If you find yourself in Alberta, Canada, you may want to pay a visit to this fascinating-looking spot:
May 25, 2010
Next year’s CAA Conference will not be held (as is traditional) in the summer; rather, we will have a CAA Winter Conference in Minnesota, January 27 to 30. This timing and location will give us a chance to celebrate all things sleighing. The entire event, in fact, is being held in conjunction with the 125th anniversary of the St. Paul (MN) Winter Carnival.
The local group helping us to organize this sure-to-be-fabulous event has already started sending out periodic newsletters. According to the inaugural issue: “Each year, a Sleigh and Cutter Festival is held in conjunction with the St. Paul Winter Carnival. In a Currier & Ives setting, the present becomes the past. Gracefully curved sleighs adorned with lacy ironwork glide over the snow behind fast trotting horses, the music of sleigh bells following them. Drivers from across the country, along with their horses, sleighs, and passengers, are invited to participate. Spectators, dressed in warm winter clothing, are invited to trek to city parks to watch this spectacular event. The Carriage Association of America invites you to witness this Winter Wonderland at the 2011 CAA Winter Conference. A full three-day conference is being planned, with knowledgeable and entertaining speakers, the Carriage Showcase, a nineteenth-century dance party, two sleighing events, a trade show, and good food.
To be added to the conference-newsletter mailing list, send a request to carriagenews@frontier.com.
the first page of last week's CAA Winter Conference newsletter, which focused on the Carriage Showcase
May 24, 2010
… and then we’re finished with this year’s Windsor trip, I promise! We don’t usually let our trips “linger” quite this long on the blog, but people keep sending great photos, and I can’t resist posting them.
So here are a few from Marie Wood (a friend of Jill’s and mine and the CAA’s), who lives in Windsor and went on the add-on trip to Norfolk to visit John Parker and Susan Townsend.
the coach getting ready to leave Swingletree on its run -- you've already seen a slightly different version of this scene in a photo by Jill; that's her on the right (photo by Marie Wood)
another (full) view of the 11th-century house that served as the change spot for the coaching run (photo by Marie Wood)
the CAA group visited a stunning collection of gypsy wagons; that's the owner of the wagons, Jimmy Lawes, on the left and John Parker on the right (photo by Marie Wood)
... another in the stunning collection of painted wagons (photo by Marie Wood)
and, finally, one of the amazingly fancy wagon interiors (photo by Marie Wood)
May 21, 2010
Two more images from the marathon phase of the recently completed Royal Windsor Horse Show and (for something a little different) two views of a startlingly beautiful meadow of bluebells in Wiltshire. All four photos were sent to us by the RWHS (and WEG) driving course designer, Richard Nicoll.
the winner of the four-in-hand (horses) class in RWHS's FEI driving event: Boyd Exell (photo by Richard Nicoll)
Tucker Johnson (USA) finished the FEI driving event in second place behind Boyd (photo by Richard Nicoll)
wouldn't you love to walk down this forest path, and be surrounded by wild bluebells? (photo by Richard Nicoll)
today's moment of zen: bluebell close-up (photo by Richard Nicoll)
May 19, 2010
Not one but two CAA members forwarded these fascinating old photos to us. Enjoy!
Washington DC, 1904
Pennsylvania, 1899
Baltimore (Maryland), 1904
Washington DC, 1914
Palm Beach (Florida), 1904
Michigan, 1893
Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), 1905
Louisville (Kentucky), 1902
Key West (Florida), 1898
Norfolk (Virginia), 1905
Mississippi, 1899
New Jersey, 1897
Utah, 1898
The Slower Road 