To ride dressage is to dance with your horse, equal partners in the delicate and sometimes difficult work of creating harmony and beauty.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Sunday in the "park" with Lance

I'm still here, and still riding! One of my blogpals checked in with me via email; she said I'd been unusually silent on my blogs. Guess I've been so busy that I didn't even realize it. Time really is like sand, slipping through my fingers, refusing to be grasped....

Anyway, Theresa prompted me to finish this post, started Sunday night. I rode that evening, getting to renew our acquaintance with a favorite old logging road/trail. You see, no trespassing signs with an unfamiliar name had been posted on it, barring our access; I thought someone else from whom I had permission to ride owned that land. When picking up peaches last week I asked the owner of the orchard if he knew who posted the signs. He told me which house they lived in, and said the signs were posted because of a particular neighbor. Hmm; sounds like I'm not the only person anxious for their big, fancy house to sell so they can take their fast cars, loud engines, and high-powered gunfire elsewhere! I rode down to the "no trespassing" poster's house to enquire about access, and he said I was welcome to ride past the signs and over the logs put there to block the problem neighbors from roaring through at 2:00 AM.

The woods have changed a lot in a few weeks. The clumps of large leaves that looked like wild rhubarb have grown into tall stalks with thistle-like buds at the end:
Mystery plants
Their thistle-like buds
Blackberries now hang heavy on the vines:

And leaves are falling prematurely from drought-stressed maples:

The poison oak is changing color early, too, but that's a blessing!

We came back up the hill along the road, where we could appreciate the dramatic sky not yet colored by setting sun. I hope you enjoyed "riding along" with Lance and me!

4 comments:

Alanna M said...

We've got leaves falling too. The poor trees!

C-ingspots said...

Awesome trail! That's what I'm looking for for my first, real trail ride on Eagle coming up, hopefully this weekend! I'm both super excited and a bit nervous...and I think those thistle-like plants are what we always called "cockleburrs". Keep tails away from them!

emma said...

love the pics - tho the signs of fall (premature tho they may be) are slightly depressing

Michelle said...

Alanna, my co-workers and I walked over lunch today, and noticed several dying trees in town. It is just too dry!

I hope it goes wonderfully for you, Lorie. There's nothing like a good trail buddy.

Emma, I can hardly wait for cooler weather and some rain; the heat and drought are far more depressing to me!