Unconventional I would imagine to think of July as a pre-fall, but here we are in my unconventional brain in pre-fall. I can not help but think it with the wet stormy skies (that we were having when I started this post…no longer wet stormy skies!…but a possible tropical storm is coming!). It has me thinking of sweater weather (my rebellious fingers wrote sweather, so there is that), steaming mugs, and reflection if you know me a little bit. Well, know me on here anyhow. Maybe I am like this outside of my musings here. Probably am. I hope I talk about more than the weather outside of this space too! Any proximity to August regardless of the weather really gets me there. The heat does it too!
I have really been thinking of H a lot lately. I think of her often of course, especially this time of year given August is when she passed, but lately the urge to pick up the phone and call her has come up again. It has been five years almost now since that fateful day.
Gosh, I tell you it feels like it has been ten or twenty years since we lost her. Five years feels like an eternity and all the years run together. It normally is not so much of a surprise any longer when the feelings and memories come back, but they hit me with a bit of a surprise the other day thinking about how in the world we are already more than halfway through July. Then BAM. August and all its memories came flooding in. Wishing I could just call and talk about all the things. There are so many things I wish I could talk to her about. Even just the weather and getting winter hay secured away.
It has been a rainy summer for us here in Texas and I could not be more grateful. In some ways the landscape looks better than it has in a long time, but in some other ways the pastures are mostly weeds after the grasses took such a hit after the drastic lack of rain in the last half of 2025. That is life though, is it not? It feels like a recurring theme or something. Something like that.
I snuck away to Scotland for a week in May. Snuck. Ha. Not really. It was not like I just up and went, but it felt that way. I booked the trip somewhat hurriedly in January without much prior thought or planning and since I went solo, it felt like sneaking.
It started out with me very much almost accidentally booking airfare to New Zealand in the middle of the night when I was half asleep after seeing that a spot on a ride over there had unexpectedly opened up. I am not sure which side of me, the half asleep or the half awake side, wondered what it would cost right now to fly to New Zealand. As one does. You better believe I woke up really quickly once I realized what I was doing! Anyway, I booked Scotland that very week.
Naturally, the day before I left we needed to start bottle feeding a rejected calf. Life.
Everyone, meet Cindy. For Cinderella, named by my nieces.
I got her going on the bottle and hoped that everyone could keep her going until I got back.
It was an amazing little getaway filled with horses and great food. I got to ride a different horse every day and have a different guide every day which was quite something! It was like my own personal, private tour every day of the Borders! When I was not riding, I was driving myself to as many places as I could see with the time available. Let me tell you, driving on the wrong (sorry, wrong!) side of everything was a real trip! It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be (YouTube videos really helped!), but wowza! Also, I really feel like I got robbed on the price of the car over there. If you are looking for a lovely place to stay that has out of this world food, Cringletie is the way to go!
I got back home to Texas to a mostly thriving bottle calf Cindy and apparently a dead truck. The latter fully not expected and not welcome! One really does not expect to have to get a new vehicle right after going on an (expensive!) international trip!
But, again, life, that is the way it goes sometimes. I am now firmly in the ‘intentionally saving money and not traveling’ camp for a little (or a lot) bit! Outside of maybe a quick flight on points to the west coast of somewhere to visit friend D while she and her husband are passing by on their sail boat.
ANYWAY………The truck situation really put me out of commission for almost a week, but thanks to R, life could go on. So now we are with a new truck back to our regularly scheduled programming!
Cindy is now doing very well and is at a wonderful place with other calves, goats, sheep, and donkeys to finish out her bottle feeding. When she is ready to have a little less support, i.e. she is off the bottle or mostly off, she will be able to be turned back out to finish growing into a hopeful mamma cow!
Summer riding this year has been quite good even with all the rain and mud. There has only really been a couple of weeks we have been sidelined.
The weekend before last we danced around the rain which was so nice. Saturday Lito and I had a good ride and managed to get into the barn right before we got dumped on. However, on Sunday we got caught in a lovely light rain while on a walk ride with my mamma.
This past weekend the heat really hit us in my opinion. It did not help that my Lito ride was really one of those not so great ones that happens every so often. The kind that sends you into a bit of a tailspin for the rest of the day…or until you decide you just need to go make up and fix it. A sunset bareback ride in the arena just walking around did just the trick. Sunday’s ride made up for anything that was left to make up for and boy am I glad for it. I would still be in the funkiest of funks were it not for being able to make it all better.
So! Here is your friendly reminder, your AHA moment…Life happens and sometimes it sucks. That is the way it goes, but tomorrow is always a new day! AND. It does not always suck! So very profound, I know.
Are you ready for fall yet?
Until next time!
Walk in love, dear readers!
