Replenishing the soul

Sometimes it is necessary to retreat to one’s own little world and ignore the wider world with all the animals-at-risk and the idiotic people like the mayor in Arkansas who put them at risk. After the letter writing is done, expending any more energy worrying about animals I cannot personally help is (as my friend Janice from Hearts on Noses says) "crazy making".

And I’m pretty good at reading my own moods and knowing when it is time to haul on the reins and put on the blinders and replenish my soul. So today I backed away from the computer and focused on the physical tasks of caring for five acres, 17 animals, a dilapidated old barn and house, and myself.

I pulled the lawn chair up near the pasture gate, I let out the piggies (with a stern admonishment to Scotch NOT to go beyond the x-pen that serves as a temporary barrier), I made myself a coffee and some toast with marmalade, and I settled down in the sun to crack the cover on a book I bought a several weeks ago: The Good Good Pig: The extraordinary life of christopher hogwood, by Sy Montgomery.

With dogs by my side and pigs in the pasture, I spent the day reading, taking photos, gardening, doing repairs, and being thankful that I live where I live, that I have the friends that I do, and that I CAN make the world a better place one or two (or seventeen) animals at a time.

I know very little about photography - my sister is the photographer in the family. I don't know anything about composition or lighting or F-stops. One day, after I retire, perhaps I'll take time to learn. But for now, I use a simple point-and-shoot camera and I take tons of shots of things that make me smile, images that refresh my spirit and fill my heart with happiness. And today I took over three hundred shots. I think it is safe to say my sense of balance is restored.

So here is a glimpse of my own little world and just a few of the three hundred images that made me smile on this beautiful sunny day:

Sadie


Rickey


Pigs exiting barn


Piggy


Sadie impersonating a lion


Bee on blackberry blossom


Piggy face


Whisper


"You let my bruver sleep!"


Waitin' for dinner


"What's that on your face, Foster Mama?"


Belle, aka Little Ms. Diva


"MMMMMM...That's was gooood!"


Martin looking noble


Ol' Blue Eyes


Charley in grass


"Do I have dirt on my face?"


Enjoying the pool


Flaked out piggy


Happy Sadie