Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

Spraying and Scraping. I do most of the Spraying, Maria does most of the Scraping, then we switch back and forth. We have all of the wallpaper layers off, the room is a mess and we cracked the bed headboard when we moved it.

Next is cleaning up the walls, picking out some colors, sanding the rough spots, priming the walls and then painting. We are a week or so away, I think. I think one of the walls should have a different color than the rest, which will be green. Maria disagrees, she has a vision of the room in her head as a cozy gave.

We’ll sort it out. I’m heading out to search for VH videos for the Mansion Refugees in the Danforth Care Center. They are bored and discouraged, and one of the aides found a VH recorder. These videos are hard to find, I am told there is a bin filled with them at Wal-Mart’s in Bennington. I’m heading there now.

Maria wants to read and I am anxious to relieve the resident’s boredom, it is acute. We’ll meet back in the bedroom in a bit. I’m making a goat and cheese (with spinach leaves)  pizza tonight. I’ll put up a photo and the recipe, it’s pretty great.

We have been supporting the RISSE ballet dancers with dresses and bars to practice on.

They need 10 more ballet slippers books to give each of the dancers a copy. They are on the RISSE Amazon Wish List for $6.99. I propose that we support the RISSE  girls ballet group all year, much as we supported the soccer team last year, and help them in any way we can. This would be a good start. I bought four books, someone else bought one, and thanks.

They only need ten more.

RISSE is a refugee support and information center based in Albany, day in and day out, they do more to help refugees and their children than any organization I know of. Every day, I love my country by going to their  new RISSE Amazon Wish List and supporting the boys and girls in their after school program.

This list focuses on young women and their sports and culture.

It also seeks educational materials like paper and dictionaries for their after school program. I begin every day by something off of that list, I hope you will also take a look at it and support our wonderful country and its values.

If you  wish to stay grounded and hopeful in these wrenching times, this list is a good way to do it. Try and see, it sure works for me. There are 12 items on the list, 14 are already gone.

These people have suffered enough, they have all come here legally and risked their lives to do it. They work hard every day. They are not criminals, rapists or drug dealers.

Most have spent years in refugee camps, they are deserving our support, and our country needs us know to show the way to compassion and empathy.

Take a look at the RISSE Amazon Wish List  of you are so inclined, and thanks.

Dogs come to us to mark the passages of our lives. More than any other animal, they adapt to us, they fit into the fabric of our lives, they become the dogs we need them to be, they support and enrich the lives we choose to lead. Every dog I have ever had has challenged me to be a better human, more patient, more loving, more thoughtful.

My days are full, I guess that is the way I like them, because that is the way they are.

It is bitter cold here, bone-crunching and relentless. Even the border collies have no desire to go outside.

First, we will go to the hardware store and look at paint patches for the bedroom. My wife is determined to finish the wallpaper scraping today and that means a lot of spraying for me.

I want to go see the Mansion Refugees and help reassure them that they will be back home soon.

I want to write about Eh K’Pru Shee Wah, the remarkable young woman from Burma/Myanmar who spent 10 years in a refugee camp and who is applying to the Albany Academy and seeking a full scholarship. We are hoping to make that happen. I’ll write about her later today or tomorrow, I am very excited after meeting with her, she is impressive and deserving.

And then, scraping and scraping. Maria is on fire, no stopping her now or getting in the way. Going outside hurts, this kind of cold gets my angina moving. I’ll be inside a lot.