Farm living is the life for me.

My sweet friend Lora and I had a nice little afternoon yesterday. I pretended we were doing a little Town and Country shoot with some of her menagerie.

I had been imagining her wearing a ballgown and holding a baby sheep or some of her crazy fancypants roosters. Was a little too mucky for the John Singer Sargent “Madame X” formal portrait (with critter). And maybe I’m not really that slick anyway. The roosters don’t exactly co-operate with the being held at this point in their career, they just strut around and hope nobody shows up with a cleaver.

Lora improvised brilliantly with a lovely vintage fur and fancy muck boots. The little grey donkey, Jack, is super sweet, and kind of like a dog. The bully ram just wants to have his head scratched or he’ll butt you and knock you over. The little sheep are so squatty that apparently if they fall over they have a hard time righting themselves, and flail around beetle-wise.

I resisted a serious urge to try a little sheep-tipping. Then we kicked off the muck boots and had some hot chocolate and a nice chat.

Parading down Main Street.

Never been big for the Holiday festivities mania. Have been trying for years to get my family to stop giving each other presents for Christmas once and for all. It’s not that my heart is three sizes too small, it’s just not my best thing.

On the other hand, my mother, Miss Anne, is a crazy person about Christmas, so I invited her and my sister Natalie to come visit me over the weekend when the big Christmas in New Harmony festivities were going on.

We had several really beautiful Winter days, mostly sunny and nice. Started raining the day they left and didn’t stop for a minute for several days. We had a big old time (O.K....as big a time as can be had here in Bedford Falls). Sat around the wood-stove at night. Got buzzed one night on White Russians at the Yellow Tavern. Did a lot of touring around. Took a carriage ride.

We didn’t get up early enough to make it to Pancakes with Santa, but one of the highlights of the weekend was the big parade down Main Street later Saturday morning. I think I’ve always been out of town or something. Didn’t know what I was missing! Cute kids! Tractors! Candy throwing! Santa! Ponies! Mickey Grimm as the Little Drummer Boy! The sweetest three-legged dog ever! A firetruck with my name on it! A giant rooster! Truly a beautiful small-town thing. Probably the last time the kids from the school will march, as it looks like the New Harmony school is sadly closing at the end of the year. Super Boo.

And yet, It’s a Wonderful Life. Mary! Kids! I’m home!

Roofless roofing.

Philip Johnson’s 1960 “Roofless Church ” is getting a new roof. Sort of. Part of it is getting re-roofed. The old shingles on the “Inverted Rose” structure—which houses Jacque Lipschitz’ bronze “Peace on Earth”*—were starting to show the ravages of decades of weather.

Local boys, Koester Construction, are doing a fine, artful job of redoing the wooden roof.

*“Three casts were made, and are located at Notre Dame de Liese in Assy, the abbey of St. Columba on the island of Iona in the Hebrides, and the Roofless Church in New Harmony, Indiana.”