Every morning, I go to the ballet, I have the best ticket and the best seat to one of nature’s most enduring and artistic programs. and it is free, the curtain goes up when the sun rises over the Holy Apple Tree in the pasture, and Red and the sheep begin their ancient dance, the sheep, the shepherd (that is me, amazingly), the herding dog.

Border collies have only been around for a little more than a century, but humans have had herding dogs for many thousands of years, the sheep know their part of the dance, the dog knows his or hers, and the shepherd is often between the two, a player in this wondrous drama. I never tired of seeing Red work at this ballet, this dance, it always stirs my heart, fires my imagination and flushes me with gratitude and wonder. This is my favorite show.