I looked out at the pasture gate, and I took in the new landscape of part of my life. I believe it will change again, and soon. A year ago, the photo would have shown Simon at the gate and Red, Lenore, maybe Frieda sitting in front of it. Today, the landscape is different. A new pony, Chloe, Simon is gone, so are Frieda and Lenore. I love them and do not miss them much or mourn them, my life is full of things to love.

I think of them with gratitude from time to time, they are ghostly images flashing in my head. Life is a changing landscape, we change or freeze and grow brittle and bitter. Maria and I are opened up now, thinking hard about our lives, about how we wish to live. We are slowly shedding ourselves of the great monkey of money, we seek a creative life, a simpler and more spiritual life, a life more closely linked to nature and community.

Community, we believe, is the only real security, not money or houses or retirement funds. The new landscape is rich and beautiful, like the old one. I accept it, I embrace the change in my life, it is the very nature of life itself.