I am quite in love with this new and pretty final banner logo that Abrah Briggs, my wonderful friend and artist from Vermont, created after a few days of back and forth.

You might notice there  is a dog in it, and I have repeatedly said there would not be a dog in the banner, and written at some length why.

“If  you don’t contradict yourself on a regular basis, then you’re not thinking,” wrote Malcom Gladwell in one of his books.

In fact, it is my responsibility as a human being to change my thinking often and openly, just look at the damage  being done to our country by the people who can’t or won’t.

Thanks to the people who kept pestering me about the dogs. I am stubborn, but I do hear everything said to me, in one way or another. Abrah deserves the credit, but I am glad I wanted something different and original.

Abrah got it right.

She is, as I already knew,  a brilliant artist. I am so grateful to have her banner on the top of my new and redesigned blog (most of the changes are structural, not visual.)

The only other thing I am asking Abrah for is for the dog to be the color red, after the real Red. The sketch even looks like Red.

I love the three animal elements, the belly dancing sheep, the vigilant border collie, the book-reading chicken. It’s just the right attitude for my blog, and also for my mind. I take the blog very seriously, but not too seriously.

I also love the type face, it is modern, different and visually compelling. It has dignity and a sense of humor. If is different.

I asked Abrah to give the banner  dignity, but to make the animals make a little fun of it and my pretensions. She did it.

All of these elements are founded in truth.

Maria belly dances, Red stands watch over the farm (yes, dogs are a big part of my life) and our chickens are sensitive, and we like to think, somewhat thoughtful. The chicken signals that this isn’t just a farm animal blog.

Thanks for your input, and special thanks to Joy Windle who suggested on Facebook that we have a hen nesting on one of the letters. Abrah took it from there.

Thanks to Susan Popper for reminding me about Abrah and to Maria for suggesting the hen be reading a book. Thanks to me for listening to all of them.

Hopefully, there are interesting things to read on the blog, but there also a lot of interesting animals. And yes, of course a dog does belong up there.

This is the right statement for my new blog and Abrah was the artist to bring it to life.  I so enjoyed working with her, she is the very best.

I’d like her to design my life.

Please check out her wonderful work, lots of people are.