Horse racing, potatoes, and birds

My, my, once spring comes it get so difficult to find time to blog. Last weekend we went to a pre-retirement gathering for a colleague at Arlington Park’s Derby Day. We had reservations in the Million Room. Fortunately, a coworker tipped me off that there was a dress code. I put on my last ironed shirt and a nice pair of pants and off we went. Terry and I took the train. The schedule worked out perfectly to deliver us 15 minutes before the first race and leave for home 35 minutes after the Kentucky Derby.

Our table in the Million Room was right at the finish line. Here’s a picture of the horses warming up.

Horses warming up

And here’s a picture of the horses coming in that I took too soon.

Horses, far left, coming to the finish line

The buffet was quite good. The prime rib had a delightful wine sauce. There were lots and lots of vegetables. Odd as it may sound, my favorite thing was a wedge of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing. Not just any iceberg lettuce, but cute little heads about the size of a softball. An example is at 1:00 in the picture. Best iceberg lettuce ever.

My first trip to the buffet

We bet very little and lost it all eventually. It was a fun afternoon, nevertheless. When it was time to go, we walked out to the tracks with hundreds of other people. We were among the first. I asked the security guards which side of the track we needed to wait on to go west. Before long, casual observation was enough to determine that the north side of the track was going into Chicago from the higher population and the number of women in fancy hats and men in suits.

The train station. Which side goes to Chicago?

Back at home, the leaves are coming out ever so slowly.

Green grass and trees leafing out in the background. Oaks are slow.

We planted potatoes Monday afternoon. Terry dug the holes; Hilda cut the potatoes and planted them, and I raked.

Last year's potatoes that we used for planting

Terry digs; Hilda plants

I rake the holes closed over the seed potatoes

The summer migrants are back. It is like seeing old friends again. Hilda has seen the rose breasted grosbeaks, but I have not. Jane saw a hummingbird at her house this week. We haven’t even gotten the feeder up yet. Terry put the grape jelly out as soon as we spotted the first Baltimore oriole. Today we saw three males at once. Summer will be here before you know it!

chipping sparrow

Male goldfinches

Male Baltimore oriole with jelly glistening in his beak

White crowned sparrow