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We spent most of the weekend in Maine, where Sarah will be at camp.  We stayed in Belfast, on the Penobscot River, with very nice views. We dropped Sarah off at camp on Saturday.  Each child was promptly issued a kitten. Sarah is participating in the Brumby program, a camp-within-a-camp that allows her to muck […]

Jen and Sarah had simultaneous riding lessons on Saturday.  I watched with Sarah’s friend Marin, who visited for the weekend – they’ll be bunkmates at Hidden Valley Camp in just a couple of weeks. In the afternoon, they planned a kayak trip, only to find a garter snake coiled in the cup holder, as well as […]

Jen started the day with her customary Mother’s Day breakfast in bed.  We decided to take a year off from giving her presents that she was required to plant, and instead gave her books to read and write in.  Sarah also made her a polka-dot headband.  Jen spent most of the day planting things anyhow. […]

In the city people wonder why they never see baby pigeons; in the country it’s the same with squirrels.  In both places the reason is the same: it’s because they grow quickly.  Here, though, is an unmistakably young squirrel. On Saturday we had a sun shower.  Everything is greening up nicely. Here is one of […]

This is one of those things that reminds us that there are powerful forces at work on the farm, which we cannot necessarily control. On the bright side, according to Wikipedia, snapping turtles prefer shallow ponds (that is, they prefer the part of the pond where we don’t swim), and, while they can be aggressive […]

Daisy was outnumbered ten to one, but she stared them down anyhow.

We had a short weekend in the country.  In fact, we spent only Sunday there, so that Sarah could go to her school’s Halloween party Saturday night.  This morning, Sarah had a riding lesson with Rocky. In the afternoon, Daisy had agility training, but she was not very enthusiastic about going over this frame.  She’s […]

Today, Sarah and I visited the Sheep & Wool Festival at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, with John and Diana Rice and their son Mason.  Jen stayed home to work on Sarah’s Halloween costume.  In addition to sheep, we saw goats, llamas, alpacas, angora rabbits, vincuñas, and many, many, women who seem to spend an inordinate […]

Today we hosted the Landsman Kill Trail Association’s Fall Trail Ride.  Sarah was in heaven, with horses all about. Rich Contini, past president of the LKTA, offered Sarah a short ride.  Daisy was extremely unhappy to see such a large animal on the lawn. Here she is looking luminous in the Saturday evening light. Halloween […]

We made two visits to the Dutchess County Fair this year, on Friday (just the three of us) and Saturday (with the whole Regner clan in town for first and last running of The Jim Regner at Saratoga Race Course).    Sarah wanted to go on the high swing both times, and Jen also seemed to […]