the Horses…

On April 19, 2016April 19, 2016 By Jo Mayne CaseyIn TravelogueLeave a comment

Kentucky Horse Park is a working horse farm and “educational theme park” that gives you opportunities to get up close to the horses. The International Museum of the Horse traces the evolution and lineage of horses–every kind of horse there is. If it hadn’t been such a pretty day, I could have spent more hours studying the displays, but we went through fairly thoroughly and then got outside to enjoy the grounds.

There was Every Kind of Horse represented at the Farm, most of them on loan, but some retirees live there year-round. The barns buzz with activity. The Park grounds are sprinkled with statuary of the magnificent equus, some giving tribute to the Great Thoroughbreds such as Man O’ War, others whimsical.

Later that day, we stopped by Keeneland Thoroughbred Racecourse, arriving at the end of the 3rd race. Keeneland is always packed, and reserve seat tickets had sold out by the time we decided to visit, so we mingled and strolled, watching some from trackside…

some from the turbo…which should be a whole lot bigger…

I made a couple of bets…this is Cory Lanerie on #11, racing to the finish to win me a couple of bucks…

#7 and jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. added to my coffers in the 5th…

The giftshop was festooned with hats, tempting even the most frugal buyer…the Derby is the first Sunday in May—less than 3 weeks…and I’ll be in NYC–a hat-wearing, mint-julep carrying, winner-betting, JoJo, finally getting to spend some time with the Jose’ Fam…

It was a great trip and we learned plenty about our RV, too. Looking forward to many more trips, but for now…back to the garden..!

In the picture…

On July 10, 2014 By Jo Mayne CaseyIn Sonnystone Summer Spectacular3 Comments

I am reveling in this time with my grand-daughters so much that I’ve not taken many pictures. Instead, I’m trying to embed the memories into whatever gray cells are still functioning in my old brain, being right here right now. Still, there’s this nagging voice saying: Blog this… Here’s what I’ve got:

July 8

July 9

Cousins Day

Bob & Ruby would be so proud... — Bob & Ruby would be so proud…

July 10

Melissa will take off early tomorrow morning to stay a few days in Indianapolis and for Emma to compete in a Feis (Irish Dance Competition) while I head back to the track for more Live Racing. They’ll return Monday and we’ll have 11 straight days of festivities. We’ll be in touch so we can see as many of you as we can. Till then…

picture post

On January 4, 2014January 4, 2014 By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

Back home, back to work, but still a little emotional about our trip. I don’t know why this one is getting to me, but tears are just below the surface, sometimes overflowing, as I edit the photos. My attempts to organize them resulted in an almost-hour of trying to unlock them so wordpress would publish them… As a result, I’ve spent most of the morning just trying to post these few…maybe those are tears of frustration???

First stop: Teacups

3 from the carousel…

As our midwestern burgh attempts to keep up with the northeast, we’re expecting 6+ inches of snow tomorrow…so I’m going to get out in this sunshine before I’m trapped inside the house again. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to share with you then.

Later…

TGIF

On July 19, 2013 By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

I’ve got to work at the track today, noon till 4 or so. The nurse who job-shares with me has met with some unforseen medical problems and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I have the whole week-end off. In the meantime, here’s yesterday’s recap:

Emma got her ears pierced at the mall, after driving her sister around for a while…

We did some gardening…

grandpa needed some help…

Melissa took some pictures…

It is hot as _______ (use your own expression), sweaty all around, but we Tried some swing pictures just to get some practice…

Next Saturday is the First Saturday in May…

On April 28, 2013 By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

That’s Derby Day, folks!! It’s time to pick our horses, whether by name, number, color, or any other winning formula that you devise. I’ve been studying up over at http://www.kentuckyderby.com/. I’m feeling pretty good about Will Take Charge, a Lukas horse with Jon Court riding, owned by Willis Horton; and I thought I’d support both of my jockey-friends by betting on Revolutionary, a Pletcher horse from WinStar Farm, jockey’d by Calvin Borel. That’s my first impression, anyway. How about you? Really, help me pick a winner…so I can move on the more important decision:

What chapeau should I sport?

