Category: horses
“Lilacs”
Georgina, on NavasolaNature, blogged today on War and Peace in fiction, truth, and reality. She included a link to Steve Schwartzman’s post, beautifully written by his father, Jack Schwartzman, about leaving his homeland, and said that it reminded her of those who have had to leave their homes because of war and tyrants. It is, indeed, very moving and reminds us in a small way of all those who are currently having to flee their homes, their loved ones, and their country in Ukraine.
In 1912 my father, Jack (Jacob) Schwartzman, was born in Vinnytsia, a town then under Russian control in the part of eastern Europe that is now Ukraine. In the 1920s his family escaped from the tyranny of the Soviet Union and came to America to be free. Upon his arrival here he spoke Russian but not a word of English. He learned quickly and soon became a craftsman of his new language.
The tyranny now engulfing Ukraine makes this a right moment for a poetic essay that my father published in the spring of 1966, when we weren’t even half-way through the original Cold War. Now that we’ve entered a second one, the essay is as timely as it was 56 years ago. Feel free to repost this in a spirit of solidarity.
Solomon and Anna Schwartzman in eastern Europe in 1923
with their younger son Isidore and older…
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Just an Image #14
Song Lyric Sunday – 27 December 2020 – Heart of the Country
Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. Jim has given us Odor /Scent /Smell /Taste this week to be included in the title or lyrics.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
This week I’m pondering on the final concert, and the final public performance, of The Beatles, Paul and Linda McCartney’s move to the Mull of Kintyre, and the beauty of that part of the world. I was fortunate to live in the Outer Hebrides for two years, based in Ballivanich, on the Isle of Benbecula. Wild, sparsely populated, enduring some tremendously strong winds and wild weather but beautiful, captivating, and instilling a sort of desert fever in those who are lucky enough to experience it.
The Beatles’ final paid concert of their career took place on 29 August 1966 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. The band played to an audience of 25,000, leaving 7,000 tickets unsold. They had become disillusioned with live performances, singing the same songs time and again, unable to hear themselves playing. They had upset many fans with John’s statement that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.
The Beatles’ rooftop concert on 30 January 1969 marked the end of an era for many fans. The group did record one more album, Abbey Road — on which work started the following month — but by September 1969 the Beatles had unofficially disbanded.
To save some money from the taxman and as a bolt hole from Beatlemania, Paul had, encouraged by then girlfriend Jane Asher, bought High Park Farm in Campbeltown, near Argyll’s Mull of Kintyre in 1968. But it was only when newly married to American Linda Eastman in 1969 that he decided to make it a home.
He said: “Going up to Scotland was real freedom. It was an escape – our means of finding a new direction in life and having time to think about what we really wanted to do.”
The farm, which was rustic to say the least, would become home to Linda’s daughter Heather and the couple’s first child Mary. Stella, now a top fashion designer, arrived in 1971.
But it was also the place where Paul’s next music project was born.
The new expanded editions of Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway include never-before-seen pictures of the McCartneys’ life in Campbeltown, which in time would inspire his love letter to the area – Mull of Kintyre – a 1977 Christmas No1.
They released the album ‘Ram’ together in 1971 and formed the band Wings in the same year. The couple were also nominated for an Oscar for their song ‘Live And Let Die’, the theme tune for the 1973 Bond film of the same name.
“When she came to Britain and we got to together the greatest thing about it was we both wanted to be free. We did what we wanted and she took pictures of it all.”
Linda McCartney died after a battle with breast cancer on April 17, 1998. She was 56 years old.
The song I’m offering is Heart of the Country from the album Ram released in 1971.
The video shows some great examples of the free and easy life in their dream home. A great place to raise their children, grow their own food, ride in deserted areas (UK horseriders may note they use American style saddles and tack), and generally enjoy life.
The song aint bad either!
If you want to see more then there is some lovely pics, and music, at the bottom of the lyrics.
I look high, I look low
I’m lookin’ everywhere I go
Lookin’ for a home
In the heart of the country
I’m gonna move, I’m gonna go
I’m gonna tell everyone I know
Lookin’ for a home
In the heart of the country
Heart of the country
Where the holy people grow
Heart of the country
Smell the grass in the meadow
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Want a horse, I want a sheep
I wanna get me a good night’s sleep
Living in a home
In the heart of the country
I’m gonna move, I’m gonna go
I’m gonna tell everyone I know
Livin’ in a home
In the heart of the country
Heart of the country
Where the holy people grow
Heart of the country
Smell the grass in the meadow
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Want a horse, I got a sheep
I’m gonna get me a good night’s sleep
Livin’ in a home
In the heart of the country
I’m gonna move, I’m gonna go
I’m gonna tell everyone I know
In the heart of the country
Heart of the country
Where the holy people grow
Heart of the country
Smell the grass in the meadow
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Lundi limerick #101
Epsom is known for its horses
and magnesium rich water sources
The Derby takes place
a most famous race
on one of the country’s best courses
Epsom is a town in Surrey, England, approximately 13.5 miles (21.7 km) south of central London. The town is recorded as Ebbesham in the 13th century, probably derived from the name of a Saxon landowner. Founded as a spring line settlement where the permeable chalk of the North Downs meets the impermeable London Clay, Epsom developed as a spa town in the Georgian period. The mineral waters were found to be rich in magnesium sulphate, which became known as Epsom salts.
Each year, on the first Saturday in June, Epsom Downs Racecourse holds The Derby, the most prestigious of the five Classic flat season horse races.
Derby is pronounced DARBY, and Epsom laid claim before Kentucky did!
I talk to the trees………..
This popped up in my Facebook “memories” today. I thought it may be of interest, even though it is rather a long read.
Not only do I talk to the trees, I talk to all manner of things.
Each morning I go for a walk.
I have various routes, but all take in fields, woodland, the River Erewash, the Erewash canal, bridges, a main road, and suburban streets.
Some days I hardly see a living soul, others I see far too many!
My normal route takes me down my road, which has only some 9 houses. At the bottom of the road I have my first conversation, with a brazen hussy who rolls on the ground and will not let me pass before she is satisfied. Somewhere close by her brother will be watching. He is more timid and undemanding. Their Mummy lives at the end house and thinks they are both boys!
I explain that I have to get on, and continue on my way. She follows, then runs ahead. It is…
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Peter's pondering 
