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An intimate view.

Stand here with me on the mountain, exposed to the elements.

Look closely.

A mid winter thaw.

Can you see it?  Feel it?

Little secrets softly revealed.

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A snowshoe breaking trail along the river in among the dying trees.  Well, I guess anywhere you go here, you’ve got dying trees now.  The New Normal?  I look to find the lighter side of… death.  Where?  How?  (See, I’m asking new questions.  It’s not just Why?)

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Before & after (or still in between)

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Some of you are probably way ahead of me and have seen this one before.  (Where have I been?)

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”  A great quote by Aldo Leopold from “A Sand County Almanac.”

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I found my community, the neighbors I was seeking, the friends with whom I would belong, among the Blue Spruce.  And now I watch them leave me.

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For the aspen behave like summer people, shedding their vibrant foliage as the tourist close their shutters and leave for the season.  Aspen are a shorter lived tree, averaging perhaps 60 or 70 years (without drought and warming trend).  Yet the spruce are harder to start, slower to grow, and once they get going, live one, two, three hundred years or more.  Usually. Now I watch the young ones die.

To hell with this damning death!  I’m turning my view to something full of life!

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For those who read the article in Ranch & Reata and might just be wondering… This is Bayjura today.

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Some thoughts on horses.  For those who have chosen a life with horses.  And for those who wish they would, and maybe someday will.

Insight to the heart of a horse(wo)man.

A horse(wo)man is a different breed.

On one hand, she can move with a simple suggestion, a subtle signal, an animal weighing ten times more than she does. On the other hand, she’ll climb back in the saddle after being bucked off onto hard ground.  Once.  By the second time, she might be too mad.  (A good time to keep your distance or walk away.)

She acts not through force yet the horse finds comfort in her direction, not because she is sticky sweet, but because she is strong enough.

In her consistency, she creates trust; the horse becomes confident in her solid strength, and at the very same time, she becomes stronger because of the horse at her side or beneath her.

She has a sense of responsibility, beyond but not above daily care, continuing through all interactions and communications.  She works with a steady course and direction, for the horse chooses chaos no more than the handler.  It is an unnatural state for horse and horse(wo)man.

She strives to be the person her horse wants her to be. The gentle leader.  She leads with softness, clarity, point and purpose. Calm, consistent, clear communication.  Fairness.  Firmness. A balance of  confidence and compassion.  She is learning when to push onward; and when enough is enough.

Reminders for myself as well as those of you who are going through the mid-winter no-can-ride blues.

Don’t let anyone stop you if it’s your dream, but don’t expect it handed to you on any silver platter.  It is more than likely going to show up in the form of a manure rake.

Enjoy.  It is a wonderful life.

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