Another day in paradise

Truly, I am in paradise. I am here at the Kentucky Horse Park, enjoying beautiful weather, sunny days and cool nights. Living in and old (1987) "Georgie Boy" RV and loving every minute. Georgie squeeks and groans, rattles and rolls, much like me. I am able to cook on a tiny teeny four burner stove, wash up in a tiny kitchen sink, cook for Sarah and her two students, Katie and Kelsey, shower in a tiny space, conserve water, and have a ball. I am sittng at the dinette, looking out at an arena with horses warming up for their Dressage tests, sun streaming through the window, enjoying a hot cup of coffee and listening to a distant announcer call for classes. All is right with the world.

For me, this is heaven.

"And God took a handful of southerly wind and blew his breath over it and created the horse". ...Bedouin legend

Since the day many years ago that I used to sit on the curb with a carrot in my hand (circa 1945) and wait for the Producer's Milk Wagon to stop and deliver milk to our house, and the driver would allow me to pet the horse and feed him the carrot, I have been "horse crazy". I am old now, but I would still wait for the horse to come to give him a carrot.

It certainly works for me!

Tackle Adversity, Hoda style

Four years after mastectomy and divorce, TV's Hoda Kotb, 47 says life is "great again"

Copied in part from the USA Weekend Magazine, Sept. 23-25, 2011.

1. Surround yourself only with people who fill you up. Get rid of the toxic ones.

2. Don't sweat the little stuff--90% of what you worry about won't happen.

3. If you're still standing after surviving an illness or death of a loved one or whatever your cross to bear is, you get the four words: You Can't Scare Me. Use them!

4. Don't hog your journey; share it to help others.

5. Allow yourself dark days to stay under the covers watching Law & Order reruns and eating junk food.

A little far fetched...but it could happen

At a large wine merchants' warehouse, the regular taster died and the manager started looking for a new one to hire.
A drunkard with a ragged, dirty look came to apply for the position. The director of the warehouse wondered how to send him away.
They gave him a glass tof wine.
He tried it and said, "It's a Muscat , three years old, grown on a north slope, matured in steel containers. Low grade but acceptable."
"That's correct", said the boss.
Another glass. "It's a cabernet, eight years old, a southwestern slope, oak barrels, matured at 8 degrees. Requires three more years for finest results."
"Correct."
A third glass..''It's a pinot blanc champagne, high grade and exclusive,'' the drunk calmly advised the warehouse manager.
The director was astonished. He winked at his secretary to suggest a different tactic.
She left the room, and came back in with a glass of urine.
The ragged drunk tried it.
"It's a blonde, 26 years old, three months pregnant, and if you don't give me the job, I'll name the father."

The excitement is building!

Today is only one week from the time we depart for the Sport Horse Nationals Horse Show in Lexington, Kentucky at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Although Sarah is only taking two horses to show, they are both genuine contenders for High Marks!

Kissemsong is a Half/Arabian-Half/Thoroughbred chestnut 3 year old filly showing in Sport Horse Mares in hand (showing in halter), owned by our friend Shirley Nowak.

Canadian Justina is a purebred bay Arabian mare that Sarah owns and she will be showing in four carriage driving classes.

(Photo on the top: Justina pictured in 2009 at Walnut Hill in New York in 2009, her first driving competition and Photo on the below is Justina hitched to the new Wicker carriage driving at the Hossfeld's last month for harness tweeking)

The two girls going with us are Kelsey and Katie. Both will be sixteen by the time we leave for the show. The girls are working for the Arabian Horse Association on the "Jump" crew. They will be setting up jump courses and replacing any knocked down rails or jumps etc. They start their jobs on Tuesday at 8 a.m. and finish on Sunday. Each girl is working for pay, to help defray the expense of their individual horses.

All the classes will be shown in the covered arena. Two of Sarah's clients will also be attending to "root for the home team".

It is nice to have that kind of support. Nice that they will bring food to contribute to the communal pot for meals in the motor home. The concession stand on the grounds is "blah" and that would be a compliment! We will be camping for the whole week with the motorhome "Georgie Boy" (it's a 1987 model).

We are going with the intention of bringing home "the gold"!

Wish us luck and sunshine.

(Last time we competed in 2009 it rained for 8 days straight. The sun came out the day we left)

Into the valley of death rode the 40

There are 40 people that I would like to thank today. The 40 people who boarded United Airlines Flight 93.
40 people huddled in the rear of the cabin of the plane
after they learned it had been high jacked.
40 people voted knowing their decision was to die
40 people acted as one
40 people became heroes on September 11, 2001
40 people died protecting the lives of unknown Americans on that fateful day.
Shanksville, Pennsylvania is just one of the three tragic sites we honor today.
We honor their bravery, their courage and their commitment to humanity.
Sandy Dahl, the widow of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl. Is quoted:
``If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate.''
We thank those that gave their lives that fateful day
We thank those that worked bravely and tirelessly to search for survivors,
We thank those who continue to live their lives with the sad memories of their loss.
Today we honor their legacy. They made a choice, a choice to lay down their lives for others.
Their gift to us is this:
We do not live in fear……..we live in Freedom!
We thank those 40 people.