A year ago, a dog mysteriously appeared in our lavender field. I found him as I was coming back from a hike with Huck and Mud, and at first, as the dog came bounding towards us, I thought,
How did Marcella get out this time?
But it looked a bit...different...wait a minute, you are an intact male Maremma, not Marcella.
Maremmas are not a common breed around here, and if you have a good one, you know how valuable they are-both in terms of cost you paid for a pup and their ability to protect your animals. The coincidence that White Dog showed up on our property, a property that already had a Maremma, was not only mysterious, it became quite magical for me, and my followers. At times, I thought my imagination and shear optimism had created that magic. But as months went by, I knew there was a true connection I shared with him, even before he arrived.
We have all fallen in love with White Dog, who we named Benedetto once we were sure he was staying. I certainly did not need another dog, nor did Marcella. We have imagined many different scenarios about how he got to us...and I still go back and forth about how he made it here. I started to write a book about White Dog this past summer, and was having a good time with it. But once we decided to move to Maine, the story I was working on seemed to lose the right meaning for me.
More than ever, I realize that White Dog has come to Apifera not only for a reason, but the reason has to do with me. I suppose that might sound egotistical, but the more I am with him, the more that goes on around him and me, the more I look into his eyes and feel his story is entangled in mine...somehow.
So, I need to start exploring it. Will it be a book someday? Maybe. A children's book? Perhaps...or a book I won't put a genre on because when I do I always goof it all up and get discombobulated.
I'm going to draw, search and explore, without worry. I need to do this too for my own grounding. With the property on the market, it is so easy to float away- float away to daydream what our new farm will look like, where it will be -exactly- and when will my magical buyers show up, especially after I wrote them a letter and released it to the universe. I need to focus while I am here and my intention is to do just that with drawing and art.
We shall see. We must revel in the unknown for now.
Read more about White Dog and his first year with Apifera.
