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It is unquestionably fully summertime, with temperatures in the nineties, full-scale jam operations underway, and lazy afternoons in the pond.

We celebrated concurrent Christmas and Hanukah, with all attendant honors and gifts, with Jen’s parents and brother. Everyone, including Daisy (resting contentedly just above Sarah’s left hand in this picture), received many presents, ate like kings and/or queens, and generally had a wonderful time with family.

We had a happy Thanksgiving with Julie & Stacey, Erica & Geoff, and, in a reprise from 2018, the Perkins family from Perth. We baked many pies: hickory, sour cherry, pumpkin, apple, and mushroom (clockwise from left). Indeed, we had so many pies competing for oven space that some had to be cooked in the […]

We spent most of the weekend in the city, but this evening we attended the Hudson Valley Hunter Jumper Association’s annual banquet at the Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel, where Sarah was named Reserve Champion in two events: Short/Long Stirrup, and Pleasure. Congratulations to Sarah and Cisco (a.k.a. Talk of the Town)!

We had a short weekend in the country, arriving Saturday evening after Sarah’s dance rehearsal. When we got out of the car, Sarah said, “It smells like hay!” It’s pretty late in the year for haymaking, so I didn’t believe her until I found our upper hayfield had been mowed by this large Ford tractor. […]

Sarah had a horse-filled weekend, with a lesson Saturday morning, a jumping demonstration at the Southlands Foundation annual gala Saturday night, and a show Sunday at Meadow Creek Farm. Here is Sarah aboard Cisco, on their way to winning a second-place ribbon in equitation.

Daisy has been in an exceedingly good mood lately. On Friday she proved she could still fit in Jen’s lap. On Saturday Sarah participated in a Breyer horse show in Millbrook. Here you can see the very serious judges for the dressage event, in which Sarah eventually won a blue ribbon.

Sarah celebrated her 15th birthday with a riding lesson, lunch with the Lawson twins, and a fantastic cake baked by Jen. As is customary, Sarah could select any cake she wanted. Jen made a three layer vanilla cake with chopped Oreos in the batter, crushed Oreo buttercream frosting, and chocolate ganache.

Sarah presided over a very merry Christmas in her traditional elf capacity, with a little help from her assistant, Daisy. Despite our rather short, pudgy tree, we had a festive time with the entire Burleigh clan. We feasted on gravlax, herring, stollen, and fruit salad. For Xmas dinner, we had country ham and biscuits, as […]

It was about 40 degrees in the house when we arrived Saturday morning. The boiler was repaired by mid-afternoon, but our drafty old farmhouse heats rather slowly. We solved this problem in a first-world kind of way: we decamped to the cottage with an Instant Pot, Sarah’s 92nd Street Y menorah, and a bottle of […]