My Kentucky Home

Thursday, June 29, 2006

When Hearts are stretched....




In the last 2 days, I have talked with two different people who have lost loved ones after long battles with ill health. It stretches my heart, because I have now been both the caregiver and the patient. I know the emotional roll a coaster that both people go through. But I particularly ache for the caregivers. It is so very hard to feel helpless, especially to those of us who are used to being "take charge" kind of people. We want to attack the disease and win. Go to the doctor, find out what is wrong, take the cure and go on with life as before. But chronic illness isn't like that. It doesn't respond to "taking two aspirin, rest and you'll feel better in the morning". This leaves the caregiver frightened because things are "out of control".

When my Mother died, my Dad started a journal. It was his way of working through the heartache of losing the woman he had loved for over 50 years. When my daughters were little, their Daddy had his legs crushed from the knees down. I wrote poetry. Funny. I only write poetry under stress. Otherwise, I like editorial type writing like this. This morning, a new friend shared a poem that he wrote, after a dear friend died. It touched me so much, that I cried right along with him, even though I had never met the woman.
What we need to concentrate on, it eems to me, if we are people of faith, is that in the end....the good guys win! I know that every day I'm given is a gift. I try to keep in mind that tomorrow is not promised to any of us; and those of us with chronic illnesses, or in the case of MM...incurable illnesses, must strive to live in wonder. We need to celebrate each day with the wide eyed wonder of a child. To live life as fully as we can, to put away the little things, to love fiercely, to embrace new adventures, to mend old fences and reassure those around us that death is NOT the end of our story. But rather, death is a new beginning where there is no more pain, no more hospitals, no more "pokes".... A place where love engulfs you and your heart is at peace.

Tonight let's all light a candle for those we have loved and lost, to celebrate the magical light that they brought into our world. And tomorrow, let's keep our eyes open for God's special gifts, sent to delight us like this butterfly I spotted when I was out on another photo shoot yesterday. I was able to capture him as he danced on the flower just for me....

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Gates of the Bluegrass



Ater seeing my Onc last Wednesday, I treated myself to an afternoon of shooting pictures. My first stop was the Thoroughbred Park in downtown Lexington. The bronze statues look so life like, you expect one of them to move at any minute. Then I drove north on Newtown Pike. One of the farms I enjoyed was Cobra Farm. Owned by the gentleman that designed and marketed the oversized Corbra golf clubs. I hope you enjoy this short pictorial trip thru the Bluegrass!

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Bottling Bourbon....

Here are some more pictures from my tour of Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort. This picture is of the warehouse that was damaged a while back in a really bad storm we had. The roof blew off, but they didn't lose one barrel of whiskey! The reason for the two toned bricks is because they are cleaning them as they repair the building.
This man is putting beautiful lids on each bottle. The lids show the various positions of a race horse jockey as he races toward the finish line.

They were also bottling a larger bottle of a different type of Bourbon in a sort of mini-assembly line. I'll add more pictures tomorrow....goodnight for now!

Sunday, June 18 - I finished uploading the Buffalo Trace pictures. Enjoy!


Smooth Bourbon and Fast Horses



Winstar Farm is one of my very favorite places in all the Bluegrass. It is the home of 3 reknown stallions - Tiznow, Distorted Humor and Victory Gallop. The farm is owned by 2 Texas businessmen (who made their fortunes by way of a little company called Excel Communications) and is really the "new kid on the block" as far as the bluebloods go, since it's only 4 years old.

This is my friend, Tony Moreno, from Thoroughbred Heritage Tours explaining conformation to one of our tour groups. The beautiful "model" is none other than Tiznow, the only Thorouhbred to ever win the Breeders Classic 2 years in a row.

I went with the group the other day on an afternoon tour that included Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort. This was our guide, Dave. He was quite a character, but he sure knew about Bourbon!! We got to see them hand bottling the very top of the tree in Bourbons. It was amazing to me how friendly everyone was, considering that we were all in their way as they tried to work. Buffalo Trace has won several very prestigious international awards for their Bourbons. Check my next post for more pictures.


Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Kentucky Horse Park - June






I went back out to the Horse Park this morning. There was a Hunter/Jumper show going on, so I got some good pictures. But it wasn't just the beautiful horses that caught my eye!

Let me know what you think.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Stonewall Farms



One of my favorites.....