I am sitting with my mare Freelance this morning. I have a precious 10 mins with her before I have to head off to work. I'm choosing to spend it sitting next to her, rather than doing paddock chores. I need her company a little this morning. My horse is safe. And safe is good. Those who know me well understand how much I need my horse. She's dropping feed all over me, which remind me her teeth need doing. Another thing to add to the huge and ever growing "To Be Done" list. I hate that list sometimes. She's getting less feed at the moment because she's not exactly skinny. She thinks this is terrible! And that its not fair!! "Sorry Freelance" , I murmur softly. Life isn't fair at times. I know that. I like sitting with her. I like the way she puts her head in my arms at times. I like that she follows me about. I like the way she nickers to me when she sees Dan trundling down the road. I like it even more when she whinnies to me, especially...

Today was the Cox Plate.  I've had a busy few days.  As my readers can probably guess, by the fact that I've not written anything for several days.  I went in to today hoping and dreaming (as I am prone to do, a girl can dream, can't she????) that my "New Boy", It's a Dundeel, could pull off the impossible and win the Cox Plate despite the troublesome time he's had with his foot abscess.  He didn't win. He was posted wide, had a torrid run, and finished 8th.  I felt bitterly disappointed.  I was proud of my other Arrrowfield "Boy", in Snitzel though, who sired his first Cox Plate winner when the maiden 3yo Shamus Award prevailed narrowly.  But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with the result today, because I truly did want Chappie, as they affectionately call Dundeel, to win.  And the result also highlighted the loss of recently retired mare Atlantic Jewel, and made us wonder what might have been. The atmosphere in th...

I'm staying in Carlton this evening.  At my aunt and uncle's apartment.  I like being here, and like being with them, and in many ways I feel right back at home, having 'apartment-sat' their little flat for a month in January of 2012.  It was in this month that I took all those very special images of The Famous Pony, Black Caviar, at the beach.  As I said, I like it here, and I'm looking forward to being able to see more of the people who are important to us.  It was pouring with rain when I arrived, and I ran inside with one lot of gear, then Martin and I ran back outside to get the rest.   Photographers rarely travel lightly.  Well, not this little black duck anyway.... My alarm went off at 5am this morning.  Perhaps you could argue that I could/should have set it for earlier, but it was dark, and I didn't get to my sister's house until 11pm last night, and as it was, I got there in plenty of time for the things I needed to do.  I was es...

I'm sitting at the airport waiting to catch my plane back to Melbourne.  I only got back to Canberra late yesterday morning.  As Gerard Whateley once wrote to me, "these are punishing times".   I've arrived at the airport a good 20 minutes before boarding, and am actually sitting with a glass of red wine.  I had toyed with the idea of catching a cab, but in the end, drove the faithful Dan, it just seemed simpler.  And simple is pretty good right now. My trip to the airport tonight, despite the fact that I've had a busy day today, is in stark contrast to my drive yesterday morning!  I felt like Mr Incredible (from the Pixar movie "The Incredibles"), back in his Super Hero days, when rushing from one rescue to another, looking at his watch, before exclaiming with delight "I've still got time"... Yesterday morning I dragged myself out of bed in the dark again, because I was supposed to be going to the beach at 6.45am with It's a D...