First, there's my dear, sweet Charlie:
Charlie has been having a tough time of it after developing laminitis and foundering. We had some very scary days that I questioned whether or not would be our last together. Fortunately, they were not. With a lot of lovin' and special care, Charlie came through. He is now completely sound at a walk, and is even doing a little trot work. This is a long way from the days when he could not even support himself enough to stand. I've been trimming and dressing his front hooves every weekend so we can get the cracked part of his hoof wall grown out. He developed an abscess on the coronary band of each front hoof, and those have been healing nicely now, too. I've always liked my guys tall, dark and handsome...this one's no different, and he's stolen my heart.
And the garden...oh, the garden:
It might look a little chaotic, but we've got a ton going on in there. I share this space with two neighbors and a friend and we all threw in our veggie loves and talents to make this space flourish. We have squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, kale, collards, broccoli, chard, greens, onions, peas and even hops. Unfortunately we've encountered a few issues like blossom end rot in the early ripening tomatoes and a squash borer has attacked a cucumber and squash plant. Overall, everything is doing pretty well and we have a nice little bounty to share.
A couple of times, I've been fortunate enough to have this view:
One of my neighbors and I have paid a couple of visits to the beautiful beach at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey. It's still nothing like the Carolina Coast where I grew up, but I'll take it! The last time we were there the water was up to a refreshing 65º...better than the first time when it was still only 55º! Hopefully I'll make it back a few more times before the summer is over. Each trip to the beach is a four hour round trip for us from Philly, but boy-oh-boy is it worth every minute of the drive!
