Red is in this photo somewhere, he popped his head up looking for me as I shoveled off the buried car. One friend has invited us to California, another to her home in Florida. We are making our last stand right here, just like the pioneers. I mean, we didn’t come here to be warm or comfortable and sit by the pool. We came to put our lips to the world and just live. So here we are, my lips are chapped but they are determined. Would you want to be anywhere else?,” I asked Maria. She hesitated just a bit. No, she said. Me too.

I’m a writer and every day, my farm yields an idea, a story, a photo, a lesson. Why be anywhere else?