Still slowed down here and the post I’d planned to come back with is taking longer than I expected to put together. . .
So I’m just here to say thanks for all the birthday greetings which Mr. Septuagenarian (aka Novice PaddleBoarder) greatly appreciated. We spent three fabulous days with three of our kids, their partners, five of our grandkids poolside at an AirBnB in the Okanagan. Plans to spend time at Okanagan Lake were scuttled by air quality in the smoke-drenched heat, but despite my mounting anxiety in the weeks leading up to this celebratory get-together, we weren’t directly threatened by the wildfires and only had one small detour to make on the 4.5-hour drive.
That’s not to say that I wasn’t viscerally affected by driving through smoke-swathed landscapes (some of which smoke has followed us back to the Coast, although it looks as if it may be dispersed by rain and wind by the end of the week). But that’s not this post.
This post is to say that despite my anxieties about the weekend, on a few fronts, to be honest, it went beautifully. Sure, the adults were looking for earplugs when we brought the kids inside during the smokiest hours, but overall it was a joy to hear the four youngest (3 to 8) conspiring and shrieking and splashing and running together. And to watch their thoughtful older cousin step in to entertain or soothe or distract as necessary (she is adored by all!).
Mostly, I intended this post to be quick and to tell you that
There Were Horses!
Two horses live at this Air BnB. . . .
Here’s one of them, Cash. . . .
Also Cash, closer up, getting his Zen on, recharging . . .
I cannot tell you how much of an antidote Cash’s presence provided to the jarring juxtaposition of smoky air and grandchildren splashing happily in a pool. Or to the dissonance of the pool itself, the green-ness of that lawn in the semi-arid Okanagan, our very presence there, my guilt-tinged joy.
But each morning, when I woke before 5 after too few hours of sleep, I tiptoed downstairs, made a cup of tea, grabbed my journal and pencil, and sat contemplating Horse. . . .
Thus . . . 
And when I decided I’d tell you about Cash and I and our mornings together (truly, he only had eyes for the grass), I remembered this post in which I also shared a few drawings of horses that we pedalled past on our way from Bordeaux to Créon along the Roger Lapébie trail, back in the days when, well, you know. . . . There’s a link in that post to a cartoon-essay that I love so much, by Emma Hunsinger about drawing horses, but also about so much more. I think you’d like it as well . . .
Back to my Pause now, but looking forward to chatting with you in the Comments below, and I will be here again soon with a post that will take you from Modena to Dusseldorf to Tokyo to New York to Bordeaux. . . oh, we’ll hop around!
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a sweet novel about a horse (and other animals) in Paris, written by a prize-winning American novelist, Jane Smiley’s Perestroika in Paris (which I wrote a bit about in my February Reading post) might be for you. Just saying. . . .
xo,
f
Lovely! I think we have talked about the joy of horses and drawing them some time in the past although it wasn’t connected to your Bordeaux post.
Your ‘awake at 4:30’ caught my eye though. That is the time I roll over in bed, look at the clock and smile before going back to sleep. Still thankful, after 6 years, I am no longer ruled by that clock. 🙂
Author
I remember that somehow as well.
I also remember when I used to wake in the early hours, look at the clock, and contentedly sink back into the luxury of knowing I didn’t have to get up yet. But for decades now, if I wake in the small numbers, I’m unlikely to get back to sleep that night. . . I can only rue the good use my younger self could have made of that sleeping time. 😉
Glad you had a good visit, Frances. Those horses… what a bonus. So comforting, I think. Also feel the weird juxtaposition of pool and green, green grass when all around is burning. Okay, not ALL around, but you get what I mean… the guilt-tinged joy as you put it. I get that. And sometimes I feel guilty because my life has been too easy. Ha… overthinkers anonymous… we need to start a group. xox
Author
Yep! Founding members, right?
Indeed wonderful to have a horse at your vacation site! Of course I have just spent a week at an island where the horses are perhaps the main attraction. usually there is a roundup and auction. what I think I missed most this year is to see the horses, really ponies, coming across the beach along the Atlantic Ocean, the waves crashing, the sun rising, the ponies emerging out of the mist. always magic. anyway, there is next year. How wonderful to get to spend time with your family, the little ones especially.
Author
Oh, that must have been magical! I remember a summer reading all the “Chincoteague” books that were available at our public library. . .
There is something about a horse, isn’t there? When we adopted our cat, Max, as a kitten, he was being fostered at a home in a neighborhood of LA that allowed horses. I fell in love with his face on the rescue website, but fell in love with him when we visited and he stood at the door, fearless and fascinated by the resident steed.
Author
What an image — fearless kitten confronting his first horse! The two dogs in our party had to do some thinking, and kept their distance at first, but they were fascinated as well. Just so much presence to a horse, isn’t there?
What a wonderful time with your family (although I understand your mixed feelings).
I am impressed by the visible progress from your sketches of 2019 to the recent ones.
Tomorrow morning I am off to Puglia – by train. A bit apprehensive about fires, though. I am looking forward to finding your next post at my return.
Author
Ooh, have a wonderful time in Puglia and enjoy the vistas from the train window!
It sounds like a wonderful family get together . All these fires everywhere are dreadful. I read today that Olympia in Greece was surrounded by wildfires . Such a lovely area . I can’t imagine it without all the trees . It’s good that your holiday wasn’t spoilt & that life went on . Cash is very handsome.
Author
We did have a very good time together — especially the cousins in the pool!
I don’t know Greece at all, but wildfires are terrifying. So many raging not so far from here right now, and weeks and weeks before any sustained weather relief.
Frances,so wonderful to be together after so many time,it must have been so emotional,despite the smoke and other things. My son and his girlfriend will be here in a couple of hours as well
And how lovely to have horses (maybe other animals,too?)around. Love real Cash,first sketch on the right side under,many Cash’s heads and the last sketch!
I was in Baska Voda for 12 days end July. So many turists,I’m not used to such a rush any more,there were more of them than before Covid . Our numbers are slowly growing-it is not possible now to be so open as a country without consequences. We were in caffees and restaurants for lunches (outside,naturally),but only once in the evening
Dottoressa
Author
Oh, by now you’re enjoying your time with I and his GF! How great is that?!!!
And it makes me happy to think of you at your beloved seaside. . . but I know what you mean about the gatherings and the consequences. Here, too, although we have very good numbers for first and even second vaccinations, there’s been a climb in the number of new cases again. . .
P. S. Horses are so difficult to sketch.
Check our Croatian sculptor Hrvoje Dumančić,he is wonderful ,his inspirations are horses
D.
Author
I looked at his website — marvellous work!
It sounds like a marvelous gathering, despite the smoke and the heat. And a horse, and early morning respites from heat and noise and the general hubbub are so good for the soul. Love the progress in your drawings, but mostly it is in that magic of capturing a moment, however brief.
Author
It was a very good gathering — perhaps even better for my relief that we all got there and there were no evacuations in the area (I had weeks ahead to stoke my anxieties, cue the eye-rolls 😉
Yes, you’ve got it exactly — the magic of being in the moment is what keeps me at the drawing, no matter what shows up on the page.