If there is a road between fact and fiction, between the harsh realities of life and the figments of paradise, it is the half-mile dirt furrow, (some may call it a driveway) that leads to Lazy Goose Farm, the secluded upstate New York enclave of author Gail Fraser and her husband, artist Art Poulin. But potholes in their natural state and wayward wildlife seemingly determined to challenge the best of brakes, are only minor obstacles to what awaits a visitor at the top of the hill; a gentleman’s farm of crimson red barns, cozy cottages, and a babbling stream that adorn rolling green hills. Forget about the car fender that now hangs by a hinge – the trip was worth it.

And if life does imitate art, it is at Lazy Goose, where real world angst and intrusions give way to humor and gentleness, where any soul brave enough to risk life and limb on “the driveway” will escape into the fictional provinces created within Fraser’s novels and Poulin’s folk art canvases. The orchard, the multi-colored beehives, even the heirloom tomatoes at their homestead are mere visual references to a deeper solace found here, a serenity grounded in the belief that one can maneuver past the potholes of life and come out for the better by living with simple tenets and finding purpose and synergy through one’s passions.