Midweek weekend

Sometimes the best weekends happen in the middle of the week.

My best friend, Carol arrived in Denver Tuesday night. I picked her up at the airport after work, and we spent the rest of the night catching up and playing with Piper. A perfect Friday night.

The next morning we went to the barn. 

I rode Sage, and Carol took pictures.

Look at us go!

After that, we had lunch with Karen.

Then Carol and I got in the car and drove east, to the new-and-still-under-construction Hogan Park at Highlands Creek.

Eventually, this nearly one hundred acre space will be home to a disc golf course, performance plazas, climbing walls, a zip line, embankment slides, linear challenge courses and pollinator gardens. 

Right now, it's mostly large public art installations.

I liked it a lot and am glad we went.

The day ended with dinner at my favorite restaurant with my two other best friends. There just aren't words for how happy this pictures makes me.

Today - pretend Sunday - featured a visit from best niece, Gray, and two of her horse friends.

We played with the foals...

and Gray rode Sage.

Sage was so good.

Carol and the kids have all moved on, and Seth, Piper and I are enjoying a quiet evening at home. We're all tired and a little people out, but also very, very happy.

Tomorrow is Monday Friday. Back to work!

Estate horses

While we were cleaning out my mother's house, I found a box containing every single piece of correspondence I ever sent to her or my father. It was completely overwhelming.

I threw some of it away, but the rest came home with me.

Now it's sitting in a box in my basement.

I haven't spent a lot of time with this box - frankly, I find it depressing - but recently, I skimmed a couple of the letters. One described my first visit to the Brown/Welch home in Wellington, Colorado. I had a good time at Trisha's house, I wrote. They have horse things everywhere! There's even a horse picture on the toilet seat!

not the toilet, but same bathroom

Amost immediately thereafter, that cozy, horse-filled house became my second home.

I was there for the people...

and the horses...

but I also fell in love with the cats,

the dogs,

the barns...

and that wonderful little house.

I have good memories of almost every room.

Especially this one.

Trisha's father, Norm, died in 2021, and her mother, Donna, passed away last December. 

Earlier this month, I attended Donna's celebration of life at the family farm. I was sad, but not at all surprised, to learn that the property has been sold. After the ceremony, everyone was invited inside the house to view...

and perhaps purchase some of Norm and Donna's prize possessions.

Not going to lie, part of me wanted all of it. Maybe not the pearls, but all the art, all the books, all the horses, all the memories.

But the memories of emptying my mom's house are still fresh. I don't want to do that to Ryan and James, so I decided to limit myself to one Lefton donkey...

and one Shirmar Arabian family.

That was the plan, anyway.

I'm still not exactly sure how it happened, but all the Shirmars ended up in my car.

Which means, now they're in my house.

Well, mostly. 

One has already been rehomed, and eventually, some of the others will follow suit. Still, it's a privilege having them here right now. They are a reminder of people - and a place - I loved. Thank you, Brown family, for everything.

Emotional support pony

We all miss Emma.

I miss her so,

so,

so much.

Sigh.

And, of course, it's not just Emma I'm missing.

I still miss her sister.

And James, who is alive and well, but so far away.

It's been a hard month.

The weather has been unrelentingly hot,

work is depressing...

and people I know keep dying. RIP Roxy, one of my favorite servers at my favorite post-ride watering hole. I'm so sorry we never got your girls out to the barn.

RIP also to Carol's neighbor, Mike, that nice man with whom I walked lap during my visit last summer. He passed this morning after a short but intense battle with pancreatic cancer. I know Carol will miss him so much.

It's been such a hard month.

On Sunday, I had a not -terrible but also not-very-good ride on Sage. We worked through it, but by the time I dismounted, I was not feeling very optimistic about my ability to see her through this stage of training.

Because of that and the heat and everything, the last couple days have been grooming days with just a little in-hand work. I did not feel like I could handle another Sunday.

Today, Karen asked if I was going to ride. I said, no. I didn't have the spoons. Then - kind of inexplicably - I tacked her up, led into the ring and climbed aboard.

Sometimes it's like that.

Fortunately, Sage was as good as she could possibly be. I didn't stay on her long. I really need the win, and I was afraid I would jinx in. Still, I am just so glad I decided to ride her today.

This has been a hard month, but Sage has - mostly - made it better. Slowly but surely, she is turning into the horse I need.