apple-picking i

eve and i went to stone ridge orchard and it was great. hills, a lake, apples and asian pears, mixed clouds, and huskies.

spooky bat

alex and laura recently rescued beautiful spooky, who is albino, blind and deaf, probably as a result of unethical breeders trying to get a certain coat color! alex said this results in albino dogs a quarter of the time, and they are often killed. i'm so glad they found spooky, who is absolutely manic but deeply loving.

sunset at the dog park

at tompkins square park

we got some loveliness going.

oldie

http://malborkmalbork.blogspot.com/2013/07/february-mornings-podere-campriano.html

i've been looking back through the blog and realizing how many bits and pieces that i've now imported into my novel i also have recorded in photos. that whole post and its atmosphere have been pretty much what i've been grasping at the past year and a half...

the grand pyrenees dogs, podere campriano, 2013

February mornings, Podere Campriano

 Above: beautiful hot milk, the reward for getting up at dawn and undergoing two cold, hay-dusty hours of milking and feeding

There is a sign on the long dirt road to the property that warns hunters of the Podere's three dogs. "That's good, that way the hunters won't get near and accidentally shoot your dogs," I said to Claudio. "No," said Claudio, "It's so that the hunters don't get near, because if they do, our dogs will eat their dogs." And in fact there are corpses of deer and skeletons of sheep all over the property.