November, December, May!

People who have reading glasses are always losing them. I am like that with my camera. I am always losing it. This is probably because I carry it around with me everywhere, just like someone would a pair of glasses, which means there is never one place that it will be found in. It could be anywhere. When I can't find it, I panic. I am lost without my camera. Maybe it is like a pair of glasses in that it allows me, in a way, to see. However, although I'd like to blame my short lapse in blogging on having lost my camera, I'm afraid I do not have such an excuse. I have not been blogging because the short number of hours in one day is daunting to me, and because even at my age, I have not learned the art of excellent time management. It is a subtle art indeed.

But we all have our weaknesses. Take Mother Nature for example. She cannot decide if we are going to have weather fitting for December or for April.

Before Christmas we were having the most wonderful snowfall. And who doesn't want a little snow in December? After all, can Santa's sleigh really fly without snow?

The truth is, the snowfall was so pretty, the season rivaled the summertime for the best time to be out on the trail. It wasn't even so cold that you needed hand warmers in your mittens. On some rides, I wasn't even wearing mittens.

It just couldn't get  any better. This is winter riding at its best: Snowy. Magical. Beautiful and bug free.

But just in case there were going to be any non-magical hunters in our midst, I made sure that Lilly looked as un-deerlike as possible. In fact, I made her look like an equine fairy. All she needed was a little wand.

It was like riding through a fairy tale. Not the German kind where people are mean and scary.

In all the beautiful riding opportunities, I met no one out on the trail. This is not so unusual. Typically I do not encounter anyone out on the trail. It's just me and Lilly and my terrible singing voice. I don't ride on public land so the few people I have seen over the years are either people who actually own the land, or people who happen to live on Bill's road.

This picture is from the Short Trail.

I took a photo from this exact spot in October when the leaves were changing color. Monet-like, I decided to capture the same image under different light. Just as beautiful in December as it was in October. I must remember to get it again in June, my favorite month of the year.

Then Mother Nature pulled a fast one. Just when all the children were probably starting to feel confident that the various snow squalls would ensure Santa being able to buzz around on Christmas Eve, before Christmas Eve had a chance to arrive, it got balmy.

All the snow began to melt. It got very dirty and ugly looking, and then vanished into thin air.

Lilly said, Mmmmmm! Fresh green grass! It must be July!!! Maybe the weather was a Christmas gift for all the grass eaters. But meanwhile, people were surprised and confused. And the question begging to be asked was: How will Santa get here with no snow?

Well, Santa made it all right. He brought Lilly these boots in her favorite color.

And I got this hat from Bill. When I wear it around the horses, I wonder if they think I am him.
Probably not.

I refuse to complain about these springy temps. Although I do love snow and wouldn't mind a blizzard or two, I am taking full advantage of the situation. The last two weekends I have been on the trail having one awesome ride after another. Here is Lilly drinking some snowmelt along the path.

Here is some witch's butter that is usually frozen to death around this time of year (Lilly got curious about this photo I was taking and ended up eating this stick, mushroom and all)...

And here is some coyote poop that we just observed today. That is,  I think it is coyote poop. I am not a fecal expert. Thank goodness.

It was so warm while riding yesterday I had to take off my coat and leave it on a tree. When we came back through, Lilly snorted at it. She's right--it does look weird.  It looks like a midget having a time out.

Stay tuned to see if our early spring continues and the skiers start to get madder than hornets.