Today was cool and sunny and dry, and for the first time in months, there were no flies tormenting the donkeys. They seemed to know it, standing easy and tall in the cool autumn air.
The flies may be back a few times before the first frost, they are noticed but not missed.
Lulu and Fanny are veterans of our Open Houses, they’ve lived through eight of them
Somewhere deep down, I feel the strongest connection to Bud, as I do to Red and Fate. The connection with Bud is different. I feel when I hold him – he sometimes comes up to me and wants to be picked up – that we have come together after a long and difficult journey.
I think I am beginning to mean safety for Bud, dogs are intuitive, they are flexible about their homes, but they know them when they see them. Bud has chosen me as his human, and I am happy to have him as my dog.
Maria says we love each other very much, and I have Carol Johnson to thank for that, she saved Bud and brought us together. When I pick Bud up, he rests his head against my shoulder and I rub his stomach or chin.
He could do this all day, he practically purrs. Maria took this photo. It was wonderful sitting in the sun with Bud today.
I think, at the core, that the Open Houses we host are about friendship and love. It was very difficult for me to agree to open up my life to strangers – more than 1,500 people came the first time.
The Open Houses are smaller now, more intimate, quieter, as is appropriate. A lot of people come, but there is nothing frantic about them. I realized after a while – Maria agrees – that the Open Houses are our holiday, our faith. We celebrate creativity, independence, and encouragement.
I have also come to see that the Open Houses – this weekend, ll to 4 – are about something else, friendship and love. For the most part, the people who come are not strangers at all, but friends. They come in love and friendship.
When I really believed that I could be loved – Maria showed me this – then I was finally able to permit my friends the freedom and respect to respond to love in their own way, even if it is sometimes different from mine.
They have their own histories, emotions, values, their own characters. But they come to show us their love for us, our farm, our animals, and our faith in self-awareness.
My ability to respond corresponds almost precisely with my own belief in my goodness, a wildly fluctuating belief over the years.
When I can give freely and spontaneously – I am learning to do that – then I can receive freely and spontaneously.
We have been astonished over these years to see how much our lives mean to others, this is a hard thing to accept and believe.
But The Open Houses have become our sacred holiday, our celebration of us, and one reason that is so is that we allow our friends the freedom and courtesy to respond to us as they want and are able to do.
This is what we worship, this is what we believe in.
That is the foundation of learning how to feel true gratitude, and we are nothing but grateful for our Open Houses and the people who come to share our holiday with us.
This weekend, I will share my life and Maria will share hers, and we will share our lives together. We will share Mary Kellogg’s final volume of poetry, my herding with the dogs, our donkeys, and a long list of gifted artists who represent the art of rural life.
And Maria’s Belly Dancing Group will be here Sunday at 1 p.m. On Saturday at 1 p.m., Liz Lewis, who has been shearing sheep since she was 8, will come her to shear ours. Poetry readings both afternoons, and I will gas on briefly about my work and life.
Maria will be having a wondrous time hold up in her very beloved Schoolhouse Studio selling wonderful art at very affordable prices.
It is touching to see the friendship that is developing between Red and Bud.
Fate and Bud have also connected and are playing happily and peacefully throughout the day. But Bud has a special connection with Red, and Red is completely accepting of his new sibling.
He is never irritated when Bud jumps on his head, or curls up in a ball to sleep next to him. This morning, when I came in from the pasture, the two of them were keeping watch through the back door.
Red is classically beautiful for a dog, Bud is what I would call endearingly ugly, one reason I love the Boston Terriers. They are in a way, ugly, they are also, in a way, beautiful.
Red’s calm seems to rub off on Gus, I think Red is showing him how to be peaceful and quiet, not something that comes naturally to him. Boston Terriers are busy dogs, just like border collies. They miss nothing, they respond to every movement, every wound. (Except at night when they snore and cannot be moved.)
I think Bud is very content being here at the farm. He is more and more affectionate by the day, he loves every persona and every dog. This breed is a family dog, they love everyone in the family.
Once he realizes the sheep and donkeys are part of the family, he will love them as well. I’m working on it.
Sandy, Robin’s new puppy, maintains a close crumb watch when Robin is having a snack or eating her cereal. She has the concentration of Red with sheep when there’s food. Yes, this is cute.
