A few of my favorite things

"Spanky"

"Belle"

Where's the apples?  

I've really missed my horse friends these past two months, both the four-legged and two-legged ones.  At times it felt almost like a conspiracy keeping me away from the barn in North Bend.  There were those big trips, and I spent a lot of time scheduling work and then waiting for contractors who as often as not didn't show up when they said they would.  The last perfect fall weather trail-riding days in October were lost hanging around the house.  

That might not seem like such a big deal, but those days are getting more precious.  We all need things to look forward to. Hopefully there will be other autumns I'll see from the back of a horse, but I try not to take that (or anything else) for granted anymore.

Anyway, I'm headed to the barn today, and maybe it's dry enough to take Belle and Spanky on the trails for a bit. After such a long break, I'll sure feel it tonight in my legs. But that will be a very welcome feeling! 

This nice poem was on The Writer's Almanac this morning.

  

My life was the size of my life.
Its rooms were room-sized,
its soul was the size of a soul.
In its background, mitochondria hummed,
above it sun, clouds, snow,
the transit of stars and planets.
It rode elevators, bullet trains,
various airplanes, a donkey.
It wore socks, shirts, its own ears and nose.
It ate, it slept, it opened
and closed its hands, its windows.
Others, I know, had lives larger.
Others, I know, had lives shorter.
The depth of lives, too, is different....

From The Writer's Almanac
My Life Was the Size of My Life
by Jane Hirshfield