Smoke tree

In my grandmother's front yard is this sad, decrepit tree we swear has bloomed its last then it surprises us in late spring. And we're always happy to see it.
Hello, Smoke Tree!

Egg hatching, part 2

     The other night, Hayes whispers into the phone,"Tiffany found another goose egg and it's peeping!"
     "What are you going to do with it?" I asked.
     "It won't hatch until after I get down there," she informs me about our upcoming summer together.
     Um, what?

     Our history with eggs is long. Five years ago, I bush hogged a field that turned up a wild turkey nest. We took the eggs to our apartment and put them in a shoebox under a lamp. I wondered how long I'd keep them there until I told Hayes they weren't going to hatch.

     Then ... the damn things hatched. Three baby turkeys! Only one survived and Hayes called it "Fred Turkey" and it lasted a couple of weeks until our Dacshund killed it when it got out of a pen at our farm. Hayes cried and was pretty angry with the dog.

     About a month ago, she told me her friend found a goose egg and so she took it home, put it under a lamp and waited. Dud. So now here we are: expectant goose mothers. 

     Do you remember a few years ago when a goose attacked Hayes? I do. Not something I'll ever get over! And now we're supposed to hatch a baby goose in the house? 

     One thing is clear, a long-time friend said to me, Hayes is hiding the egg and bringing it to me, her mother, and all that symbolizes. "I could cry about that for 10 minutes," she said to me.

     I told Hayes I better not be the first person that thing sees when it hatches and she best hope it hangs on until Monday night when I pick them up!

     Stay tuned.

Unisti Day

Unitsi Day family photo at Raven Run Nature Park, Ky.

Before Hayes went to her birthday party, I wanted to go see the butterfly house in Cincinnati, which had a display of Moroccan butterflies. I wanted this picture to show just how freakin' tall that girl is getting!

 Trying to sneak up on a butterfly:

 Cort trying to get a butterfly on his nose!

 While Hayes was at her party, Cort and I played laser tag and it is my new favorite thing! But we were worn out ...

 So for my actual Mother's Day, we scheduled a tour at Old Friends Equine Retirement as this is our favorite place to go in Kentucky. Here is Cort with Danthebluegrassman:

 And Hayes with Creator, who is kind of a nasty creature but seems to love her. He tries to bite everyone else:

 Flick learned to show off his lip tattoo for carrots. All Thoroughbreds get an identifying tattoo when they are born.

 Giving I'm Charismatic a scratch. He is the son of one of my favorite horses, Charismatic, a Derby and Preakness winner.

 So we had our picture made with I'm Charismatic for 2013:

 As we did in 2010:

After comparing the pics, these are two different horses! The 2010 pic is of someone else I don't remember.

 Afterwards, we went to our favorite restaurant, Ted's Montana Grille. WikiStix are always fun:

 This is Haye's goose (upside down):

 And we had time to take in a hike at Raven Run Nature Park.

 I love these rock walls all over Kentucky. I'd had a neighbor who told me he bulldozed his and I just thought it was a travesty.

 Been a long time since I've seen a trumpet vine

 And it was nice to see this wild columbine at the end of our hike:

 Hayes was the smart one and hiked the whole time barefoot since it had rained and the entire trail was muddy and slick. Cort and I picked our way through trying not to get our shoes muddy nor fall down.

 At the end of the trail overlooking a river:

Great Unitsi Day weekend! I love you guys more than anything ...

I thought I had an amazing job ...

And it's turned out even moreso. I've had 10 children learn life-saving aquatic skills this session. Even  12 years later, I'm amazed watching them do it. I don't think it'll ever get old knowing a child can save himself.

And that's even more poignant given the lesson I filled in for an absent coach. There was an adult on my schedule. Oh great. Adults bring lots of baggage to learning to swim. I'm not a psychologist - I'm an infant swim teacher.

