It was an amazing week for the blog, a good note to take a couple of days off and immerse my self in Maria and some good books in a quiet old inn with great food and big airy rooms and a giant bathtub. I wrote a number of pieces about the Central Park horses and struck as deep a chord as I have ever struck in my blog writing – thousands of shares, thousands of e-mails, links, thoughtful responses. This is a very powerful metaphor for the way we feel about animals, their lives, and their rights. I am eager to return to this subject later this week, there is more to say.

The blog is roaring along, it is drawing many new followers, traffic is way up, it feels vibrant and interactive to me. Fuel for my mind and my camera.

I was surprised and touched by the outpouring of messages from so many people in New York City who love the horses and wish to see them stay – I wonder if the mayor knows how many. Oddly, so many of them insist the root of this issue is real estate, not animal welfare, that there is a major and well-funded movement to seize the land the horse stables are on and develop the property. I am not conspiracy-minded, I don’t watch enough cable news, so it is hard for me to believe this is really what the campaign to ban the horses is about, yet many people in the city seem to think so, and I supposed it ought not to be surprising, giving the value of Manhattan real estate. Since the campaign to ban the horses makes little sense, maybe it’s so, I don’t know.

For me, the issue is different: we seem to be losing touch not only with animals, but with the true nature of their lives and needs, the idea that the only solution to this is to ban the horses from New York has never made sense to me, but more on that later.

I also wrote a review of a book I liked, “The Loudest Voice In The Room,” a biography of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, by Gabriel Sherman. Anything to do with cable news is a toxin, it is shrouded in anger, paranoia and xenophia, and I sure saw some of that as well – people cancelling subscriptions, accusing me of being a closet socialist, or worse, a “liberal.” Interesting, many of the people who want to ban the Central Park horses wrote an accused me of being a “conservative.” This is the current state of dialogue in America. Some people warned me that they would leave the blog if I ever wrote about politics again. I don’t blame them for hating politics, I don’t like it much myself. But from time to time, the world intrudes on my sweet life and farm, and I acknowledge. I’m afraid that won’t change, my idea of the blog has not changed much since it started.

Still, I believe writers are not just supposed to make people feel happy and comfortable, but to stir the pot sometimes, to challenge people to think. I’m not just in the business of championing horses or putting up cute animal photos, as most of you know, and I hope I will always be open-minded in my thinking about things, there are more than two ways to think about the world.

It is Maria’s birthday tomorrow and it is a good time to take a rest from writing, blogging, Facebook, e-mails and from thinking so hard. I am bursting with ideas, excited to take on my “Talking To Animals” Kickstarter Project and have a million posts for the blog I can’t wait to write. I hate leaving the blog for two days, but it is a good thing to do, clears the mind, offers perspective and every minute with Maria is precious. She is getting a new tattoo, I am buying her some red socks. I am bringing my camera, not my computer. I am grateful for my work, this was a great week for my blog, it never feel more engaged, alive, connected.