Looking for my color and light photographs, I came across this photo of a joyous Rose, standing with her sheep in the big pasture on the hill at Bedlam Farm. I loved Rose and loved the first Bedlam Farm, and both are gone from my life now. What does this mean to me?

It is easy – simple – to be grateful for what you have, it is quite another thing to be grateful for what you have lost. How I loved learning about nature and herding and beauty and animals with Rose, my partner in my evolution to a different kind of life. She made so much of it possible.

And here, today, more loss, of course, Simon and Lenore. And more life – Red, and soon, some new animals to come here for us to live with or learn about. I have never understand why I should feel badly about all of that, even as I acknowledge the pain and struggle of it. This, of course, is life itself, what shapes my work, tests my soul, teaches me the true meaning of spirituality and life.

Hey there, Rose, I hope you are free now, I hope you are sitting in your endless pasture, your golden fields, sheep stretching as far as the eye can see. I hope you are living your wonderful life, as I am living mine.