Red is growing older, just like me, but he is still passionate about his work, just like me. He is slower, and losing sight in one eye, and the sheep are slower in responding to him. But it is important to him, and to me, to do our work together every day.
Red is my invaluable companion, he grounds me and calms me and inspires me. Border collies live a long time, and Red is sound and healthy, I expect he will be with us a good long while. And his therapy work only grows better and deeper.
I liked this shot of him holding his ground, getting close and low with the sheep, keeping them out of the Pole Barn while we shoveled out the manure.
I call her the “Demon Dog,” her blue eye suggests a fevered intensity which is very genuine. This is the look she gives me when she is ready to go and be with the sheep, which is not to say herd the sheep. She loves to work, which by her definition means racing madly around the sheep, following them, staring at them intensely, but never, under any circumstances, herd them or move them or make them do anything she doesn’t want to do.
I love this look, it says to me, “let’s go, Big Boy, there is madness in the air!” Fate is a wonderful dog, and I am so glad I didn’t try to make her into Red.
The photo is fun all by itself, but is even more interesting when you look in Robin’s two hands and mouth and see pretzel bits everywhere. Sandy seems very interested in the pretzels and Robin is having a good time feeding him.
There is not much sweeter than a child with a dog she (or he) loves.
Be aware. This is a hard story to write and a hard story to read. I guess that makes it all the more important.
Treasure is an older dog now in the care of Friends Of Homeless Animals, Central Falls, R.I., she will test the heart and strength of any dog or animal lover.
The original photographs of her taken a year ago when she was found wandering the streets of Central Falls are too horrific even for the FOHA to put up, I would not put them up on my website.
Treasure was found wandering the streets of Central Falls more than a year ago, the media stories about her abuse and injuries triggered a police investigation that resulted in the arrest of three people. You can see the original television story here. Be warned, it is hard to look at some of these images.
You can read the Providence Journal story about Treasure here, she was, for a time, a famous dog. But lots of dogs are abused, and people’s memories are short. Treasure remains in foster care, FOHA has decided she is too fragile to be put up for adoption.
The vet treating her says he is sound, she has some benign tumors that cannot be removed, and a deformed front leg.
The abuse of this dog was so savage that the police launched a major search for her abusers.
FOHA took her in and put her in animal hospice care thinking she would only live a few weeks, but a year later, she is alive, and sweet and eating well and loving people.
I suppose this a triumph of the forgiving spirit of dogs and animals. Treasure is another one of those dogs that would be almost impossible for me to adopt, emotionally or practically, although I hope that can change one day.
A part of me thinks she should have been euthanized right away, but her foster caregivers says she has plenty of life left in her, she is a loving and peaceable dog. FOHA takes the most hopeless cases, I admire them for that.
Very few rescue groups or shelters I know of would have had the stomach to take in this dog and bring her back to life. This dog is the desperate among the desperate, the kind of dog nobody who is normal or sane wants.
I know this dog is not adoptable right now, and I understand the reality of that.
But Treasure also challenges our humanity, and she represents a powerful change to stand up for our own compassion and humanity. The people who know her believed she would make a great dog in a loving home.
Some people treat dogs cruelly, most people treat them well. Treasure deserves to be treated well in her remaining time.
In this case, we are on the far edge of animal rescue, the toughest cases, the lost dogs. That will not appeal to everyone, but It may appeal to some. It only takes one, a particular kind of person.
I hope Treasure has some happy tim.
If you are interested in learning more about Treasure, or supporting FOHA’s work, you can contact Friends Of Homeless Animals, Central Falls, R.I. Thanks, it’s a good cause and I believe in i t..
She was abandoned by friends she cared deeply about, she had stopped taking care of herself and ended up in the hospital, very much alone and weary of many years of hiding from emotional struggles, obesity, anxiety and depression.
A beloved member of the Creative Group At Bedlam Farm, she came to one or two of our Open Houses, and embraced the creative ethos of the group and so many of her friends. She came out of her shell long enough for us to get to know her. She fell in love with our donkeys and our dogs.
She became a friend. For the past couple of years, I have watched in awe and admiration and Susan fought back to reclaim – or “reframe” – her life. I never once saw her smile in that time.
She hardly ever stops smiling now.
Susan decided to light the creative spark and fight her way back to life. This is something so many people say they want to do, but so few actually do. It is so hard to change, I can testify to that. Most people don’t.
I think creativity is only partly about talent, it is mostly about determination. The people who want to do it do it, the people who talk about it rarely do it.
For many years, Susan’s dog Sally was her only companion. Susan was profoundly alone. Now she and Sally are happy in their new place. Her new friends are coming to visit.
Susan’s story is the stuff of movies. She left her long-time job as a supervisor in a hospital lab, left her home and friends in Long Island, left everything that was safe and familiar to her. bought a house smack in the middle of Cambridge, our town and began taking some very beautiful photos.
Her photos became her voice, her way back into life. She is living near us now, is putting together a new life, with new and better friends, and her creativity is emerging with a vengeance. So her courage and determination to chart a new course for her life.
We are thrilled to get to know her at long last, and to know her is to love her.
Susan is brave and honest and caring and quite brave.
She has a new job she loves, and new friends who care for her and who she cares about. Her new home is beautiful and inviting.
Today, a new chapter in her recovery and rebirth, she opened an Etsy studio so people can see and buy her art, in traditional and new and creative ways.
I was privileged to buy one of her lovely photographs this morning for $25, it is a digital file that can be sent to anyone, and I gave my print to Carol Johnson, who rescued Bud from an awful fate and is sending him to me in a couple of weeks.
She only has a few photographs up so far, and Maria spent hours Saturday figuring out Etsy, it is a big and important step for her. Creativity is now a central element in her life.
Joy, joy, up on Etsy
Susan is an artist, her art is just bubbling up inside of her and coming out in the photos.
“I came to photography as a way to expand my creative self,” she wrote on her Etsy page,” it has helped me to reveal the person inside that was hidden for many years. It has been a huge part of the journey that I have been on, the awakening and the life that I have chosen. Thank you for taking the time to look at my work and for being part of my joyous existence.”
Thank you, Susan, for being such a good friend to me and to Maria. We are so grateful to share our lives with you and benefit from your courage, warmth and intelligence. You are such a good friend, and such a creative human being.
This kind of message and so public a sharing of her work would have been inconceivable for Susan even a short time ago. She is coming out of hiding, she on fire. Check out her new Etsy page, it is in so many ways, a symbol of the new voice she has discovered deep within herself.
