Birds and Bees

I had a fine morning on Saturday, sitting out in the bright, hot sunshine in the middle of a pasture. No, I haven't embraced the contemplative life: I was volunteering as a fence judge for the cross-country portion of this weekend's horse trials at Plantation Field, off Route 82.
As well as the contestants and their beautiful horses, the birds were out in force, singing away merrily: a few red-winged blackbirds were in an unmown area near my folding chair, and a kingbird perched on the number pole of my jump. Tiny bee-like insects hovered around me and landed on my clipboard, water bottle and walkie-talkie.
One sad note, though: the longtime communications manager/announcer for the competition, Richard Thompson, died this past week, and he was missed. He was the one who was always in charge of the walkie-talkies, and had he been there on Saturday, there would have been absolutely no confusion about which channel we were supposed to be using, 1 or 2.
(I also want to mention the passing of Paul Rowland, a horse trainer, paramedic and family man. Paul died June 8 of mesothelioma, which he had been battling tenaciously since 2010. He was well known and beloved in the local horse community and was able to attend the Willowdale races back on May 13. The members of the Montgomery County Second Alarmer’s Rescue Squad, where he worked, are wearing black bands over their badges in his memory.)