discuss. “The Story Of Rose,” my first E-book original, due out in August (not yet available.) The enhanced version of the e-book will include 100 photographs and 30 videos.

This is new for them and for me. Lots to talk about. We will also be planning a book tour for “Dancing Dogs,” my first short-story collection, out in September. Looks like the tour will include Cambridge, N.Y, Manchester and Wilmington, Vt., Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston and a bunch of stops in between. I’ll be starting the tour with Battenkill Books, very fitting.

I’ll be back in the evening. Putting up a chickens on the roost album on Facebook.