Galloping Through

Another Week – June 10

Written by

Anne

in

, ,

Here’s a depressing statistic – the average lifetime contains 4,000 weeks. At the rate weeks dissolve lately, it gives one pause. Life is fleeting!

Eddy listens to a rant about fleeting time

Around here, the past week brought rain in torrents.

Bridlespur Horse Show, once an important national competition, is now just a local event, held at Happenstance Farm, near here. This horse show has always been renowned for rain, even after attempts at moving the date. But Sunday brought sunshine, so we made a trip over to visit and watch friends jump courses. I took a few pictures.

JoJo
Joey
Janis
Diane
Joe and Breezy
Susan and Santa Fee await their turn
Former racehorse, Wishy Washy , learning a new skill with Amy
Beth and John, who bought Wishy Washy off the racetrack
Justine and Harry and Weedy
Beth and Jane
One of the top judges in the U.S. is amused
Eddy meets Toby, who might be a relative!

And here are some more pictures from the wet week.

Water, water everywhere
Catalpa in bloom
Catalpa blossom close up
A doe reaching for leaves
Judging by her hipbones, I suspect she is nursing a fawn
Mushrooms enjoying the weather
A bedraggled flag and beaten down clustered bellflowers
Eddy loves wet weather
Romping Eddy

We had a visit from a longtime friend, Lou Ann, and her granddaughter, Rory, who is a talented artist (and a first rate golfer!). Many years ago, I rode one of Lou Ann’s horses at the Arabian Nationals. She and husband Mel stood a Trakehner stallion named Pennant, and Phaon was one of his sons, who was half Arabian.

Phaon in 1999 , qualifying for Nationals at the Arabian Regionals
Harry discussing a maquette
Lou Ann and Rory meet Oisin
Lou Ann
Harry and Stone and Anne (photo from Lou Ann)

The birds are thriving, and we are immersed in birdsong whenever rain abates. I carefully monitored the bluebird nest, and am pleased to report that all five babies successfully fledged, though there are no photographs. The barn cats were displeased with night lockup as fledging date approached, but are now released to roam again. I have cleaned out the birdhouse and await a new brood. Meanwhile, here are some characters I did get pictures of this week…

A damp nuthatch
A butterfly alights on the Kawasaki Mule
A young red bellied woodpecker on the suet, with his long woodpecker tongue out!
Young woodpecker begs for food
Male woodpecker feeds youngster
“You know, you can pick up seeds yourself!”
Departure
A cardinal and a goldfinch
A rare visit from a squirrel! Eddy was napping.
Male tanager
Female tanager
Male grosbeak
Roscoe at rest

Every day is filled with more than I can accomplish, but I feel very fortunate for so many friends, for plenty to do, and for YouTube to help with repairs. Despite the devolution of our democracy, with lies and misinformation everywhere, Nature and repairs are real. YouTube provided accurate information, and with Harry’s help the repair of the shed waterer was accomplished.

I had lunch yesterday with Florence, who has been a friend for more than 55 years. I watched her ride when I was learning, and I idolized her as a rider and as a writer. I treasure her as a friend.

Florence yesterday
Florence 54 years ago on Follow Me – at Bridlepsur when the jumps were big!

Stay dry, stay well, be grateful and kind. Resist fascism and autocracy. The United States is supposed to be a Democracy.

Slava Ukraini! Peace and courage…

Comments

6 responses to “Another Week – June 10”

  1. Yetismith Avatar
    Yetismith

    We don’t see woodpecker fledglings. They look gentler than the starling ruffians! I couldn’t help but notice how many of your friends in this post have names beginning with J!

    Like

    Reply
  2. JANIS Avatar
    JANIS

    Always fun to see one in a blog. Thanks for the picture!

    Like

    Reply
  3. janemcclaren Avatar
    janemcclaren

    “Here’s a depressing statistic – the average lifetime contains 4,000 weeks. At the rate weeks dissolve lately, it gives one pause. Life is fleeting!” Anne, I immediately heard your mother, “Oh Anne, all you can talk about is death.” I hope you get a chuckle out of this. So many things to delight in here. The photos of Eddie, Florence and others, the horses, and the birds; the photo of the Cardinal and the Goldfinch is fabulous! Such a joy you bring to me, just another human who should have been dead two years ago!

    Like

    Reply
  4. janemcclaren Avatar
    janemcclaren

    “Here’s a depressing statistic – the average lifetime contains 4,000 weeks. At the rate weeks dissolve lately, it gives one pause. Life is fleeting!” Anne, I immediately heard your mother, “Oh Anne, all you can talk about is death.” I hope you get a chuckle out of this. So many things to delight in here. The photos of Eddie, Florence and others, the horses, and the birds; the photo of the Cardinal and the Goldfinch is fabulous! Such a joy you bring to me, just another human who should have been dead two years ago!

    Like

    Reply
  5. Katie Claggett Avatar
    Katie Claggett

    Your bird photos are just flat out amazing! Those woodpeckers!! That TONGUE!!!! And oh that sweet Eddy! I especially love seeing the occasional people I know (Hi Florence!). The face does not look like F in the last pic – but the style does!

    Like

    Reply
  6. Harlan Gerdes Avatar
    Harlan Gerdes

    It looks like you guys had a great time at happenstance farm! Glad the weather turned out to be alright for the event.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Katie Claggett Cancel reply

More posts