So the woman gets in and tells me it's her second lesson and what had been worked on previously. We went to the other end of the pool so she wouldn't feel embarrassed. She told me when she was young, she remembered being in a group swim lesson and was told to jump in. All she remembers is seeing the numbers at the side of the pool and someone jumping in to get her. Learning to swim "is on my bucket list," she told me and "this isn't my first rodeo." She told me of the other times she's tried to learn.

Now I'm really thinking: how the heck do I get through this and not traumatize this woman further? This is going to be a lonnnngggg 30 minutes. 

We blew bubbles. Her hands shook at the side of the pool. She fully submerged in the water and her body was visibly shaking. "Let's kick down and back to get ride of that nervous energy," I said.

Five minutes left in the lesson. She held the kickboard out in front of her, I wrapped my arms around her waist and suggested she lay prone and blow bubbles again. Again. I moved my hands to either side of her hips. "Bubbles, again." 

One minute left in the lesson. "Bubbles and this time kick." She kicked 3 feet to the wall without me. "You just swam."

She smiled, she laughed, we high-fived, we hugged. "I did it. I never thought I'd swim!" she said. I thought I'd cry. 

Moms & Muffins

Hayes had a function at her school this week so I drove up to spend 45 minutes with her enjoying the Moms and Muffins program. She is so pretty.

 Later, I got Cort at school and we spent a few hours together having lunch and playing games.

It was a very short visit but worthwhile to see those faces! We talked about our next visit over Mother's Day weekend and our plans for that. Stay tuned!

Biltmore Estate

My Uncle Dean was scheduled to speak at a conference in North Carolina and he and his wife Melinda planned to drive down to South Carolina to see my grandmother. Well, we kind of took over the trip and told them we would meet them in Asheville so Dean could show Melinda the Biltmore Estate because she'd always wanted to see it.

Before we met them, my grandmother and my Aunt Susan and I walked around Asheville where my grandmother had worked at a radio station and met my grandfather, who was an Asheville native. As we were walking, we came upon The Flat Iron Building, which housed the first radio station my grandfather ever worked. How cool was that?

 The next day, we met Dean and Melinda to tour the Biltmore house. I don't know how many times I've been to Biltmore but I learn something about it every time. At present, I'm reading "The Lady on the Hill" about how the estate was opened to the public to try and help the town during the Depression and help pay taxes on the behemoth. It is a very interesting read!

 What is more amazing is we got this family photo where all of us look pretty decent and not one person has their eyes closed!

 I love the mountains. What I don't love is how I look like a Muppet in this picture.

 Here's my MawMaw!

 In the greenhouse, we came upon this topiary:

 And I found this hat in a size I thought I would always love to have but I couldn't SEE so it stayed at the store.

For some more amazing shots of Biltmore, visit Dean and Melinda's blog: http:theketelsens.blogspot.com.

Steeplechases: Camden & Atlanta

My annual rite of spring is the steeplechase. It is all the more poignant this year as I'm writing a book about the history of women in steeplechasing and would be "working" at the races.

As I love to do, enjoying the morning gallops is my favorite thing to do:

My pre-race interview was with timber trainer, Alicia Murphy. We went back to the barn where she let me photograph her featured horse of the day, Nondo, whom Hayes really liked back in the fall. So I got his picture to message to Hayes and let her know how much I missed her at the races.

 Here's Nondo saddled before the race with, from left, Alicia, her assistant Tiffany and jockey Mark Beecher. Unfortunately, Nondo pulled a muscle during the race and was pulled up. Alicia texted me that if Hayes were around, Nondo would love her company as long as she came bearing sweet potatoes! Ah, an opportunity missed!

One of my interviews was with trainer, Kate Dalton, who operates a small stable with her jockey husband. Kate is one of those people you like immediately. Nigel, Camden's track announcer, asked Kate to handicap the feature race and she did so well, I said she had another career ahead of her!

 Mid-April came Atlanta's steeplechase and pre-race entertainment were the Budweiser Clydesdales. I couldn't figure out the racecourse to go hang around with them, which is a pity.

 And just a random shot from the races. Usually, I am spot-on picking winners during steeplechase. This day I went 0-7!