As the summer intensifies so does the subway and I find myself staying longer in my country get away up in Columbia County....

It was rainy last weekend when I went to visit Bobby 11 Freedom, the rescued NYC Carriage horse, now living at Equine Advocates Sanctuary in Chatham, NY. It's one year since Bobby was rescued from slaughter. Equine Advocates President & Founder, Susan Wagner and the rest of us were caught in a sudden rainstorm, but it didn't dampen the high spirits.

Bobby was rescued on June 25, 2010 by Equine Advocates and the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages. He was then shipped to Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary in Chatham, NY where he has been retired. Bobby is sponsored by Cathy and Ron Wong. You can sponsor one of the many equines rescued and living at the sanctuary. contact Equine Advocates Sanctuary

Here's a clip I made of his re-Birthday celebration:

Elizabeth Hess an Equine Advocates board member, avid animal rights activist and author (Nim Chimpsky), brought me along to the party. We took my two poodles Etta and Lily who loved the attention.

I'll be heading back to the subway after a summer break excited to know Bobby is retired from the city grind living happily at Equine Advocates.

The birthday celebration was written about in an article about Bobby by Karrie Allen of The Chatham Courier

Here's a previous clip I made from my intial visit to the sanctuary when Bobby first arrived.

Saturday afternoon I travelled to Hudson, NY for the 2nd annual Hudson Pride event. It's been an intense week for Gay Pride as the NY state assembly under the strong support of Governor Andrew Cuomo passed the first step towards a Marriage Equality bill. Currently held up in the Senate and with the vote looking close to being able to pass, the energy in Hudson was amazing. I met participant Matthew Hamilton with a homemade t-shirt asking undecided Senator Steve Saland (Columbia County's Senator) to join in passing the bill. Check out Matthew's clip I made. It shows Matthew with his t-shirt and a funny rant about how even Britney Spears can be married for only 36 hours but his Mom and her partner Christine of 21 years can't be married.

I also chatted with Trixie Starr one of the event organizers. Last year was the first year and she proudly talked about how wonderful it was to create an event that brought children and people together in one small amazing community of 6000 people.

check out Trixie's Inspiration clip

Later that evening, I performed at the new state of the art Club Helsinki. I opened the night of live entertainment with a set of my own brand of what I call folked-up blues to an energized audience. My partner of 13 years Michele joined along with friends including ex NYC'er and newcomer to the Hudson scene Sherry Jo Williams, (who has opened an amazing shop called The Culture-Commerce Project) to spread the love.

For me, Gay Pride is best described as: To celebrate living a life that is driven by the force of love with the ability to reach beyond prejudice, fear and ignorance. To live a life without compromising or contradicting that love.

(Pride volunteer Jamie Trachtenberg's beautiful email signature) sums it up perfectly.

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage." - Lao Tzu

So here's to NY state being on the right side of History and passing the Marriage Equality bill.

Update on 2011-06-25 11:17 by NYC Subway Girl

June 24 10:30pm bill 1545 passed in NY Senate 33-29. To Senator Tom Duane who so eloquently stated in voting for this bill tonight, "there are no villians in this room, only heros." Senator Duane, you are the hero. Uniter of hero's. Thank you. I'm proud to be a New Yorker. To Matthew Hamilton whom I met and filmed at Hudson Pride, his Mom and Christine can now get married. So can I.