mini vacation

Michael and I had a couple of lovely days and a break from routine in Charleston, SC. Wandered South of Broad! and enjoyed southern food, charm and a slower pace of life. We ate, walked, talked, ate some more, drank, took afternoon naps and didn't do much!  Very nice. This is a picture of the two hundred and fifty year old live oaks at the Boone Plantation. That is where they filmed the series North and South. Very beautiful, old and looks like Gone with the Wind.  Another house we visited in Charleston was the Calhoun Mansion. I do not think I have ever seen a house with more stuff inside- fabulous wood interiors and trim etc,  more antiques and collectibles than I would have thought was possible to acquire in one lifetime and the owner is still collecting! Went to the beach one day and biked around the Citadel another.  Now, we are back to routine and it is finally hot. Be careful what you ask for, I guess. I need to get stalls done before 8AM and work yearlings before 9:30 or it is really yucky.  It is Memorial Day weekend and I am glad oldest son and fiance moved wedding to October. Youngest son and his girlfriend are here for a visit. Very fun to have a full house. Thanks to all the veterans and have a safe Memorial Day weekend.

Shackleford wins the Preakness

Shackleford ran an awesome race. The only horse I bet on all day. I saw him Thursday when I went to see my  two-year old train and I watched him gallop all around that way. He was wayyy cool!  Big, strong with huge gallop. I knew he was going to win today and a $10.00 to win wager made me $137.00 bucks. I am not a big bettor, you can tell , but it was very exciting to see him fight down the stretch.  The day was great, sunny and everyone was having a good time.

winner's circle

This may be as close to the winner's circle as we get on Black Eyed Susan Day, at least this year! It was a gorgeous day and I must admit, Pimlico looks pretty good in pink- it is a very flattering color, even for ole Hilltop! Everyone was out in their finery and the lady jockey legends did a good job. Carol and I were both galloping horses when Jennifer Rowland was racing( before she added Small to her name) and we looked at each other, shaking our heads, saying," No way , could we ride a 6 furlongs race. Even to try we would be riding l-o-n-g. Jennifer was out there, stirrups jacked and finished really well. Impressive! Wasn't on the best horse but finished strongly, tho' few of them looked a little wobbly. Royal Delta won the Black Eyed Susan, looking magnificent, running the fractions as fast as the sprint one race before. She is by Empire Maker, out of an A.P.Indy mare - that is horse royalty for those who don't know, and she did the royals proud. Beat Todd Pletcher's horse, who was also pretty nice. We watched the media have a camera trained on him the whole 1/2 hour before the stakes race. Literally, they ( the cameramen) were crouched one row behind us, one row in front of Pletcher, with the camera 12 inches from his face. He seemed nonplussed, ignored them and keeps a private look on his face- but what if you have to scratch your nose or something?   I had a wonderful phone call as I arrived at Pimlico this morning. My trainer announced my little two year old got her gate card and worked her first breeze- 3/8th in .37 sec.   This is very respectable, even if Pimlico is very fast track right now.  I am happy and there is no camera watching me smile!

Black Eyed Susan Day

I am off to Pimlico racetrack for the next two days. These are Maryland's biggest racing days and the festivities are really fun. Yesterday, Carol and I went to the Alibi breakfast to hobnob with the racing elite. Had breakfast with Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas (sort off) and listened for some racing tips!  Then we walked over to the stakes barn and oohed and aahed over the Budweiser giants. Takes a lot of horse to impress these jaded horsewomen, and we were impressed. They are huge,  just imaging one of those hooves coming down on a foot makes me cringe. But they are kindest horses, standing quietly for all those pets. Thoroughbreds would be biting all those hands after about 10 minutes. The team manager told us they can get the whole 8 horse team, fully harnessed and ready to pull in 20 minutes!! Can you imagine getting 8 Thoroughbreds to stand in two rows, head to tail, side by side, while 4 guys rushed about tacking you up with all this jangly, shiny harness. We might find those racehorses in the next county at the end of the day!! He also said it cost that beer company about  $1,400,000 each horse, yearly,  to showcase the team around the country. Yikes. That's a lot of beer. The mare we bred 5 years ago, Baltimore Belle, now 4, is running tomorrow in the 4th race on Preakness Day. She is up against very elite company. Remember Life At Ten, the Breeder's Cup runner who was distressed in post parade and ran badly ( she "tied up"). She will break out of the gate beside Belle!  But it is fun to have a horse in, on Preakness Day and we hope she runs big! I come home at night and look at the yearlings in the paddocks and go , "One day...."

anniversaries...

Happy Anniversary to my husband. Four years ago we were looking at Mt. Etna and marveling at old Roman ruined amphitheaters, eating granita in the little villages above Pompeii. This was the beginning of our Mediterranean honeymoon and it was a wonderful vacation.  I hope we can have many more such adventures. The day to day grind doesn't really help foster or support the intimacy of marriage.  But after days of just hanging out together on vacation, experiencing the same funny little moments and just talking we seem to regain the closeness and friendship that is the cement of our lives. Just have to find the time and priority to always make them happen. Two years ago it was an Alaskan adventure. Right now some family weddings are the adventures and they have been and will be magnificent. The expanding of family that happens with weddings is very enriching and I am enjoying immensely getting to know husbands, fiances and girlfriends. I am proud of my kids and love watching the love unfold in their lives.

