John Barnard

I arrived on the farm last Monday, finally being able to leave the Middle East after months of uncertainty brought on by the war in Iran and the subsequent fallout. It felt great stepping out into the winter chill of Tygerfontein and surrendering to the loving embrace of my parents, sister, brother-in-law and  nephews. To shake hands with my employees and seeing their bright smiles and friendly eyes. I scanned the yard and I could see the effort put in by my team to maintain the buildings, tend to the…

I am sitting in my favorite coffee shop staring at the gusty Northwester picking up a paper bag, swirling it upward and dropkicking it to the other side of the road. Summer is setting in fast here in the Middle East and with temperatures creeping into the low forty celsius territory it is time to consolidate my snippets of poetry, songs and other musings into what might need some more work and those that are ready to be recorded and added to the growing folder of new songs that will eventually make their…

I woke up feeling worn out and still tired this morning. Wild, vivid dreams came to me in salvos in the early morning hours and when I finally fell asleep I slipped into one of those “slumbers of the dead” where you wake up shivering and soaked in nightmare sweat. I pulled the curtain back and the white light of the sun over The Gulf came rushing in over my face and unadjusted eyes. I flipped on the radio and stumbled to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. 

Last night I finished reading Empire of the Summer…

The Westerner

“ My Fathers sleep on the sunrise plains, and each one sleeps alone

  Their Trails may dim to the grass and rains, for I choose to make my own

  I lay proud claim to their blood and name but I lean on no dead kin
   my name is mine, for the praise or scorn. The world began when I was born. “

 - Andy Hedges and Charles Badger Clark

It has been another night of interrupted sleep in the desert and after a few days of respite from the national threat notification system, my phone once again screamed to…

Call me “ Lucky “ - Musings from the Road

A rusty, ice covered Chevy stood idling in the sleet of the farmyard parking lot. Cloud cover formed a blinding white dome over the late November Wisconsin landscape and very carefully, as to not slip and fall out on the ice, I picked up my bag and made my way out the door.  It was early and the familiar sounds of the massive dairy farm filled the morning with things to do and anticipation of a new day ahead. I had said all my goodbyes to friends and colleagues, I…

“Jim Harrison said that leaving is a kind of dying, and I find I have a great deal of practice. It makes a strange awareness of the provisional nature of existence knowing and seeing things clearly only in approach and retreat, a Doppler Effect of human perception.”

     Jeffrey Foucault

The two turbofans spooled up with a deep roar and the mighty Dreamliner lunged forward, picking up speed down runway zero three left at OR Tambo International Airport, bound once again for Doha. All around, in every…

“ The dogs were barking as the cars were parking, the loan sharks were sharking and the narcs were narcing. Practically everyone was there.
In the parking lot by the forest preserve the police had found two bodies in the woods. Naked bodies.
Their faces had been horribly disfigured by some kind of sharp object
Saw it on the news, the TV news, in a black and white video.
Do you know what blood looks like in a black and white video ?
Shadows, Shadows…. That’s what it looks like.
 - Lake Marie - John Prine -

An…

“ My good friends speak, like they did last year
And last years just a blur, through my head full of beer.
Where’s your wisdom, put that broken bottle down
Let the wind in your sails take you out of this town so sad
And if life’s just a living room, then I’m in the hall and Im glad” - David Gray -

A stiff, crisp breeze is blowing in from the sea and the sky is a beautiful, flawless blue. The Doha winter at its finest, temperatures perfect, the city gardens pristine. Life is good at the moment.

Spent a wonderful…

“ Damn, damn, damn, Ol’ Death is a Buzzard that swoops down upon us from time to time.
  Fortunately I believe our spirits will transcend Earthly Mud, sailing around the stars on a paper airplane.”
            Joe Ely - Bonfire of Roadmaps -

I awoke hungover after another brutal nightshift. Ive been sick for a week, coughing up dry nothingness and struggling to sleep all while trying hard to steer the ship and managing another batch of sick animals in the herd back home.  I have some days off now and that…