The day after Tropical Storm Irene was gorgeous. Bright, sunny skies, 78 degrees and no humidity. You would never know there had been a storm — except for the branches down and the mud.

We escaped the storm with only minor inconveniences. We never lost power and we had no major tree damage. Our Internet was down until this morning, but that was all.

The horses came through the storm fine. On Sunday night we went to check that the fencing was still up and found them happily grazing, if somewhat skittish.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a long ride. Freedom was still very jumpy so we mostly walked. Soaking in the sun.. The fields were full of dragonflies. There were hundreds of them — it was quite extraordinary.

Riding through the woods we came across a doe and her fawn. The fawn still had spots. I wish I’d had my camera with me because I just couldn’t get my phone to take a good enough photo to catch them running across the field.

I feel very lucky that we got through the storm with so little damage and then were rewarded with such a beautiful day. I know many people were not so lucky.