jubilee day

Today is Jubilee Day - my favorite day of the year. Our town holds a one-day annual street fair called Jubilee Day and I look forward to it each year. The actual fair is loud and dirty and overcrowded and kind of like a freak show with the characters that turn up for such an event, but there is something about the week surrounding the third Thursday of June that is very lovely in our little corner of Pennsylvania. Jubilee Day is a fitting name for the puffy clouds, the sun, the hayfields, the hours of daylight around the summer solstice - all of it. 

This year's Jubilee week did not disappoint. Low humidity and cool temperatures made my horse time very special. Maizie walked along on a Foggy ride recently and she captured a little of the loveliness.

When I was mounting, I heard a noise overhead in the wagonshed and saw these two little baby faces staring down at me!

There was a mom and three babies. All week they would scurry around above me upstairs in the barn as I groomed downstairs. Then they came out like they were at the movies whenever I would mount. Silly Pie never saw them, but Foggy and Sovey watched them intently. I think they left now, but they sure were cute.

Here Maizie loves up Foggy. After I snapped this picture, Foggy reached around to scratch an itch. Then he nibbled my foot. Maizie and I laughed - oh no - definitely the wrong thing to do! He loves when we giggle so he kept nibbling my foot to get us to laugh! Finally we got him to move on and forget his new trick!

Foggy looks so tiny in these photos. He is 15.3 - little compared to the other boys, but hardly tiny.

Here Foggy was trying to eat the honeysuckle. It smelled so strong and delicious - he was certain he had to eat it but couldn't figure out how. Mom looks on. She had just finished sharing a hysterical story of "Winky Dink" - I almost fell off Foggy laughing at her rendition of a childhood television show theme song and the associated toy she sent away for. Apparently, she sent for a "magic screen" that you put on the television and draw around when the show "Winky Dink" was on. 

Unfortunately, Maizie didn't start the video soon enough so we only got the end part of the story. You can see it here. Be warned, my mom and I ARE Grey Gardens. I like to call us Green Gardens - as a mix of Green Acres and Grey Gardens - the raccoons just seal the deal. Poor Maizie having to put up with us - you can hear her laughing at the end.

Here is a perfect example of how I got myself in a big mess yesterday on Sovereign. See how ridiculous I am with my reins? They are silly loose all the time. Yesterday Sovey reach up with his right rear leg to scratch under his chin and his foot got tangled in the reins. I was way out in the hayfield by myself and I couldn't get off in time. He freaked and broke the reins. His face and leg are fine - no cuts or rope burns - my reins were old and broke quickly without too much pressure on him. Poor honey. I have to pay better attention to what I am doing. They broke at the buckle so I had to ride home with split reins - I am horrible at that - kept dropping them and having to climb up on his neck practically to retrieve. A cowgirl I am not.

I found a wonderful farmer to cut our fields this week. Our other farmer is terrific too, but he is very busy and has to use huge, fast, powerful equipment that roars through and cuts down everything - he isn't able to be selective.

My new farmer cuts around my trees with old fashioned, quiet equipment. We had him cut one big hay pasture entirely, and then he cut around my tree seedlings in another pasture. We left the large, center pasture uncut. There are weeds and trees and a healthy diversity of wildlife in there. I am thrilled with the results. 

I was able to ride Pie and Sovereign yesterday all over the fields as the farmer cut the hay. The simplicity of the machinery made it seem like we had found a secret passage to an earlier time. Sweet Jubilee summer days.