My Old Kentucky Home

We took a long-delayed summer vacation last week to Kentucky. I used to live in the Bluegrass region, and we visited friends and took in the general hospitality and beauty of the area. I’ve lived in the Northeast for as long as I lived in Kentucky, but I’ve never felt as at-home here as I did — and do — there. (Remarkable, considering that I grew up about an hour from here.)

Kentucky has a rugged beauty very different from New York. On the one hand, much of the countryside is “domesticated” pastureland grazed by the famous thoroughbreds of the Bluegrass.

On the other hand, a closer look at these manicured fields reveals ancient trees blown and tortured by the winds. Many of them were leafless, out there braving the winds alone. Others had lost their tops somewhere along the way in storms of the past. They give the landscape a very aged, knowing look.

The Kentucky River is more forbidding and closer to the sublime than our tame (except when in flood) Susquehanna, carving its passage deeply through the limestone Palisades and hosting only the most intrepid of trees on its steep banks.

We saw some familiar river-dwellers, though: a kingfisher, and a great blue heron.

Flowers like these (asters?) were in bloom here and there, adding their accents to an already colorful landscape.

Of course we visited the Kentucky Horse Park, Mecca to my horse-loving daughters, and a source of fascination for my husband and I as well.

We saw two demonstrations of the different horse breeds, all shown in full costume, and met some retired racehorses.

Nameless magnificent horses wandered here and there behind white fences. This one badly wanted to taste a sample of my (borrowed) jacket.

One of the highlights for my husband and me was to visit the Inn where we got engaged. Our hosts took us to lunch there, and it was neat for the girls to see “where it all began.”

Of course these are just the sights I can put on a blog. The graciousness and welcome of the people, the joy of visiting old friends and places, the pleasure of sharing it all with my family — these are things I couldn’t do justice to in words.