Maria is an artist, through and through, it is in her mind, her bearing, her body and her voice. Sometimes, when I see her out in the pasture, I think I have drifted into a Willa Cather novel, a story of a beautiful artist on a farm, sharing her life with the animals there. She is both out of place and quite natural on the farm, she wears the clothes of an artist – sometimes her wedding dress – to muck out the barns and walk with the animals. The sheep and the donkeys flock to her, they are draw to her and she talks to them in the most beautiful natural way.

Today, out near Lulu’s crossing, I stopped and I thought I was in a painting, a landscape. Maria was picking wildflowers, as she often does and then brings them into the house and the sheep were hoping to eat some of them. I was grateful to be holding my camera – once a day, I take my big camera out for a walk, we are seeing the surgeon Thursday, I am hoping she will release me to carry my camera and also to drive short distances. I don’t think I’m ready for long ones.

I appreciate living in a painting, it is a beautiful and surreal experience sometimes.