KEEPING IT SIMPLE, SILLY!

Sometimes in a effort to keep going, to get things done, to achieve goals and to make it all adventurous and productive...  you miss the beauty of keeping it simple.  That moment of pleasure is gone as you move on to the next "best" thing!

Da Boys...  napping!

Today was a tired day coming from a long, busy and exhausting week.  We had a spectacular Hunt yesterday - very physical and fun.  Barn chores and dog walking are a given.  Sug needed a ride to limber up from the day before.  I was tired and sore...  "A nap, a nap...  TAKE A NAP!"   I did not want to saddle up and work...  I just wanted a NAP!

You see, had I filled my day with all things "necessary", I would have missed the simple gift of a trail ride with the New Barn Girl, the Donkey (Declan) and our "mixed" pack o' hounds.  I would have missed it for a myriad of reasons...  Dishes needed to be done.  Sugar could have a day off.  I'm tired and sore.  The dogs need walking.  I have to do laundry/food shop/insert house elf task here.  All of the chores seemed critical.

It is a simple pleasure when two horse girls ride out shortly before a setting sun with hounds bounding about.  The woods were dark, the trails along the pond shiny with shimmering sun and our pack of three running about in the tall grass.  Actually, Jonah is hunting chipmunks.  Carli is hunting Jonah.  And, Chandler...  well, he's our stirrup hound...  he stayed right at our tail while his "team" bandied about.

Exhausted and Napping
Teenagers

My smile grew as Sugar relaxed her back and swung her hips as she gained her Cross Country walk...  maybe the urge for home and her dinner helped just a bit...  The romantic in me wants to believe that she enjoyed the Autumn air and being out with her stablemate.   Maybe it was more about me, slowing down and enjoying the moment as if it were all it needed to be.

Our pooches...  what a treat!  Two 9 month old hound teenagers and our anchor Lab sometimes leading the way, sometime following...  mostly chasing something of utmost importance...  the chipmunk's squeak, Declan's tail, a blowing leaf...  intense and immediate joy!  Another gift.

At one point, we lost our hunters...  I know Jonah, he was probably dunking his body in the stream.   Turning to look back at the New Barn Girl and whistling for the wanderers, I thought... this moment doesn't get better than this.

Winter Wee Folk
w/Sugar

NBG had a red sweatshirt, riding a chestnut pony...  the sun behind her illuminated the field below us...  Carli bounding above the grass, her tail flagging her happiness as she ran to her person...  The Convict in his Lab way, charged happily behind her... Sheer pleasure...  all of us ...  in that simple moment.

It was a gift!  I'm glad I was present to receive it.  I'm glad, that for just a moment, I slowed down and enjoyed it.