Ides Of March Already…

Beware how quickly the time goes by! Another week gone, and half of March is behind us. Ahead, a greening world and more madness. Days are getting warmer, dark comes later, and my disarray increases. Still, there is certainly more to be grateful for than to complain about.

High on the list of luck is Harry’s quick recovery from the pacemaker insertion, and his noticeable improvement.

The animals and barn were well cared for by Jane and Marianne while we were gone. Eddy did some shoe collecting and missed us a lot, but Jane took him for walks, despite rain. The horses kept their shoes on and, being Irish, tolerated the rain. We can never repay Jane for all she does. We are so lucky to have her in our life – and next door!

Sunday, having missed an hour of sleep due to Daylight Saving, I watched Jane and Susan take a lesson indoors with Ali, which was great fun.

Stone took advantage of the mud to clinch the grooming award.

We had some of the porch pillars replaced by Brad, a wonderful handyman. He removed the last piece of railing along the front of the house, leaving only one small section on the north aspect, to prevent us falling to our deaths.

As you can see by the above picture, the porch by the kitchen door is utilitarian. There is a chair for private phone conversations, relaxation, and cat comfort. Water bottles await the Mountain Valley semiannual delivery. Trash cans hold plastic, glass, and metal, separated for a trip to the recycling center (which we did this morning), and wood scraps await a fire to act as kindling. We will not be featured in Architectural Digest!

The horses are enjoying a quiet week. They had their annual Spring vaccinations and Coggins tests, ready now for the season ahead. I have been over to Ali’s to exercise CeCe while Ali is down south riding at a show. It is a privilege and a treat to ride a horse of that caliber, and he is a sweet individual, too.

The dogs are, for the most part, a delight. Weedy is perfect, of course, and Eddy has been making great strides, but he disgraced himself yesterday by truly bolting for the first time. He was being trusted off leash (and luckily had his GPS tracker Tractive collar on). The scoundrel must have seen a deer. I didn’t see it, but he was GONE before I could even tell which direction he went. He ran two miles (according to the tracker), and I met up with him at the power lines above the back hay field. I drove the Kawasaki Mule up, and Eddy was thrilled to see me. He loves riding in the Mule. Harry gave his pacemaker a good workout getting back to the house after the bolt to advise me on directions. He is better at reading the map than I am. All was well, except it will be a long time before we trust Eddy again.

The cats are all well, though Skittle is slowing down a bit. She sleeps most of the time. Her sister, Licorice, is too spooky and wild to sleep much. She has kept her girlish figure better, too, living the life of a wild cat, instead of sleeping in a comfortable bed in the barn. It’s her choice!

Spring is early and beautiful. The birds are pairing up, the frogs are singing in the woods, too. I love the flowers. Many of them hold history for me. The hyacinths, I planted in the woods before we built our house here. The daffodils always remind me of memorization in school, a gift the teachers gave to us in those long ago days. Wordsworth stays with me even now… “And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.”

Forsythia calls up my mother, who always brought a branch of forsythia inside, the first flowers of the year. There were always flowers in the house from March to October. Peter carries on that tradition at our childhood house.

Behind the studio is a stand of “spicebush” given by my friend, Richard Camp, to my mother many years ago. I took some of it to Bowling Green, then brought some here. It is probably actually a golden currant, the most fragrant flower imaginable, blooming in very early Spring to delight us with yellow flowers and outrageous perfume. Richard and my mother are long gone, but the “spicebush” from Poplar Bluff carries their memories on.

Henbit is a vigorous weed, turning all the farm fields purple to welcome Spring in. When I went by myself to watch the World Cup in Omaha in 2017, to see HH Azur in the flesh (she did win it), my trip home across Missouri was magical with purple fields of henbit. I cannot see it without thinking of that special adventure.

Harry works in the studio with wonderful smells wafting through the open door on these warm days, dogs roaming in and out to check on his progress.

Red sky morning and night, means anything could happen! Life is a daring adventure! Tornadoes blew through yesterday, today is glorious, we are grateful.

Be safe, be well, get outside if you can. Slava Ukraini! Peace.