after the rain

It rained buckets and buckets yesterday and this morning it is beautifully green and damp. The rail fencing is dark chocolate brown against the kelly green pastures. Lush. That is the word for this carpet this morning. Enough rain to soak the seed and really drench the new grass. The mist is rising to the treetops, the blue sky is now visible high above and the birds are welcoming me. Yesterday was my daughter's 24th birthday and I miss her. I think it may be the first birthday that there was no effort on my end to bring her home or go out to LA. She is grown and married and I guess subconsciously I knew she now belongs in LA with her new traditions and birthdays.  Kinda sad for me. Tomorrow is my youngest son's 21st birthday. He is also far afield, visiting his lady love in Colorado. Though he will return tonight to celebrate briefly with us for a dinner. I was going through old photographs yesterday and sorting when I realized, while holding a tourist memento of the twin World Trade Towers, that 10 years ago we had taken this same son to New York City for his 11th birthday. We have a picture of Mom, Dad and son on top of one of the Towers where you had a panoramic view of Manhattan.  We still have the ticket stubs- May 16th, 2001. So strange to think  it is gone.
The horses are moving slowly up towards the barn, walking with their heads buried in wet grass but being pulled towards their morning feed and the lure of fresh sawdust to sleep in after a rainy night. It is so peaceful. Life goes on, no matter what.  Even Bin Laden's death was but a blip in the  rhythm.

my favorite time of day

It is dawn and the morning promises another beautiful day. The pale blue washes the sky above the softest gold, the few clouds are lit from beneath by the same gold. I absolutely love this time of day. I sit, drink my coffee and, I suppose it is a form of meditation, I am just quiet, watching this moment of promise. Today I had a strange thought, as I listened to the few early birds, and watched the edge of the woods on the far side of the pasture, change from very dark to a shadowed green. I have just finished reading a wonderful and powerful, historical book about the Comanches, called, "Quanah Parker, Empire of the Summer Moon". At times graphically difficult to read, because of their cruel customs, it chronicles the rise and demise of the Comanche nation as the white settlers pushed into the Great Plains. What flashed into my mind this morning as I watched the edge of the wood was that 150 years ago, I might have been sitting quietly, sipping coffee watching the dawn and hoping no Indians showed up to kill me! All I worry about is the deer flies and how slow my internet connection is at times. I watch the tree line hoping to see a fox or deer and my counterpart wife/ mother of the 1850's may have woken and watched her husband or son leave to work in fields or whatever and then  never see them again. It was a brutally hard life on the frontier ( not that this is the frontier, just the image of the field and woods) but  I can only image the thoughts that would go through "her" mind as the same kind of morning dawned on a similar beautiful May morning. The book was fascinating and I recommend it to anyone who loves a glimpse into another lifetime.

Kentucky Derby party

Animal Kingdom ran a great race, won the 137th Derby and it was not his fault that I had never heard of him! It was definitely a wide open Derby and my friend who came to our annual Derby party at the last minute, was the lucky soul to win the "calcutta" and go home with more money than he came with!!. Now that's a good party he must be saying. Animal Kingdom has a connection to the Mid-Atlantic, he is Graham Motion's horse and Graham is a great fellow and trainer. So hats off to the Motion team.  Speaking of hats, mine was a big hit at my own party. Almost like the royals at a wedding! And I am now up at 3AM writing my blog because I had perhaps one too many Cosmopolitans. The martinis and cosmos were such a big hit we were running out of the fixings and the end of the party, we realized all the white wine was still in the fridge! No wonder everyone was loving the martinis and cosmos! My pick to win the race, Soldat, came in 6th. The English invader, Master of Hounds ran 5th and because of our calcutta ( the only reason) I know that Comma to the Top ran last- takes 10% of our "pool". We had the best time and I love a good occasion to wear a hat.

beautiful morning

Went to Pimlico yesterday and watched my two year old filly train.  She is going very well, I was impressed. My young Irish trainer has done a great job with her and let's hope her nasty streak translates into a competitive race mare. He says she eats well and has done every thing asked of her, so I hope I can have some fun with her - maybe race by late summer?  The fields are finally looking very lush after an expensive re-do with herbicide, seed and fertilizer. Had not been in the budget plans but oh well, they are  now looking great. The yearling colt is blooming and the hunters are very lazily enjoying their summer off. The mare that tried to die last year is looking fantastic and jumping three foot. She has done all the hunter paces and is the most natural, effortless jumper I have ever had. She is truly a miracle horse,  I never would have believed she could make such a recovery if I had not been a witness. Life is good today and I am looking forward to Kentucky Derby.

very sad day

A friend of mine buried his son today. This young man was the same age as my oldest, in fact we car-pooled for a while in middle school years. I cannot imagine how difficult and sad a day this is for him and the family. We love our children unconditionally and yet there are times when love is not enough. This son had his own demons and addictions that in the end took him away from all the people that loved him.  And left them with guilt and sorrow and questions. It is so sad. The only comfort I could offer is that he is no longer fighting a demon that lies and steals your soul and, that now, he is at peace and hopefully with his grandpa. The family pictures showed a young man, smiling, teasing, serving his country in the armed forces, handsome and laughing. This is the memory that I have and I hope that is the one that his parents have to comfort them. We have all known each other for so long and we truly hurt and ache when tragedy happens to any of us. I came home wanting to hug my own son. But he was busy and rushing off to work, didn't want to hug Mom. Oh well, we love unconditionally and hope and pray our children are safe. I called the other ones and listened to busy lives and felt connected.

Infinite justice

What a coup for the US intelligence world! Osama Bin Laden, the most wanted man in the world was captured and killed last night. It had been in the works for months and according to Mike, was the result of diligent, meticulous analysis and years of never quitting the search.  While we all wondered if Bin Laden would ever be caught, the intelligence world had never stopped tracking him down and for months had been closing in on the compound in Pakistan. We cracked open a bottle of Dom Perignon and listening to a song that Mike had promised Special Forces he would play on this day, we drank a toast to those Delta  Forces and the Navy Seals and all the ones who helped find him. It is a day that was a long time coming, and I am sure the families of the victims of 9-11 have breathed a sigh of justice and closure. Congratulations and thank you. God Bless America.