I said good bye to a old dear friend this morning. He had died on Friday and the service was today. I showed up ten minutes after the family starting receiving people and waited half an hour in a long winding line to see the family. He was a farrier for many many years and was one of the best around. I was shocked his sister in law remembered meeting me twenty three years ago and could name the farm I was managing too. The family all seemed very appreciative even now that I watched their farm and animals about eleven years ago when my friend needed heart surgery. I thought nothing of it at the time and enjoyed caring for the property and their sheep. It was the first place I was able to use a dog to help round up the sheep and move them around where I needed them to be. At other farms it is usually me walking behind the sheep like the shepherds in days of old. Often running frantically to round up the stray sheep. It is an amusing site to see. My friend and his wife were two of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. He gave me a lot of advice for adjusting to the rural life and area I moved to compared to where I came from. Though in twenty three years a lot of changes have taken place on the shore but there are still lots of rural areas, farm land, rivers and history. I have not cried this much over someone’s death since my father’s. I sure will miss my friend but I have wonderful and beautiful memories to last me a very long time. I hope to visit his wife next month when things settle down a bit for her. I am hoping she still has his old horseshoe pile which he very artfully arranged. I hope to get a picture if she still has it up.

The top picture is taken from a window looking out onto the river and my backyard. The second picture is from a trip earlier on the winter I took to Assateague Island with a friend. I loved the sand patterns. And the bottom picture is from the Marginal Way in Ogunquit Maine. I love sitting there watching the ocean and watching the planes head overseas.

Happy Valentines Day in whatever form you celebrate it.