Today was the longest day of the year, but this will be a short blog post.
We had rain last night, which watered the ring to perfection. Jane and I rode first thing this morning. I jumped Bart, and he was delightful, but there is no picture to prove it. Jane worked on other things. We are getting pretty excited (and nervous) about the upcoming show. It’s been a long time since we have memorized and ridden a real course of jumps.
The Pearl Brothers coming to breakfast 
Stone is taking his time
Harry is very dedicated to his exercise regimen, assisted every day by Mistletoe, who is his personal trainer. This morning all the dogs were in attendance.
To my dismay, the automatic waterer in the shed stopped working. Luckily, we keep a water trough for the horses anyway, so they were not without water, but fixing the waterer became the morning’s project.
With perfect timing, just as I finished reassembling things, friends arrived for a visit. We spent a delightful day with Nisi and Jordan and their son, Owen. Harry played Nisi’s grandfather in the 2019 Tennessee Williams Festival, Night Of The Iguana. We watched and were blown away by Jordan in the 2019 Bloomington, Illinois Shakespeare Festival. These theater friendships can be profound. Jordan and Nisi have brightened our life, and this was a treat, having them here on the longest day of the year and Father’s Day, too, after the long, strange pandemic pulled all asunder.
2019 onstage 
2021 Father’s Day 
Jorda, Nisi, and Harry
Owen was a bit intimidated by the horses, never having met any before, but Nisi showed him there was nothing to worry about.
Oisin loves to meet people 
Stone is curious about Owen 
Nisi knows horses
The female tanager stopped by this morning.
Female cardinal (molting) and female tanager 
Tanager
And, finally, our first self seeded zinnia bloomed today.
Beauty does not require perfection
Stay safe, stay well. Peace.