Palm Beach Polo Ponies

A week ago Sunday spectators watched in disbelief as polo ponies began collapsing as they arrived at the Palm Beach Polo Club in Wellington to play in the US. Open Polo Championship. By Monday morning, 21 horses from the Venezuelan team of Lechuza Caracas were dead.

I live in Palm Beach County where this tragedy occurred. Investigations have been launched by the Florida Department of Agriculture, U.S. Polo Association and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Necropsies are being performed on the horses at the state Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab in Kissimmee and the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville. While the world waits for official results, we struggle to make sense of such an unbelievable happening.

The Argentine player Nacho Figueras discussed the close relationships between players and ponies and why the deaths hit the polo community so hard. “You can’t play polo if you don’t love the horses. Your relationship and bonding with the horse over the years is tremendously important. You are one with the horse. That is exactly how it feels. There is definitely an emotional tie.” Horses often play into their teens and sometimes into their 20s—giving many years for the incredible bond to strengthen.

I found the following poem by Chief Seattle in Carlson’s book, Parting Words, Parting Ways. To me, these thoughts sum up Figueras’ feelings about his polo ponies.

We are part of the earth and it is part of us.

The perfumed flowers are our sisters;

The deer, the horse, the great eagle,

These are our brothers.

All things are connected like the blood

which unites one’s family.

Bountiful Blessings!

Lexie Lee–The Library Cat

National Library Week is April 12-18. This year’s theme is Worlds Connect @ Your Library. I grew up in a small town and going to the local library after school or on Saturday was a treat. Today it still is! Please enjoy this creative fiction story “Lexie Lee–The Library Cat”.

Lexie Lee is excited today as I have just told her we are going on a jaunt to the Village of North Palm Beach Public Library. While I attend the Friends of the Library annual awesome book sale in the Thelma Obert Room in the lower level of the library, Lexie Lee gets to explore the upper level stacks. She loves to go there since she does not get out of the house anymore except to go to the library or to the veterinarian. She much prefers the library!

Lexie Lee wants to read Cleveland Amory’s book, The Cat Who Came at Christmas. She thinks it sounds like a great book since she is the cat who came to my Florida home after Hurricanes Jeanne and Frances in 2004. She wants to compare her outdoor adventures with Polar Bear’s. I wish she could record her journey to me. When this beautiful Norwegian Forest Cat appeared on my patio after the storms, I could only imagine what she had endured. 

After Lexie Lee purrs over Polar Bear’s extraordinary story, she turns her attention to another book, Tatianna—Tales and Teachings of My Feline Friend. Lexie Lee is quite familiar with this book as she spent a multitude of hours on my lap while I finished writing this tale. She loves to prance around the library telling everyone on my behalf that they just have to read about Tatianna and her buddies including Noelle, Taittinger, Marnie, and Katarina.

Lexie Lee settled into domestic living quite naturally after being blown into my yard from somewhere. She loves warm fuzzy blankets and voluminous feather beds. She likes to gaze outside from high vantage points of our tri-level house. Lexie Lee is a window sill and sun seeking cat, so after her library adventure, she is ready to crawl into a sunlit soft chair to catch some sunbeams. What would be even better is if she can crawl into my lap and rest her head and front paws on my chest!

But for now, I am busy carrying boxes of treasured reading to my car. Later, when I come to find Lexie Lee, she runs to me the minute she sees me. I reach down and gather her up in my arms and tell her about all the special books I just found at the library sale. She has always loved her new name, and I show her a hardcover book by Nicholas Sparks, True Believer.

“Look Lexie Lee, I found another book for you to read. You are named after the leading lady, Lexie, who by the way is a librarian!” I muse on the significance of the True Believer title and the relationship Lexie Lee and I share. As I rub her on the top of her head, my precious hurricane kitty purrs.

I softly whisper, “Linda loves Lexie Lee. Let’s go home my love.”

Bountiful Blessings!

Whitehall’s Easter Egg Roll

Henry Flagler’s Whitehall was completed in 1901 on Palm Beach, Florida. The New York Herald proclaimed Whitehall “more wonderful than any place in Europe, grander and more magnificent than any other private dwelling in the world”. The 55-room estate, although built as a wedding present for his wife, is a gift to our nation. Educational lectures, art exhibits, tours and tea are among the offerings. This destination is another place where I can replenish my inner source of energy.

Last weekend I visited Whitehall and enjoyed a moment of respite by having tea at Whitehall’s Pavilion Café. The Gilded Age style lunch featured such savories as egg salad with curried mayonnaise; cucumber, chives and herbed cream cheese; Swiss cheese and turkey with strawberry mayonnaise; albacore tuna salad with Granny Smith apples and old fashioned pumpkin bread with cream cheese. And I have not even gotten to the sweets yet! A traditional scone with cranberries served of course with Devonshire cream and strawberry preserves was my favorite. The date nut bar was a close second.

After lunch I explored the mansion and enjoyed an art exhibit featuring A Mother’s Pearls:  Children in American Paintings including Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent.  I spent time in the delightful museum gift shop that was filled with books.

Yesterday, a day before Easter, Whitehall hosted their annual Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Egg Roll on the museum’s lawn. Children were provided wooden spoons to roll their eggs.  The Gilded Age tradition of egg rolling began on the South Lawn of the White House when President Hayes welcomed children to the first White House Easter Egg roll in 1878.

If you ever visit Palm Beach County, I highly recommend touring Whitehall. For more information, visit http://www.flaglermuseum.us

Bountiful Blessings!

Treasure Hunt

Rejuvenate, refresh, recharge–all are critical actions to fuel my creative pursuits. So how do I fill the depleted cup? This past weekend the renewal activity was going to a neighborhood church’s flea market where over fifty vendors displayed their wares. The thrill for me is the unknown that I may stumble upon. Two treasures were waiting for me. I started at the far end of the market and worked my way back to the car. The second booth I visited had assorted items, but some stacks of books quickly caught my eye. I noticed they were volumes of collected writings from many classic authors including Hawthorne, Rousseau, Hugo, Stevenson, Emerson, Chekhov, and Hemmingway. The covers were beautifully embossed with green and red scroll designs and a quick look inside showed a publication date of 1928. My heart was beating faster. I had to have these!

“How much?” I ask.

 “$30 or $5 a piece!”  

“Will you take $25 for the set?”

 “How many are there?”  she asks. I counted the books.

“Seventeen.”

“No, I need $30.”

I handed her the money, and she sacked all of them up for me to pick up later. What a buy I thought to myself. It may take me seventeen years, but I am going to read each of these collections! About a half hour later, I found a charming little dish with an English Spaniel standing in green grasses with his nose pointing to a pheasant taking flight. The dish epitomized my late dear brother-in-law’s passion for dogs and for being the founder of Pheasants Forever. What a wonderful keepsake to honor him.

I went to my car with a spring in my step—rejuvenated, refreshed, and recharged!

Bountiful Blessings!