Weekend Field Trips

I do need to take more photos of Luke lest you think I've forgotten him or something. There certainly hasn't been much trail riding but the weather is starting to get better so perhaps September will be the month for that. The bugs are awful bad right now though. I've been trying out fly leg wraps and a fly sheet this year for the first time ever. Nasty buggers!

I started Luke on a mixture of glucosamine, MSM, and such mumbo jumbo a couple weeks ago as he's felt so stiff this summer. Not off or anything but just not as loose and free moving as he had been. The supplement really does seem to be helping him and riding has been more pleasant as a result.

Last weekend, a friend and I took Java and Latte to the Rum River for a walk. I wore my water-resistant hiking shoes as the river had been pretty darn flooded last time I was there. Any excuse to put these babies back on.

See the arrows pointing out where the walking path disappears and reappears? That's how the river was a couple weeks ago.

And this was how the fishing dock looked. The girls and I had to take lots of uphill detours.

But it was not so bad on this walk. Just some silt left behind.

Plenty of cheery flowers

And a picture of me and the girls. 

I'm trying to get more photos of me amongst all the "place" photos. So someday I can remember what I was like way back when. Gotta love the big sweat mark on the front of my shirt...

On Sunday, I read that the Twin Cities Photography Group was going to Hot Sams, which is a treasure trove of old cars, antiques, and cool stuff to buy, take photographs of and pose people with if you happen to bring models along. My nieces would love posing for photos in this place!

I'll say more about that field trip and show more photos in a couple days so this doesn't get too long, but here's are a few samples:

Smiley Flower

 Flowers in the rust

 Giant Guitar

 Truck Rust

Friendship

I have a post today out on Vision and Verb on friendship and how it has changed from childhood days to the present. Hope you'll stop by there and leave your thoughts.

It's the Little Things

I took Friday off last week with the intention that I was going to do some writing, work on my blog, edit a bunch of photos I haven't had time to deal with, and read some other people's blogs. Did I actually do any of those things?

Of course not.

I arrived at the barn around 9:00 AM on Friday and rode Luke while I waited for C to get done with a lesson. We had plans to cool our horses off by riding through the woods and around the fields near the barn.

It turned out that the field was full of gopher holes. We tried to steer around them, but by some freak act of nature, Luke managed to sink all four legs until his belly was touching the ground.

I think both of us were so confused by this that neither of us panicked. Luke had a hard time getting his front legs back up onto solid ground, but he finally managed to get out, after several somewhat scary, jerky attempts.

I was SO glad he didn't panic or he might have hurt both of us.

C and I got off and led the horses back onto safer ground in the woods. So much for a nice relaxing ride through nature...

My friend and I also went for a bike ride to a lake we were able to circle part way around. We had a few challenging hills to contend with. I was really good at going downhill as fast as I could, but C with her skinny tires, whizzed past me going uphill.

I ended up getting home later than I had planned on so other than walk the dogs, that was my Friday.

Saturday I met a friend I haven't seen for quite awhile for coffee. I'm so glad we both took the time to get together.

After that, another friend and I went mountain biking on a trail that didn't have much in the way of obstacles like logs and rocks but had some ups and downs, and tight turns through the trees. Picking up speed and then having to make a tight corner is what intimidates me the most. I need to build up the feeling of what works, just like I've had to do with horses.

Then in the evening there was a party with live music and more friends down by the river. I haven't figured out my iPhone camera yet... obviously... so you'll have to imagine how cool this was.

Sunday, I didn't do a dang thing except bake bread, which I had a few issues with because of my unreliable oven. How does a setting of 450 degrees result in an actual oven temperature of 550 degrees?

During my dough rising and baking fiasco, I caught up on a few emails, paid a few bills, and while the bread cooled, I walked the dogs.

So why am I giving you a litany of my weekend activities? Because it's so amazing to me how much my life has changed. How much more time I get to have with friends. And how many more fun things I get to do.

I'm trying not to beat myself up over the things I'm NOT doing. Because...

I'm still feeling my way

Finding little sources

Of specialness

Of pleasure

To have a reservoir

Of goodness

To fall back on

A bag of tricks

To pull out

Reminders

Of how little it takes

To make a moment

Unordinary

A scented candle

Bread baking

Coffee

Friends

Music

Pretty dishes

Cut flowers

A good book to read

Reminders

That's all

Of how little it takes

To give and receive
The little things
That everyone needs

Off to the Races

When I was in California, four of us went to the Del Mar track to watch a few horse races. This is my attempt at the whole wearing a hat to the race track tradition. And yes, my fancy necklace is my camera strap.

