You Are But Soggy and Sweet, dear Sunday

Paint Girl has been writing about wet weather in her neighborhood. She can take comfort in knowing that Mother Nature has been just as shrewish over here. Last Tuesday offered nothing but sunshine and since then we've had nothing but rain.

The air is heavy and sodden. Mist swirls all over. Even when it looks like it might be clearing, if you look carefully, you see a thin drizzle coming down from the sky.

It has been so wet that I found these mushrooms growing in the back of the barn! In the barn!? Under a saddle rack! Brandon tells me that if my picture were better he could identify them. He thinks they are some kind of amanita. The fact that they have that little ring around the stalk is one clue. The mushroom world is full of little clues.

Even though the weather was imperfect, Bill and I headed out on the trail on Sunday. This is where we just entered one of the Big Pastures. We were headed to Trollwood. I would like to do the River Trail soon, but that trail (rather steep in places) would be slippery indeed in all the rain. I never complain about Trollwood because it is different everytime I am in there.

Bill was riding Glitter. She was a little crabby in the ring last week but she was very well behaved on this ride. Even when Lilly swung her head around to bite her, Glitter kept her cool.

There's Bill putting his camera away.

Bill had just freshly hayed a portion of this field. In all the rain, it's hard to get any haying done. I like it when the fields are cut because when the hay is high and tickling my brumby's nose, all she wants to do is eat it.

This is the view Bill had on the back of Glitter. She is a gorgeous color, isn't she? Such a pretty little mare. I think that little branch is either Bill's makeshift crop or a fly swatter. Or both? It may also have just been a training opportunity. It's always great to have a horse that doesn't mind a branch flapping around. Christine and Nancy and I were saying today that it is also great to have a horse who does not mind a screaming, flailing rider who has just ridden into a giant spider/web. Ewww, I do not like spiders.

Because the sky was dark, most of these pictures are dark too. But oh my, how that tobiano mare's white rear end glows like a light bulb!

I think I took this picture because Bill and Glitter were next to a glorious mountain laurel in full bloom. But the picture is so dark, I am not sure. This is Trollwood at its best (worst): murky, dense, ridiculously trollish.

I took this picture because at first Glitter would not pass through this opening in the stone wall. There was a tiny branch "blocking" the way and she made a fuss about it. After she did go through, Bill made her go through several more times....and then several more while I tried to get a decent picture.

I did ride today but didn't take a single photo! I'm lucky that I have 4 weeks of vacation a year. So this is one of my vacation weeks. Because we are going to the beach for two weeks in July, this is a stay-at-home vacation. If I didn't have my brumby, I would be pushing for a short trip in some fabulous location. Barcelona springs to mind. But isn't riding my brumby like a little vacation in itself? It really is!

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Until next time, Happy Trails.