Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

Bedlam Farm Journal
9 April

Good Morning, Good News, A Found Wedding President, Succulent Beauty, Zip And A Mouse Hole

by Jon Katz

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.

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Flower Art
8 April

We All Loved The Same Thing. Flower Art, In Honor Of The Sun’s Great Performance. It Was A Big Deal, After All

by Jon Katz

I blew off the eclipse until I saw a chunk of it. Wow. It is a mind-blower to see Americans by the millions gather together and remember that we are all human, not labeled in conspiracy rants or on social media. Men..what can I say? I got up early to catch the sun for my flower photos.

As usual, there are no captions, titles, or spelling. The poor correctors will have to look at the photos. The sun made every one of these photos possible, making so many people happy and connected to one another. For once, we all loved the same thing. Remember?


 

 

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8 April

Life Of A Lab

by Jon Katz

This image may be familiar to anyone who has lived with a Lab. I won’t spoil anyone’s dinner by saying what she was chewing on, but it was in a manure-filled pasture. Enuf said Maria caught this charming picture of a happy Labrador. She tried to lick me when I got home, but I passed. Later, I said. She looked disappointed.

They really will eat anything.

Photo by Maria Wulf

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8 April

The Eclipse. A Young Couple Gave Me Their Safety Glasses

by Jon Katz

I had a doctor’s appointment at the same time as the eclipse, so I was shocked on the drive to Saratoga to see almost no cars on the busy road there. Our busy world emptied out to look at the sun.

I was listening to the radio and hearing the excitement. When I pulled up in the parking lot, a young couple—Skidmore kids, I think—approached me as I got out of the car.

“Did you see the Eclipse?,” they asked, concerned. “No,” I said, “I was driving.”

“Here,” the young man said, “borrow ours.” He showed me how to put his protective glasses on over mine, and I saw the very end of the eclipse, which took my breath away. So did his kindness.

The was black, with a crescent yellow around the sun’s right side. I only looked at it for seconds, but I was as touched by these kid’s generosity as I was by the eclipse itself.

When I got home, I had a photo of Robin, my granddaughter, watching from the subway as she came home from school. The eclipse was beautiful in itself, but it reminded me once again how different people are when they actually do something together and face to face. I stopped on the way home for some ice cream, and Maria and I sat outside until the wind got cold. She looked for shadows but didn’t find any.

Emma said Robin really got into it. No surprise.

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Flowers
8 April

St. Terese, Spirituality And Roses. An Old And Deep Connection

by Jon Katz

I’ve always seen my flower photos as spiritual in ways that I don’t always understand. Reading about St. Terese, whose idea of small acts of great kindness inspired the Army of Good, I see that the connection between flowers and spirituality is old and deep.

Roses were Therese’s signature. It was her way of whispering to those who needed a sign that she had heard and that her God was responding. Countless people witnessed how Therese responded to their petitions and prayers with grace and roses. Grace, she said, was more important than roses.

“The love for our Sweet Mother Mary is a beautiful white rose that should blossom in the soul of each of us,” she wrote. “The fragrance of its snow-white petals should ever be nourished by the sun of God’s love. Even though at times crimsoned by the thorns of sorrow and sacrifice, it should always strive to preserve its texture’s purity.”

I’ve always shied away from Roses; they are almost a cliche. I’m going to look at them differently from now on. Maybe Sue has some white ones. And I’m not religious, but I greatly admire so many people who are. I’ve learned a lot from religious philosophers about the spiritual direction. They invented it.

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