Looking for something? Look no further. Take your pick…
Beauty.
Inspiration.
Cute.
How about this Good Friday Eve sunset?
Or this Good Friday morning trail ride on your best mare with friends?
Or a Good Friday afternoon hangout in the wildflowers?
Or a play session with a water bottle? Hey, it’s the simple things in life, remember?
Or a foggy Easter Saturday sunrise?
Easter Sunday was filled with a whole family tour. My parents are on vacation so I went to church with my Sister and her family, had lunch with my Mom’s side of the family, and had a second dessert and dinner with my Dad’s side of the family.
All of the above makes for a magical Easter weekend if you ask me.
Walk in love, dear readers, and remember the gift of this day. Hard to do on a Monday after a holiday.
Easter is always a special time at the farm. Well, Easter in itself is obviously special in its own right, but it is different at the farm.
I remember the first Easter after my parents bought the place. I do not remember who all was there. I know my Father and at least one sister was there. I can not remember who else. Anyway, it was windy. It is always windy at the farm on Easter. We must have come out directly after church as we were in our church clothes. At the time, the place was raw. Well, raw its own way. It needed a ton of work and even more just plain cleaning up. It was cross fenced in every way you can imagine. I do not remember why, but my Dad climbed over a gate and when he stepped down on the other side, he landed right in a fresh cow patty while wearing his nice loafers. My sister and I probably thought that was pretty funny while dear old Dad did not.
We have always celebrated Easter in some way at the farm. It has changed over the past few years, as it happens when families grow, but it always feels the same. Special.
This year, it was somewhat of a revolving door with people coming and going. Middle Sister and her Hubby could not come to town because of work commitments (that part was not special…). My Parents, Eldest Sister’s Hubby, Niece, Nephew, and myself went out Thursday. Eldest Sister had to work on Good Friday. The men, that would be my Dad, Bro in law, and Nephew, went fishing Friday for the day and the ladies, my Mom, Me, and Niece, hung out at the farm. I think I mentioned that before and how I rode Cheetah, Lito, and Ike.
Saturday, my Aunt and Grandparents came out for lunch. When my Grandparents got there, I was just riding up to the house at the end of my ride on Lito. He was amazing, by the way, if you were wondering. He is getting really consistent and more balanced. For around 20 or so rides all spaced out, he is doing better than some that get ridden every day. At least in my mind. He is pretty tractable and rates really easily. I am surprised at how well he responds to my seat and even my voice. I am really excited for our hill country adventure. While we were on our ride, we discovered a brand new calf born not that long before. Nature never ceases to amaze me.
Sister and her family went back to town to go to church in the afternoon and participate in the church Easter egg hunt. When my Aunt arrived, we had burgers, fries, and my Grandmother’s molasses cookies for lunch out on the porch, under the live oak. That tree and porch, I tell you, there is no better place to be. My grandparents went back to town later that afternoon and my Aunt stayed to spend the night.
Saturday evening, I spent some time riding Lito bareback in a halter, just relaxing and having fun. Making sure he remembers how to do that. That it is not always hard work. He remembered.
Sunset rolled around and we had even more porch time with a steak dinner and wine. I am so glad that my Aunt was able to come out and stay. Get a away, even if just for a short time. We are all still sad, but none more than her I am sure.
Sunday morning found us sitting there on the porch again drinking coffee, looking down the valley watching the fog rise, listening to gospel and nature. Words can not express the beauty of His creation, especially in that place. The rest of my coffee got cold so I grabbed Lito’s bridle and went and did my favorite Sunday morning thing. Ride bareback.
We wrapped things up at the farm before lunch to head back to town and get ready for Easter diner with my Mom’s side of the family. I made and decorated a coconut cake. It was pretty dang good! Doesn’t look too bad either. Holidays are my favorite because I get to see both sets of grandparents close together. I am savoring all my time with them.
Happy times were had with the still at times sad. Slowly, the happy times will start to outshine the sad. Still grieving my Uncle, but we had a new calf born and we got to watch mamma introduce him to the heard. The kiddos got dirty and tired just like the dogs, running around and playing. Like it is supposed to be. I have had some amazing rides on my 2 dun babies. I rode Lito more times that I had even planned. We all had a good time together and wished that the rest of the family could have been there. God is great.
I hope y’all had a great Easter, creating new happy memories.
Before I get going with my day, I wanted to wish all of my dear readers a good morning and good day! Go out there and get it today.
It’s funny, I was going to say that this week was going by rather slow, but really, the last few weeks have flown by. We have been very busy she past couple months marketing this deal. We are preparing for another big meeting tomorrrow. This could potentially be a very big day for us. Say a little prayer or cross your fingers that it all goes well and we will be one step closer to getting this deal done.
I had an amazing time with my Grandmother A for dinner Monday evening. That really is no surprise there. We are so much alike it is uncanny. We talked about everything under the sun and a lot about horses. This is her visiting my Lito a couple years ago.
I have another short week this week as we have Good Friday off. Tomorrow after work I am headed to the farm for the weekend. My Parents, Sister and her family, Grandparents T and H, my Aunt M, and Cousin W will all be there at some point or another for an early Easter celebration. Creating good, new memories will be good. Then on Sunday, we are gathering with my mother’s side of the family to celebrate Easter.
Spread some cheer today! Put a smile on your face and stand up tall. Make it contagious.
The trail ride I am going on this weekend is an annual thing. I have been going for about five years now. It is always a super fun time and is my favorite ride of the year. On the Sunday of the weekend, we ride out to a nice place and gather around for a quick little sermon on the trail. There are moments of laughter and there are moments of tears. The message is usually strong.
This was last year’s ride with Ike. Last year’s ride was after Easter and I was able to wear a straw hat. Some of the people we ride with stick to those old hat season conventions. Me, I do not care for them. It is too dang hot down here to be wearing a felt hat for months. We only have a few weeks of ‘real winter’ down here usually. I took Ike because my Cheetah beetah had a hoof abscess AND white line. Ugh. I will let that sink in for you horse people. That was rough. For 3 months. Since Easter is next weekend, I will have to wear my felt hat and it is supposed to get into the mid to high 80’s.
Anyway, I digress. A few years ago, it was a rainy Sunday. It was decided that instead of riding out, we would just stay at camp and have our sermon in the pavilion after breakfast, then everyone would go home early. The radar predicted it to be wet all day (and it was, go figure, very wet indeed). This particular Sunday was also a somber one. One of the ladies had just lost her mother. As you can imagine, there were many tears shed over the weekend, but what I remember just as much or more than the tears was the fellowship. Everyone really came together in support. It was extremely touching. I jotted down this closing line of the sermon focusing on Psalms and Proverbs before the closing prayer. Your AHAmoment for the day.
“Be calm and confident and leave it there.”
This year I offered to play (ha! not me, my device) a song to add to the experience since we all know how I am about music and I thought it would be a nice touch. I suggested a few songs to be chosen from. This was the winner. A lovely story and message (thanks to Jason Eady – Topic on YouTube for the vid).
This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday naturally made me think of Easter and my favorite Easter song (thanks to Mike McClure – Topic on YouTube for the vid).
Can you tell I am ready for the weekend? It is literally all I can focus on. Lucky for me, it is going to come one day early! Tomorrow we have some important meetings and things that need to get done, but then I am off to the farm after work. Friday 10 AM arrival for good times.
