I’m discovering the beauty of succulent plants. I’m just beginning to realize the photo possibilities in the dozens of succulent plants Maria has placed around the windowsills.  I took this photo this morning; it is beautiful in a new way, a new step in my photography.

Zip found a mouse held by the back porch and camped there for hours.

Maria took a lovely photo of Zinnia and Bud sleeping by the wood stove last night.

Their friendship is a beautiful thing. Maria also found my most cherished possession, a silver money clip with a Mary Oliver poem. I’ve carried it daily since we married ten years ago. I thought I lost it yesterday, and it was devastating for me.

She found it this morning in the garbage, thrown out with a pharmacy bag for insulin. And yes, she sold all of the five Bedlam Farm Books offered yesterday.

It’s a good day already.

Zip has been patiently waiting for the mouse living in this hole to emerge. He’s been sitting there for hours, and I’m betting on Zip.

The friendship between Zinnia and Bud is beautiful, and I am never tired of seeing them together. Last night, they slept back to back before the wood stove fire. When he first arrived, Zinnia was excellent to Bud, a sick and battered wreck. She taught him how to live on the farm.