December 9, 1953 - Art, Cows & Love

I feel certain whatever "art" J. will bring forth will in no way compare with that of v.G., but it came to me that V. must have appeared to people as J. does. I'm sure he has friends but they are all of the same bohemian type; however, who knows but that one among them might evolve into someone to be remembered by his works. All this is of no importance.

I wish I had done more on-the-spot writing during our western camping trip. As I reread the description of our first campsite I find it has a fresh* quality that would be foreign to any account I might write now months afterwards, although I am anxious to put it all down before it fades further. (* one has more of a feeling of being "there" rather than merely of being told about such an experience.)

On several occasions within the last year the experience of coming to "love" certain things has come to me with such a concreteness as to be an actual physical change. Watching cows has always been one of my favorite pastimes. Whenever on a trip I watch the cows I see with affectionate intensity. I like to watch them lie down & get up, & occasionally I'm lucky enough to see one run a bit & I can see in my mind as clearly the picture of a herd of cows all turning their heads toward me as they hear me approach - their ears pert, their eyes intently suspicious, & their bulging sides in profile. Someday I shall be able to convey to them the interest & friendliness & love I feel toward them. On a trip to Barrington early last spring I felt, as I saw in turn contented cows, noble horses, sheep and other common form inhabitants, this feeling of actual physical love come to me. I felt as I had long known, that I loved in a deep sense of the word these and all animals & I felt closer to them & more kindly toward them than many of the upright, 2 legged animals.

Again, on our camping trip, as we drove through Rabbit Ears Pass on the way to Rocky Mt. Nat'l Park, this sensation came to me as I looked at the mountains we had come to know in so short a time. I realized then in a single instant, I felt in that instant, this love for these newly known inspiring mountains a love that had been growing only since a bare week before. And I had an inkling of the satisfaction and contentment that must come from living among them & becoming a friend to them.