Let’s just hope it’s not a rain bonnet…

morning hat (capello romano–an addendum)

On March 14, 2013September 17, 2016 By Jo Mayne CaseyIn Random1 Comment

While not an Official Roman Catholic vestment–it is Never worn when celebrating Mass–we’re all familiar with the must-wear topper for all well-dressed priests particularly when traveling about rubbing elbows with the hoi-polloi…

It’s called the capello romano…

and it can be adorned by the high-echelon members of the Clergy, but we mostly see it in its simple black “padre” form…or as I like to call it: The Father Guido…

I do hope they bring Father Guido Sarducci in for color commentary throughout the Papal festivities…

Let me quote him as I go…

(speaking of the Other commandments given to Moses):

Most of them were more like advice…The twelfth commandment, for example, was “Whistle while you work”…

I think we’re going to learn a lot from these ceremonies… (by the way, if you missed my first “hat” post, scroll over to 3/13… )

And take Father’s advice….

9/18/2016…..If you actually came over and read this little gem, you deserve a reward:

Father Guido Sarducci’s 5-minute University

Praying for the Pope…

On March 13, 2013 By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

The official list of titles of The Pope do not include “Pope”…they are Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City, and the one I consider most significant: Servant of the Servants of God. Pope Francis certainly lived up to that title today as he began his Service by asking for prayers from the crowds for himself…

We will hear a lot in the next days and weeks about St. Francis of Assissi, founder of the Franciscan Order of Monks, who devoted his life to helping the poor and sick, inspired by Matthew 10:9 (look it up). That was back in the 13th century and that Francis was legendary (no offense) for his love of people, animals, and nature. May this Francis also be remembered so well.

We’ll also hear about the Society of Jesus, the religious order founded in the 16th century by St. Ignatius of Loyola, to which Pope Francis belongs. It is known for its emphasis on evangelism with missions in 112 countries on 6 continents, aand also education with established schools, universities, colleges, seminaries throughout the world (including Brebeuf, where the Jose’ boys were taught the faith).

But most importantly, we need to watch the hats… Roman Catholic vestments are sacramental, unchanged from the beginning of the Church. Priests don’t have to wear the hats when they are celebrating every mass , though why on earth they wouldn’t want to sport a little biretta I can’t figure:

Isn’t it darling with its little pom-pom on top? The bishops get to wear purple ones…

And how about this dandy little skullcap….

that they call a zuchetto, which must be Italian for yarmulke…

Everybody’s favorite, the mitre…

which comes in various levels of ornamentation, but is technically supposed to be always white. It has some fringe-like things that hang down, not always noticed, so we’ll have to be looking when the High Services begin.

As we’re observing Catholic fashion in the upcoming ceremonies, please note the colors and their significance, especially the Cardinal red (the birds were named after it), the papal White. And my Lutheran pastors could use a tip from the Priesthood: black is so slimming…

I do pray with all my heart that throughout the Catholic Church there will be renewal and revival… May God bless Pope Francis.

how i got my hat

On November 13, 2012 By Jo Mayne CaseyIn RandomLeave a comment

last sunday was my first trip to churchill downs, but i had studied up…

casey and i visited keeneland in 2010 and i Thought i’d learned a little from that experience, but, alas, experience is the only teacher. at keeneland, you really need a reserved seat. general admission gets you standing room only and the crowd was deep… i had to stand on a bench to get a picture (or view) of the racetrack. illogical logic told me i needed seats at churchill as well.

online, i ordered up 2 reserved seats for churchill’s live racing on sunday…best available, good enough for me…when we got there, we discovered we were sharing a very small, albeit well-placed, box of 6 seats with a family of four eating nachos. we were polite. with plenty of other empty seats surrounding us, we asked if we could exchange our tickets for a more private spot. kari, kerry, keri, caree, cari…with the piercings, said yeah, great; her bosslady said, no. we expressed our genteel displeasure, so bosslady, whose name was monica or something, took us to patty, patti, or pattee. after monick left, pattee told us to just go ahead and take one of the empty box seats. we walked back up and moniq was monitoring…we told her that pate’ had said help ourselves and she said that’s just wrong, people pay lotsa $ for these seats, etc… so we went back down to

Customer Service… and who greeted us but iris. ( not eyerhis) we told her that we were fine with whatever, enjoying, first time visitors, just a little uncomfortable with… she called for paatteey. while she was waiting she started looking for stuff to give us and pulled out this great hat:

in short order, patty showed up and was instructed by iris to take us upstairs and get us past the guards to the excellent areas…

Blather & Balderdash

Tag: hats

the Horses…