Second annual memorial ride for Garry Purnell, who loved horses

post #293
         For a couple of hours yesterday morning, a group of family and friends rode horses or off-road vehicles in honor of Garry Purnell, who died in December, 2014. It was the second year for this summer event; this time it was not as hot as it can be. Also the rain was short in duration. As a photographer, I appreciated the cloudy light -- and not being super hot.  
       I wasn't able go along with the ride for the whole two hours of it, but today I am sharing some of the photos I did manage to make.  

       First, the preparations at the house and the arrival of wagon and horses:

Natalie, warming up her horse, in Garry's barn

Jean's garden, beside the barn

wagon and horses now ready to go

other horses, perhaps feeling left out -- in the field

Garry's grandson

 

Garry's wife and my friend, Jean

along route 504

 

heading toward home

Perhaps the best response to my photography all day! Loved it!

 

returned

Jonathan, the "ring leader", and his daughter, Natalie, remembering Garry, and his love for them and for the shared love of horses

    

Easter Sunday, with family

post #131
      I want to say, today, Sunday, that since I have been traveling in New England the past week, visiting old friends and seeing family, there has been no stretch of time for working on my blog.  BUT tomorrow I look forward to having a place, a working internet connection and the time to share some spring photos as well as who knows what else from today!  For now, I hope everyone, where ever you are in the world, is having a very good day.      Ann

 NOW IT IS MONDAY, April 1.
         Greetings once again from the Bookmill in Montague, Massachusetts!  I am surrounded by a great variety of used books while using their electricity and wifi.  Outside there is a loud waterfall!  I am grateful.  The wonderful motto of this place continues to be "Books You Don't Need in a Place You Can't Find."  Today's photo from here:

          OK, now for some other recent photos.  The first is a Kentucky continuation, one readers of this blog have seen before, "Legacy."  Its early bloomers were once again in fine form:

      I intended to post more spring flowers this week, BUT with piles of snow still around me up here, I am going to save the flowers for next Sunday and do some "couldn't resist" images plus several from the family Easter gathering yesterday, at my cousin's home in Connecticut.

Everyone will just have to believe me that I am not making this up....

The barn rooster and the house are on the way to the Bookmill.  Since in New England March means "mud season," these colors really stand out.

         
        However, there can be beauty in nature even without the color of leaves.  This photo is the view from a friend's house which is located right on Mascoma Lake in New Hampshire.  I regret missing the shot of the same view early the next morning, with red tinged clouds.  It happened too quickly for me to photograph, so the image is one that got away even though I see it in my head.

      Now for a few images from the Easter gathering.  Relatives from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New York do this annually.  I have never before managed to be up east over Easter, so this year Kentucky was represented as well.  
      I hadn't known my cousin is a collector of Easter items, among other things. That said, she and her sister are artists, and I have always loved their work.  I don't use this blog for family news, so as usual I have chosen from the photos that could be of more general interest. 

 

        My last photo is of a less than two year old child gathering her eggs during the Easter egg hunt.  I will confess that this child is my dear granddaughter, on her first hunt, one of three kids looking for eggs.  Thank you, cousins, for such a wonderful and delicious day. 

repeating a legacy

post #26
      All year every year I drive past these steps on the way to town, waiting for the daffodils to come up in March.  The photos I print of this place are titled "legacy."  People from out our way all know the photo's location though some are too young to remember the sturdy old house that used to sit on the top of the hill.

      It is one of the places I can't help photographing all over again.  Most years, in fact.  But why!  Do I keep hoping for a better photo?  Or is just a thrill that spring has really come, once again?  I know I think about the constant changes taking place in the country  --  where we may think nothing happens.  I try to see the legacy part of the story.   

      I took the photos last Monday, on a cloudy morning.  Today I'm sharing those shadows of the past and the gift someone gave us years ago by planting those daffodils.

 

      If anyone wants to weigh in on which view speaks the loudest the him or her, if at all, please feel free to do so.  1, 2, 3 or 4.  I would be interested!  Then here is one last photo that I took this afternoon from the kitchen window while I intended to be working on this blog....Hard to believe it snowed here last night!

mourning dove on the maple tree