I am happy to report that no horses or jockeys were injured during the races that day, which is always my fear and why this was only the second time I've been to a racetrack.

I don't know enough about racing to judge the right or wrongness of it one way or the other. I was with people who do know horse racing,and I agree with their arguments that racing employs a large number of people (jockeys, exercisers, grooms, stable hands, trainers - just to name a few), it makes money for the state, and race horses are athletes -- they are bred to run. The part that gets me is that other athletes can break a leg and it might end their career but it doesn't end their life.  

But I had an amazing time at the race track! The horses are beautiful. The people are interesting -- both the spectators and the participants. 

I found it especially intriguing to watch the interactions between jockeys and horses, the people who pony the jockey and horse to the start gate, the owners and their horse, the handlers that lead the race horses around, and all the other people involved in the sport.  

That's what I tried to capture in my photos and since I liked so many of them for that reason, I couldn't choose just a few so I prepared a slide show instead. A silent slide show seemed wrong so the music background is my niece Sonora singing one of her own songs. The words don't exactly fit the slides but I figured she won't sue me for not having a licensing agreement. Will you Sonora? 

But the song words do magically fit with a couple scenes, lines like:

"Let's put a frame around this moment," "Wearing my heart on my sleeve," and "I want to know what it feels like to walk on air."

I hope you enjoy the photos and the music. Like I said, the horses are gorgeous animals -- the motion and the look in their eyes on some of the closeups really gets to me. And the people. Notice their expressions and the intensity of some of the moments. An amazing thing to witness and try to capture.

A Million Miles

"Oh, my gosh. Where do I start? Nope. Can't admit to that feeling... Nope, can't talk about that...

Suffice to say that Wall Street is kicking my A$$ and I'm panicking. Telling myself don't panic. Picturing myself tottering on a cane to my cubicle at work because I'll never be able to retire. Telling myself "la la la la la".

I put up a good front. I fight the good fight. But I'm breaking. I hurt and I'm afraid. But I think this means something big is around the corner. Something good is going to happen. I believe it. (clicks her heels,  "there's no place like home, there's no place like home")

The following passages are excerpts from a book I'm reading by Donald Miller called "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life"  (which I am thoroughly enjoying listening to) accompanied by some photos I took last weekend around the Mill City Museum and Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis.

Donald Miller's book often compares living a good life to being a good character in a story.

"Hold our tongue; don't talk about that person that way; forgive the friend you haven't talked to; don't look at that woman as a possession; I want to show you the sunset; look and see how short life is and how your troubles are not worth worrying about; buy that bottle of wine and call your friend and see if he can get together, because, remember, he was supposed to have that conversation with his daughter, and you should ask him about it."

"So as I was writing my novel, and as my character did what he wanted, I became more and more aware that somebody was writing me. So I started listening to the Voice, or rather, I started calling it the Voice and admitting there was a Writer. I admitted something other than me was showing a better way. And when I did this, I realized the Voice the Writer who was not me, was trying to make a better story, a more meaningful series of experiences I could live through."

"At first, even though I could feel God writing something different, I'd play the scene the way I wanted. This never worked. It would always have been better to obey the Writer, the one who knows the better story..."

"So I started obeying a little...."

"...the Voice guided me from the defensive to the intentional. God wanted me to do things... Sometimes I'd do the thing God wanted, and the story always went well, of course; and sometimes I'd ignore it and watch television... but by this time I really came to believe the Voice was God, and God was trying to write a better story. And besides, nothing God wanted me to do was difficult."

"Until..."

"I told God no again, but he came back to me and asked me if I really believed he could write a better story -- and if I did, why didn't I trust him?" 

"...People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain."

"A general rule in creating stories is that characters don't want to change. They must be forced to change... Humans are designed to seek comfort and order, and so if they have comfort and order, they tend to plant themselves, even if their comfort isn't all that comfortable. And even if they secretly want for something better..."

Scene change...

I love this photo that my niece in law (is there such a title?) took. I don't usually like photos of myself so I don't know what it is about this one that strikes me. Maybe because I look determined. Maybe  because I'm looking for something, that next perfect shot. Maybe because I look like I know what I'm doing. Maybe because I see something in my face and my stance that I believe in.

I hate what's happened. I hate being cracked wide open. But something inside me says that something good is going to come out of it. 

And not to make myself sound more important than I am, I believe, I hope, that other sparks will be ignited.

Vision and Verb

Reflecting (once again) on where I'm going as I run and buck through life. I've even come up with a manifesto -- "Feed the passion. Do the work. Celebrate the journey."

You can read more about it and see a photo of my Dad's horse out in the desert at Vision and Verb - "Running and Bucking"