We had a beautiful and eclectic morning: Breakfast at Jean’s, a visit with Kean McLivaine, bread maker and dreamer, at Bernard’s farm, a trip to Bennington to see a Shirley Jackson exhibit (museums are always fun with Maria), and then we did a video about Maria’s remaining yarn which Zip crashed unexpectedly. The pasture was the one area he had not yet conquered. That has changed. Pictures before and later. I’m heading outside to help Maria dig up the Dahlia garden and move the bulbs into the basement for the winter.

Other big news: Zip got another rat; we found it in the barn, the second rat we’ve found out there in addition to the three we killed in the house. Zip is barn cat of the year. (Featured photo, Kim scratching herself on the hay feeder.)

We stopped to buy some bread from Kean McIlvine at Bernard Farm this morning. Kean’s bread is astonishing. I learned that several kinds of bread are suitable for people with diabetes if cooked with whole-grain flour. (Choose whole-grain varieties — the first ingredient on the label should be “whole.” Examples include whole wheat, whole oats, and whole rye. Look for bread that contains at least 3 g of fiber per slice. If you’re using two slices of bread to make a sandwich, ensure each slice has less than 100 calories.) I’m following Kean as she finds places to sell her bread (she cooks at home), hoping to have a bakery someday. I’m writing about people who pursue their dreams, and Kean, like Casey Face, is good at what she makes and sells.

Her whole-grain bread on the right is lovely. Kean moved up here from Washington, D.C., and has plans for enriching the food we eat. She is the owner/baker of the Covered Bridge Bread Co. in nearby Shushan.

I love Jean’s place; it is both original and unchanged for decades. We try to have breakfast there every Sunday. Community thrives there.

You never have to wonder where you are; Jean’s is a powerful counter to the homogenized and bland atmosphere of the chain diners. It is like breakfast at Grandma’s; everyone knows each other. Ninah, our favorite waitress, gave me a kiss when I left. That would never happen at Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, or KFC. Jean’s is where real people seeking community go to eat. Everyone knows everyone else who is there (not me, I don’t think. I will never be seen as local, which is okay by me. I’m not a good joiner. But I feel 100 percent comfortable there. We both had oat bran pancakes.

The menu changes every day, of course.

Peaceable Kingdom. St. Joe seemed to bless the sheep and donkeys grazing this morning when the sun came out.

After breakfast, we brove over to the Bennington Museum to walk through the museum and see the Shirley Jackson (she is one of Maria’s favorite writers) exhibit. Jackson’s best-selling book is “The Haunting of Hill House.” She lived in North Bennington, Vt. She loved haunted houses. Since its initial publication in 1959, this novel has been reprinted numerous times and translated into multiple languages.

Zip is a rat killer; we found the second rat he killed in the barn. I bet the three we killed fled Zip and tried to get into the farmhouse. No luck for them. Zip is a hero; he will sleep in that barn for the rest of his days. He is a number one Barn Cat. a great addition to the farm, a perfect place for him to live. Above, Zip is crashing our video on the yarn Maria is selling.