Let me count the ways in which I love you...

I spent yesterday afternoon on the highway, driving the very familiar route between Canberra and Sydney.  Maxie was with us.  It is nice travelling with our kitty.  Driving makes me think, and wonder, and reflect on things.   

I won't say too much.  But these are some reflections on the day, and the leadup to it, of the horse that I love, and the love that she has inspired, both for me and around me.




This is a little boy from Canberra. Incredibly photogenic, and then beautifully helped by a lovely member of the NSW Police.
 

 
 
 
 
 
Famous Pony masks for the Mounted Police.  Fantastic!
 
 
 







The Australian Girls' Choir sang.  I love it when they perform.  There was joy in their faces as they sang "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", which I love. 

Ain't no mountain high, Ain't no valley low, Ain't no river wide enough, baby, If you need me, call me, No matter where you are, No matter how far, Just call my name, I'll be there in a hurry, You don't have to worry , 'Cause baby, There ain't no mountain high enough, Ain't no valley low enough, Ain't no river wide enough, To keep me from getting to you, Remember the day, I set you free, I told you  You could always count on me
 
 

"The racehorse is splendidly unscientific. The great ones do what they shouldn't be able to do.  The racehorse is proof that two plus two can still come up nine".  
"When horses, or those who ride or train them, do rare things, they make the people who were present that day feel good"


  "The adage holds: it's not the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog"
 
  "But ultimately, it's an affair of the heart; living on hope, lovely, irrepressible hope"
Jessica meets Nelly again. Just after this Nelly heard my voice, and pushed her head through the crowd to me.  I loved that she did.
"The ultimate tease, you see, is this: on the turf in Australia... the dreams do sometimes come true"
Tears after she won.  Jilly laughed and grabbed my camera, and took this of me.
"This is what makes racing interesting - horses and people. Horses and people, the rest is just commerce"
Jessica pats Nelly. I had only a moment to put my camera aside as Nelly heard my voice and pushed her way to me..
Do I believe in hope?  Yes I do. Do I believe in dreams?  Yes I do.  Do I believe in affairs of the heart.  Yes...  I absolutely do.  

 
Photo by Darren Tindale.  21 December 2012.
Bronwen Healy, Darren Tindale and Black Caviar.  21 December 2012.
And finally, I leave you with some final images from Sydney's love affair with the champion, which left the city bathed in a sea of salmon and black, and with some heart that I sometimes find missing when I visit.
 


 

Quotes belong to my friend and source of great inspiration, Les Carlyon.  They are used with his permission.

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