And they are off!!

Racing season started yesterday and even with major rain late in the day, it was a success-better than last year both in attendance and revenue.

And the storm last night was terrific-I thought we would end up in Kansas!! But the house is solid and we stayed right here. I am so glad, because the gardens are gorgeous and Saratoga is thrilling.

Visions of Birthday's past

Well the big birthday parties are over and the friends have departed-mixed in with them were some wonderful guests and our friends and guests enjoyed meeting each other at the breakfast table.

On Wednesday the 29th, horse racing season starts and we are all geared up! It will be a busy season for us and we are looking forward to it.

All too soon the summer will be over-but we are enjoying and warm days and cool nights-maybe we won't have to turn on the AC's all summer!!

Birthday weekend

This weekend we celebrate Richard's 80th birthday-no one believes he is that old-he is very active and spry.

Sunday we are having the kids and grand kids here for dinner and Monday (the actual birthday) we are having friends who lived on either side of us on Long Island and another friend who was originally a B&B guest many years ago. She is now a wonderful friend, who is returning to India in November and we will miss her. One of the couples now lives near Boston and the other lives in Cincinnati. He does not know they are coming and I am so excited for the surprise.

Light Show

At one a.m. I was awakened by the most ferocious rain and lightening I had ever witnessed. It was both frightening and gorgeous. The rain was pelting in the house and I had to run around and close windows, mop up rugs and furniture and then dry my hair, which got soaked.

This morning I saw that all the Annabelle Hydrangeas were toppled over-broken mid stem-and so were the Hollyhocks-it was a sad day for this gardener. But a more glorious day could not be imagined-cool, low humidity and sunny-I worked in the garden most of the day.

So after having wine with guests, we all decided to go for pizza-We just finished and it was so much fun to talk to our guests and really get to know them.

Picking Fruit

Why oh why do the raspberries and the blueberries have to be ripe at almost the same time? Seems like I spent a long time picking raspberries today and when I walked by the blueberries there were some beautiful plump ones of them too. So our guests will have freshly picked fruit for their breakfast tommorow.

Deer for our Anniversary

Today is our 38th Anniversary and we had a lovely surprise. Tonight, for the first time, we saw a deer on our groomed property. Of course we have seen them in the fields for the past 11 years, but never right outside our door-nibling on the plum tree! Well, to tell the truth, I am not sure I loved that part, but she was a beautiful creature none the less.