Derby Day Delight

I hope EVERYONE watched the Kentucky Derby yesterday. I'm still dancing a jig over the winner with the funny name, Mine That Bird. What a beautiful horse, and what a stunning victory! With odds of 50 - 1, seems nobody saw it coming. But that horse made it look so easy, winning by 6 3/4-lengths.

And that jockey! Have you ever seen anyone so happy? And he seemed to bear an uncanny resemblance to Red Pollard, who rode the most famous equine ever, Seabiscuit.

You can go here to watch a replay of yesterday's amazing Mine That Bird victory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv8x9x5A49s&feature=topvideos

Other Derby info: My daughter, India, was born on Monday after Derby Week-end, so now her birthday is always on or near Derby Day. Tomorrow we'll be celebrating her delightful arrival on this planet. Here she is, as cute as she can be, and grinning like a possum, of course. India's paternal grandmother, known to all as Peanut, was a native Kentuckian and lived in Louisville, Kentucky. What a very beautiful, pleasant place!

We had a hard time picking a name when India was born, because (1) the doctor said we were having a boy, (2) a close relative had just given birth to a daughter and used all three girl names we liked, and (3) my best friend Phil Mitchell wanted me to name her Jump Sturdy, a name from a Dr. John song! So we elected to name our little sweetie India from the book Gone With the Wind. A good Southern name for a beautiful Southern belle.

I've tried to find Dr. John singing "Jump Sturdy" from his GRIS GRIS album, with no success. If anyone can find Jump Sturdy on YouTube, let me know. My best advice to everyone is, just buy the album. It's spectacular.

Poetic Pleasures and Horses, Horses, Horses

Continuing our National Poetry Month celebrations, another accomplished Alabama poet gave a delightful reading at the library today. Kathleen Thompson, native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, read from her published works and talked about her experiences as writer and poet. Kathleen's poems, essays and short stories have been widely published in literary magazines, most recently in Sou'wester and Amaryllis.

Kathleen's published books include Searching for Ambergris, The Shortest Distance, and The Nights and the Days. She's a wonderfully talented Alabamian, and her presentation was a treat.

Kathleen received her MFA in Writing from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky where I attended Bellarmine College, though I don't think those two events were concurrent. It has been quite a few years since my last excursion to Kentucky, and how I wish I could drop everything and zip up there for a visit.



The Kentucky Derby is just about a month away, and the book I'm currently reading, Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, has sparked my interest in the odd horse.

The oddest horse I ever was acquainted with, was a little stinker who loved to catapult me through the air and into the thicket, briar patch, or any other available shrubbery. His temperament was sullen at worst, facetious at best. I can't remember the little bugger's name for sure ... but I think it was Pepper. My brother-in-law bought him from Blair Farms and left him at our house in the woods, and I think I'm the only living soul who ever tried to ride him. And feeding him was almost as dangerous as riding him. He loved to bite! Seabiscuit would never do that!

Pepper ended up back at the Blair Farms from whence he came, and even though he was an exasperating fellow, I missed him when he was gone. I don't think he missed me.