I really should be using my CK blog to sort out what I'm doing and/or going to do with my diet and exercise since I've lost focus and need to adjust to the change of seasons but the past week or so I've been absorbed in several things any one of which makes my petty concerns seem unimportant or at least uninteresting.

First I've been reading Mountains Beyond Mountains before Tracy Kidder's library lecture this evening and walking around wondering how it can be that I walk the same earth as does a human being like Dr. Paul Farmer.

The story of Farmer's work was very much with me when we went to a Syracuse Symphony concert with the Syracuse University Oratorio Society Friday evening. The chorus did a beautiful a capella piece, Morten Lauridsen's "O magnum mysterium" before the orchestra joined them for Poulenc's "Gloria". It was splendid.

On a lighter note, this past weekend we also had the Fédération Equestre Internationale World Cup Qualifier in town. I didn't get tickets this year but we did see some of the beautiful horses as they walked from the convention center where they're 'stabled' to The War Memorial where they compete. Our local Olympic medal winner and last year's American Equestrian of the Year, Beezie Madden, on 2006 Horse of the Year, Authentic, didn't place but they were still the stars of the event. McLain Ward and Phillipa won the event.


Courtesy of Horse & Hound

Madden, 44, from Cazenovia, NY was the first female rider to win over a million dollars and has been an anchor for the US show jumping team for many years, helping them win gold at the Athens Olympics. Last year she took individual and team silver medals at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, aboard Authentic, an 11-year-old KWPN Dutch warmblood gelding owned by Abigail Wexner.